Pride And Prejudice (dover Thrift Editions)

As a young Florentine envoy to the courts of France and the Italian principalities, Niccolò Machiavelli (1469–1527) was able to observe firsthand the lives of people strongly united under one powerful ruler. His fascination with that political rarity and his intense desire to see the Medici family assume a similar role in Italy provided the foundation for his "primer for princes."

Initially published in 1912 and the first of Zane Grey's many bestsellers, this stirring tale of adventure in the high country established the prototype for western novels of the twentieth century.

Famed for her work among the sick and wounded of the Crimean War, Mary Seacole possessed a unique perspective: that of a Victorian-era black woman at a battlefield's front line. Born in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1805, she began her career as a healer by helping her mother nurse British officers at nearby military camps. In the 1850s, her compassion aroused by agonizing reports from Crimea, she headed for England to offer her services.

The greatest orator of the late Roman Republic, Marcus Tullius Cicero (106–43 B.C.), influenced the course of European letters for centuries after his death. Through his writings, Renaissance and Enlightenment scholars encountered the riches of Classical rhetoric and philosophy. The elegance of his style, his skill and erudition, his worldly wisdom, and his profound humanity made Cicero a model for latter-day thinkers and keep his works ever relevant.

English novelist, historian and science writer Herbert George Wells (1866–1946) abandoned teaching and launched his literary career with a series of highly successful science-fiction novels. The Time Machine was the first of a number of these imaginative literary inventions. First published in 1895, the novel follows the adventures of a hypothetical Time Traveller who journeys into the future to find that humanity has evolved into two races: the peaceful Eloi — vegetarians who tire easily — and the carnivorous, predatory Morlocks.