Each study guide includes essays, an in-depth chapter-by-chapter summary and analysis, character list, theme list, historical context, author biography and quiz. Study guides are available in PDF format.
Eliza Haywood is the author of The City Jilt: or the Alderman Turn'd Beau, which was originally published during 1726. Haywood was a British novelist, publisher, and actress. She was born during 1693 and died during 1756.
Regarding her novels,...
"Absurdistan", a novel by Russian-American author Gary Shteyngart, was published in 2006. It is a satirical and absurdist take on the post-Soviet world and the immigration experience, set in an unnamed former Soviet republic called "Absurdsvanï."
...The Relapse, or, Virtue in Danger is a play that was first performed in 1696. It is a Restoration comedy that was written by John Vanbrugh. Vanbrugh wrote this work as a sequel to Colley Cibber’s Love’s Last Shift, or the Fool in Fashion. Cibber’s...
Published in 1985, Less Than Zero is the first novel of Bret Easton Ellis and was published when the author was twenty-one and still a student at the private liberal arts Bennington College, home to a lot of notable alumni. The novel scandalized...
“The Thirteenth Tale” is Diane Setterfield’s debut novel, first published in the United Kingdom in 2006. The manuscript was highly sought after, resulting in a lucrative publishing deal of 800 thousand pounds for the British edition and one...
Burned, written by Ellen Hopkins, was published during 2006 by Margaret K. McElderry Books. This novel tells the story of Pattyn Von Stratten navigating a challenging journey of abuse to find love and acceptance. It all starts when she has an...
Watership Down is a classic fantasy adventure novel written by British author Richard Adams and published in 1972. The novel is set in south-central England and focuses on a small displaced group of rabbits. Although they live in their own natural...
Winter in the Blood is a novel written by the Native American writer James Welch in the year 1974. In his novel, the author explores the consequences of Native culture clashing with White culture. The main character remains unknown and his name is...
The End of the Affair is one of the best novels written by Graham Greene. The novel about human love, which God has invaded into, was written in 1951. This Greene's novel is considered to be the best of his Christian books - the combination of...
Thunderball is the ninth James Bond adventure from Ian Fleming, published in 1961 just as Bond mania was about to break out on a global scale. The tale of James Bond’s to stop the theft of nuclear weapons began life as a screenplay co-written by...
Ian Flemming published his tenth James Bond novel in 1963. First published by Jonathan Cape in the United Kingdom on April 1, the novel was then released in America in August of 1963 by the New American Library. Fleming also signed 250 copies to...
From Russia with Love was the fifth novel by author Ian Fleming to feature his distinctively British secret agent James Bond. It would be the one that catapulted Bond from regional hero to global phenomenon because one day a reporter from Life...
The State and Revolution was written by Vladimir Lenin, a Russian communist revolutionary. At the time of the pamphlet's completion in September 1917, the future of the Russian Revolution was uncertain after the February Revolution. During this...
Max Weber is a German writer known for his philosophical and political writings. Born in Prussia, Max Weber grew up to be one of the most influential philosophers of his era, his writings inspiring other great thinkers such as Karl Marx.
Weber was...
Published in 1963 by the German author Hannah Arendt, On Revolution is a book that glorifies the events of the American Revolution, and says that the French Revolution was meaningless compared to it. Arendt claims that the leaders of the American...
Written in the 5th century CE, City of God, or The City of God Against the Pagans, is one of the best known and most influential of Saint Augustine’s works. The book was completed less than two decades after the sack of Rome by the Visigoths in...
Thomas Aquinas: Selected Writings is a collection of writings and reflections by the medieval philosopher Saint Thomas Aquinas. Saint Thomas Aquinas was an Italian friar, priest, and Christian philosopher. He was alive during the 13th century and...
Philip K. Dick was an American novelist born on December 16, 1928 in Chicago, Illinois. Dick’s parents divorced when he was five, so he was raised by his mother in Washington D.C. Although he did not receive stellar grades, his elementary and...
Ragtime is a novel written by Edgar Lawrence Doctorow that was published in 1975. Ragtime is a historical fiction novel that is set in New York City. Doctorow is a New York City native, and after going to school at Kenyon College and Columbia...
My Mortal Enemy is a novel written by Willa Cather in 1926. The novel revolves around Myra and her husband Oswald who return to their home in Illinois, USA to visit their relatives. Oswald soon receives silver-buttons for his shirt from an old...
Born in Christmas Eve of 1818 in the South-wark section of London, Eliza Cook found early success as a poet. She published her first collection while still a teenager in 1835. The verse featured in Lays of a Wild Harp found a receptive audience...
Parallax is defined as the illusion that a given object in the distance appears to change position viewed from a different position. You can demonstrate this effect by focusing on an object off the distance as you are reading this and looking at...
Stanley Kubrick. Sidney Lumet. George Roy Hill. According to film critic Daniel O’Brien, these Hollywood luminaries were among a dirty dozen or so who all turned down the opportunity to direct a film adaptation of Richard Hooker’s comic novel...
Woody Allen's cinematic journey took a significant turn with the release of "Annie Hall" in 1977, marking a departure from his earlier slapstick, sketch-based comedies. Before delving into the profound impact of this film, it is crucial to...
