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Anna Karenina is a novel by the Russian writer Leo Tolstoy, published in serial installments from 1873 to 1877 in the periodical The Russian Messenger. Tolstoy clashed with its editor Mikhail Katkov over issues that arose in the final installment; therefore, the novel's first complete appearance was in book form. Widely regarded as a pinnacle in realist fiction, Tolstoy considered Anna Karenina his first true novel, when he came to consider War and Peace to be more than a novel. The character of Anna was likely inspired, in part, by Maria Hartung, the elder daughter of the Russian poet Alexander Pushkin. Soon after meeting her at dinner, Tolstoy began reading Pushkin's prose and once had a fleeting daydream of "a bare exquisite aristocratic elbow", which proved to be the first intimation of Anna's character. Although Russian critics dismissed the novel on its publication as a "trifling romance of high life", Fyodor Dostoevsky declared it to be "flawless as a work of art". His opinion was shared by Vladimir Nabokov, who especially admired "the flawless magic of Tolstoy's style", and by William Faulkner, who described the novel as the best ever written.

A beautiful new edition of one of the most important books in American history.

When Machiavelli’s brief treatise on Renaissance statecraft and princely power was posthumously published in 1532, it generated a debate that has raged unabated until the present day. Based upon Machiavelli’s first-hand experience as an emissary of the Florentine Republic to the courts of Europe, The Prince analyzes the usually violent means by which men seize, retain, and lose political power. Machiavelli added a dimension of incisive realism to one of the major philosophical and political issues of his time, especially the relationship between public deeds and private morality. His book provides a remarkably uncompromising picture of the true nature of power, no matter in what era or by whom it is exercised. This fluent new translation is accompanied by an introduction that considers the true purpose of The Prince and dispels some of the myths associated with it. It has the most comprehensive explanatory and critical notes found in any currently available English translation and the most comprehensive bibliography in any edition of the work.

"With the clarity and brilliance of genius, this work outlines the new world outlook, consistent materialism, which also embraces the real of social life, dialectics, as the most comprehensive and profound doctrine of development, the theory of the class struggle and of the world-historic revolutionary role of the proletariat-the creator of a new, communist society." -Lenin Ironically, The Communist Manifesto, first published in 1848 for the Communist League, had little influence in its own day. Only after Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels' other writings had made their views on socialism widely known did it become a standard text. For nearly century it was one of the most widely read - some would argue misread - texts in the world. Manifested in vivid prose, the Manifesto continues to irk the capitalist world, lingering as an eerie specter even after the collapse of those governments, which claimed to be enacting its principles. Certainly, the aim here is not create converts. Instead it is to help readers probe the writing with its distinct point of view, so that we might understand the political and historical significance of the text while still maintaining a stance that allows us to think critically about the subject and form our own opinions. KARL MARX (1818-1883) was a philosopher, social scientist, historian and political revolutionary. He is indisputably the most influential socialist thinker to emerge in the 19th century. Although scholars largely ignored him in his own lifetime, his social, economic and political ideas gained rapid acceptance in the socialist movement only after his death. Born to a bourgeois family, FREDERICK ENGELS (1820-1895) devoted his life to struggling for the poor and oppressed. As a man of principle, he spent much of his time developing theoretical ideas and to his 50-year commitment to revolutionary socialism. Engels sustained an equally strong personal commitment to Karl Marx, who he supported politically, financially and with a deep friendship for 40 years, until the relationship was broken by Marx's death in 1883.

The Federalist Papers are a series of 85 articles or essays advocating the ratification of the United States Constitution.

Selected by The New York Times Book Review as a Notable Book of the Year

The author of The New York Times bestseller The Stuff of Thought offers a controversial history of violence.

Faced with the ceaseless stream of news about war, crime, and terrorism, one could easily think we live in the most violent age ever seen. Yet as New York Times bestselling author Steven Pinker shows in this startling and engaging new work, just the opposite is true: violence has been diminishing for millennia and we may be living in the most peaceful time in our species's existence. For most of history, war, slavery, infanticide, child abuse, assassinations, pogroms, gruesome punishments, deadly quarrels, and genocide were ordinary features of life. But today, Pinker shows (with the help of more than a hundred graphs and maps) all these forms of violence have dwindled and are widely condemned. How has this happened?

This groundbreaking book continues Pinker's exploration of the essence of human nature, mixing psychology and history to provide a remarkable picture of an increasingly nonviolent world. The key, he explains, is to understand our intrinsic motives- the inner demons that incline us toward violence and the better angels that steer us away-and how changing circumstances have allowed our better angels to prevail. Exploding fatalist myths about humankind's inherent violence and the curse of modernity, this ambitious and provocative book is sure to be hotly debated in living rooms and the Pentagon alike, and will challenge and change the way we think about our society.

The Souls of Black Folk is a classic work of American literature by W.E.B. Du Bois. It is a seminal work in the history of sociology, and a cornerstone of African-American literary history.

The book, first published in 1903, contains several essays on race, some of which had been previously published in Atlantic Monthly magazine. Du Bois drew from his own experiences to develop this groundbreaking work on being African-American in American society. Outside of its notable place in African-American history, The Souls of Black Folk also holds an important place in social science as one of the early works to deal with sociology.

When the Nazis invaded Hungary in 1944, they sent virtually the entire Jewish population to Auschwitz. A Jew and a medical doctor, the prisoner Dr. Miklos Nyiszli was spared death for a grimmer fate: to perform "scientific research" on his fellow inmates under the supervision of the man who became known as the infamous "Angel of Death" - Dr. Josef Mengele. Nyiszli was named Mengele's personal research pathologist. In that capactity he also served as physician to the Sonderkommando, the Jewish prisoners who worked exclusively in the crematoriums and were routinely executed after four months. Miraculously, Nyiszli survived to give this horrifying and sobering account.

Up from Slavery is one of the most influential biographies ever written. On one level it is the life story of Booker T. Washington and his rise from slavery to accomplished educator and activist. On another level it the story of how an entire race strove to better itself. Washington makes it clear just how far race relations in America have come, and to some extent, just how much further they have to go. Written with wit and clarity.

Addressing the nature and causes of the wealth of nations, Adam Smith made one of the most potent contributions to subsequent ideological history. In the West since the early-19th century he has been the patron saint of "homo economicus". More recently, successive British governments have invoked his policy recommendations of free trade and "laissez-faire" to aid their extension of privatization and market effectiveness into areas such as health and education. Smith, however, not only viewed merchants and manufacturers with deep suspicion, but also tempered his celebration of a self-regulating market with a darker vision of the dehumanizing potential of a profit-orientated society. He did not write an economics textbook, however, but rather a narrative about the struggle for individual liberty and general prosperity in history. This selected edition includes sections from all five books of the "Wealth of Nations". It also provides full notes and a commentary that places Smith's work within a rich interdisciplinary environment.