Kevin MacLeod

The sole survivor of a shipwreck, Robinson Crusoe endures twenty-seven years of solitude and deprivation on a remote Caribbean island, his only companion an escaped prisoner who he names "Friday." Together, Crusoe and Friday encounter cannibals, captives and mutineers, before being rescued by pirates and returning home. Written by Daniel Defoe in 1719, The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe is thought to be inspired by the true story of Scottish...

A gloomy New England mansion provides the setting for this classic exploration of ancestral guilt and its expiation through the love and goodwill of succeeding generations. Nathaniel Hawthorne drew inspiration for this story of an immorally obtained property from the role his forebears played in the 17th-century Salem witch trials. Built over an unquiet grave, the House of the Seven Gables carries a dying man's curse that blights the lives of its...

Newland Archer, a handsome and eligible young attorney, is torn between his socially acceptable fiancee and his attraction to the Countess Olenska.

In 1775, the American colonies were a hotbed of political discord. Many of the British policies, specifically taxes, had caused American colonial leaders to consider the unthinkable: declaring independence from the British Empire and its King George. One such leader, Thomas Jefferson, wrote Common Sense: a pamphlet that explained the advantages of immediate and complete independence. In 1776, when the Declaration of Independence was signed, Common...

This is the story of the savage, tormented foundling Heathcliff, who falls wildly in love with Catherine Earnshaw, the daughter of his benefactor, and the violence and misery that result from their thwarted longing for each other. A book of great power and strength, it is filled with the raw beauty of the moors and an uncanny understanding of the terrible truths about men and women. It is an understanding made even more extraordinary by the fact that...

Emma thinks she knows what is best for everybody, including herself. This is one of many editions of this 1815 novel. Emma, when first published in 1816, was written when Jane Austen was at the height of her powers. In it, we have her two greatest comic creations -- the eccentric Mr. Woodhouse and that quintissential bore, Miss Bates. In it, too, we have her most profound characterization: the witty, imaginative, self-deluded Emma, a heroine the author...

The adventures of a mischievous young boy and his friends growing up in a Mississippi River town in the nineteenth century. Includes illustrated notes throughout the text explaining the historical background of the story.