Macbeth is among the best-known of William Shakespeare's plays, and is his shortest tragedy, believed to have been written between 1603 and 1606. It is frequently performed at both amateur and professional levels, and has been adapted for opera, film, books, stage and screen. Often regarded as archetypal, the play tells of the dangers of the lust for power and the betrayal of friends. For the plot Shakespeare drew loosely on the historical account...

"Meek little Mole, willful Ratty, Badger the perennial bachelor, and petulant Toad. Since their first appearance over a hundred years ago in 1908, they've become emblematic archetypes of eccentricity, folly, and friendship. And their misadventures--in gypsy caravans, stolen sports cars, and their beloved Wild Wood--continue to capture readers' imaginations and warm their hearts long after they grow up. Begun as a series of letters from Kenneth Grahame...

"The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas is the ultimate novel of retribution. Based on a true story, it recounts the story of Edouard Dantes, his betrayal and imprisonment in the sinister Chateau d'If. Years later, Paris is intrigued by the mysterious Count of Monte Cristo, who bursts onto the Paris social scene with his millions. He encounters the three principal betrayers of Dantes who have prospered in the post-Napoleonic boom and, one by...

An English family's complex lives are followed and picked up again after a 10 year hiatus in order to explore the effects of time. "Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse is one of her greatest literary achievements and among the most influential novels of the twentieth century. The serene and maternal Mrs. Ramsay, the tragic yet absurd Mr. Ramsay, and their children and assorted guests are on holiday on the Isle of Skye. From the seemingly trivial postponement...

"When young Edward VI of England and Tom Canty, a poor boy who looks just like him, exchange places, each learns a valuable lesson about the other's very different station in life in sixteenth-century England." --

Towering classic of dystopian satire, BRAVE NEW WORLD is a brilliant and terrifying vision of a soulless society--and of one man who discovers the human costs of mindless conformity. Hundreds of years in the future, the World Controllers have created an ideal civilization. Its members, shaped by genetic engineering and behavioral conditioning, are productive and content in roles they have been assigned at conception. Government-sanctioned drugs and...

The adventures of the three Darling children in Never-Never Land with Peter Pan, the boy who would not grow up. "All children, except one, grow up." And so begins the story of one of the most beloved characters in children's literature, Peter Pan. J.M. Barrie's classic tale, completely unabridged, features a boy who refuses to grow up, Tinker Bell the fairy, and the Darling children -- Wendy, John, and Michael. Their great adventure begins on the...

Presents the original text of Shakespeare's play side by side with a modern version, discusses the author and the theater of his time, and provides quizzes and other study activities.