Books in the Reader's Guides series

An invaluable guide to this classic text surveying the book's composition and central arguments, the intellectual context of its composition, and its continuing influence.

A staple of undergraduate courses in Classical Studies, Latin, English and Comparative Literature, Ovid's "Metamorphoses" is arguably one of the most important, canonical Latin texts. This title offers guidance on: literary, historical and cultural context; key themes; reading the text; reception and influence; and, further reading.

William Wordsworth continues to be one of the most popular and widely studied poets from the nineteenth century. This guide introduces readers to the literary, philosophical, and political contexts crucial to understanding Wordsworth's poetry, offering fresh approaches for reading his important poems in light of developments in literary studies.

"A Thousand Plateaus" is the engaging and influential second part of "Capitalism and Schizophrenia", the remarkable collaborative project written by the philosopher Gilles Deleuze and the psychoanalyst Felix Guattari. This guide offers an introduction to this hugely important and yet challenging work.

A comprehensive student guide to studying Emily Bronte's classic novel "Wuthering Heights". It introduces its contexts, language, reception and adaptation since its first publication.

Margaret Atwood's popular dystopian novel "A Handmaid's Tale", engages the reader with a broad range of issues relating to power, gender and religious politics. This guide provides an overview of the key critical debates and interpretations of the novel and encourages you to engage with key questions and readings in your reading of the text.

Thomas Aquinas' major work, the "Summa Theologiae", is one of the most important theological works of the Middle Ages. This guide presents the basic principles that underlie the "Summa Theologiae" both as a whole and with respect to its three parts, and the varying treatises found within them.

Friedrich Nietzsche was arguably the most important and influential thinker of the nineteenth century. "The Birth of Tragedy", his first published work, is a classic text that remains an essential read for those seeking to understand the development of Nietzsche's ideas. This title offers an introduction to this important and yet challenging work.

In many regards the dialectical counterpart of the "Republic, the Symposium" is one of the richest and most influential of the Platonic dialogues, resonating not only with Western philosophy, but also with literature art and theology. This title presents an introduction to the text.

This is the ideal companion to study of this most influential and challenging of texts.

A guide to Mary Shelley's gothic novel, "Frankenstein" - a key text for introductory literature courses at undergraduate level. It is helpful for reading and studying the novel, setting it in its historical, intellectual and cultural contexts, and offering analyses of its themes, style and structure.

"Descartes' Meditations" is one of the most important texts in the whole history of philosophy. Descartes is widely regarded as the father of modern philosophy and the issues raised in the Meditations have often been taken to define the very nature of philosophy. This book offers an account of this philosophical work.