Books in the Thrift Editions series

After kicking open the doors to twentieth-century philosophy in Thus Spake Zarathustra, Friedrich Nietzsche refined his ideal of the superman with the 1886 publication of Beyond Good and Evil. Conventional morality is a sign of slavery, Nietzsche maintains, and the superman goes beyond good and evil in action, thought, and creation. Nietzsche especially targets what he calls a slave morality that fosters herdlike quiescence and stigmatizes the highest human types.In this pathbreaking work, Nietzsche's philosophical and literary powers are at their height: with devastating irony and flashing wit he gleefully dynamites centuries of accumulated conventional wisdom in metaphysics, morals, and psychology, clearing a path for such twentieth-century innovators as Thomas Mann, André Gide, Sigmund Freud, George Bernard Shaw, André Malraux, and Jean-Paul Sartre, all of whom openly acknowledged their debt to him.

Besides a selection of letters by the abolitionist himself, the original collection includes an excerpt from W. E. B. Du Bois's biography, John Brown, addresses by Frederick Douglass and Ralph Waldo Emerson, poetry by Louisa May Alcott, and more.

One of the most prominent African-Americans of his time, James Weldon Johnson (1871-1938) was a successful lawyer, educator, social reformer, songwriter, and critic. But it was as a poet and novelist that he achieved lasting fame. Among his most famous works, The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man in many ways parallels Johnson's own remarkable life. First published in 1912, the novel relates, through an anonymous narrator, events in the life of an American of mixed ethnicity whose exceptional abilities and ambiguous appearance allow him unusual social mobility--from the rural South to the urban North and eventually to Europe. This pioneering work not only probes the psychological aspects of passing for white but also examines the American caste and class system. The human drama is powerful and revealing--from the narrator's persistent battles with personal demons to his firsthand observations of a Southern lynching and the mingling of races in New York's bohemian atmosphere at the turn of the century.

Six essays and one address outline Emerson's moral idealism and hint at later scepticism. In addition to title essay, this volume includes "History," "Friendship," "The Over-Soul," "The Poet" and "Experience," plus the Harvard Divinity School Address.

The harrowing, fictional memoir of a condemned murderer, this haunting and remarkable novel recounts, in part, the years Dostoyevsky spent in prison for suspected subversive activities.

In powerful and persuasive prose, Mill asks and answers provocative questions relating to the boundaries of social authority and individual sovereignty. This new edition offers students of political science and philosophy, in an inexpensive volume, one of the most influential studies on the nature of individual liberty and its role in a democratic society.

A stunning, controversial work that immediately outraged audiences with its scatological references during the 1896 premiere, the farce satirizes the tendency of the successful bourgeois to abuse his authority and become irresponsibly complacent. Championed as the first absurdist drama, "Ubu Roi "features a main character that is cruel, gluttonous, and grotesque.

Intellectually stimulating work describes the ideal state and ponders how it can bring about the most desirable life for its citizens. Famed Jowett translation of Aristotle's masterwork.

Four outstanding works by great 19th-century Russian author: "The Nose," "Old-Fashioned Farmers," "The Tale of How Ivan Ivanovich Quarrelled with Ivan Nikiforovich," and "The Overcoat."

Stimulating, thought-provoking utopian fantasy about a young man who's put into a hypnotic trance in the late 19th century and awakens in the year 2000 to find crime, war, and want nonexistent.

Darkly fascinating short novel depicts the struggles of a doubting, supremely alienated protagonist in a world of relative values. Embraces moral, religious, political, and social themes. Authoritative Constance Garnett translation. New introduction.

The great documents in this important collection helped form the foundation of American democratic government. Compelling, influential, and often inspirational, they range from Patrick Henry's dramatic "Give me liberty or give me death" speech at the start of the American Revolution to Abraham Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address, issued in the closing weeks of the Civil War. Also included are the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson's classic rationale for rejecting allegiance to the government of King George III; the Monroe Doctrine, the cornerstone of American foreign policy; and other landmark statements: The Constitution of the United States; James Madison's The Federalist, No. 10; George Washington's First Inaugural Address and Farewell Address; Thomas Jefferson's First Inaugural Address; Andrew Jackson's Veto of the Bank Bill; and Abraham Lincoln's First Inaugural Address, Emancipation Proclamation, and Gettysburg Address.An introductory note precedes the text of each document, providing fascinating background history and information about the author.

It was with this first version of "Song of Myself," from the 1855 edition of Leaves of Grass, that Whitman first made himself known to the world. Readers of revised editions will find this version surprising, and often superior. A selection of the Common Core State Standards Initiative.

Composed in a golden age of Celtic storytelling in the 13th century or earlier, this collection of 12 Welsh prose tales is a masterpiece of European literature. This unabridged republication of a stand edition includes a Publisher's Note and the original Introduction.