The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color line.  Thus speaks W.E.B. Du Bois in The Souls Of Black Folk , one of the most prophetic and influental works in American literature.  In this eloquent collection of essays, first published in 1903, Du Bois dares as ... more »

Henry David Thoreau's vision of personal freedom is indelibly etched on the American consciousness. 'We need the tonic of wildness,' Thoreau wrote in Walden, and by turning his back on town amenities to build a house on Walden Pond in 1845, he helped shape our notions of the individual, subsistence, ... more »

During the seven years which have elapsed since the publication in 1868 of the first edition of this Work, I have continued to attend to the same subjects, as far as lay in my power; and I have thus accumulated a large body of additional facts, chiefly through the kindness of many correspondents. Of ... more »

Few ancient works have been as influential as the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, philosopher and emperor of Rome (A.D. 161-180). A series of spiritual exercises filled with wisdom, practical guidance, and profound understanding of human behavior, it remains one of the greatest works of spiritual and ... more »

Perhaps the most readable and accessible of the great works of the scientific imagination, The Origin of Species sold out on the day it was published in 1859. Theologians quickly labeled Charles Darwin the most dangerous man in England, and, as the Saturday Review noted, the uproar over the book quickly ... more »

If they are real, then UFOs function under laws of physics we as yet do not understand: If they've come from distant parts of the galaxy, they must travel faster than light, or somehow circumvent that limitation on the upper limits of speed. UFO flying maneuvers that have been reported as sightings defy ... more »

Dare I say it? Dare I say that I, a plain, prosaic lieutenant in the republican service have done the incredible things here set out for the love of a woman - for a chimera in female shape; for a pale, vapid ghost of woman-loveliness? At times I tell myself I dare not: that you will laugh, and cast me ... more »

La chimie est née d'hier : il y a cent ans à peine qu'elle a pris la forme d'une science moderne. Cependant les progrès rapides qu'elle a faits depuis ont concouru, plus peut-être que ceux d'aucune autre science, à transformer l'industrie et la civilisation matérielle, et à donner à la race humaine ... more »

Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, ainsi qu'on peut le voir dans l'histoire de sa vie, écrite par son fils, avait déjà, en 1795, soupçonné que ce que nous appelons les espèces ne sont que des déviations variées d'un même type. Ce fut seulement en 1828 qu'il se déclara convaincu que les mêmes formes ne se sont pas ... more »

From the INTRODUCTION: The completion of the rapid transit railroad in the boroughs of Manhattan and The Bronx, which is popularly known as the Subway, has demonstrated that underground railroads can be built beneath the congested streets of the city, and has made possible in the near future a comprehensive ... more »

From the FOREWARD: We are in the early stages of what promises to be an extended debate about the future of conflict and the future of our defense establishment. Few will deny that the winds of change are blowing as never before, driven by a radically altered geopolitical situation, an evolving information ... more »

The subject of the present volume, namely the differently formed flowers normally produced by certain kinds of plants, either on the same stock or on distinct stocks, ought to have been treated by a professed botanist, to which distinction I can lay no claim. As far as the sexual relations of flowers ... more »