Edgar, the brooding young master of Ravenswood, retains none of his ancestral estates but a crumbling castle. Embittered by the lawsuits that have stripped him of his patrimony and shortened his despairing father's life, he determines to confront Sir William Ashton, the lawyer whose machinations led to the decline of Ravenswood's fortunes. But Edgar's plans take an abrupt turn upon meeting Sir William's lovely daughter, Lucy, and a romance blossoms...

In this diary Pepys observed and recorded the details of a ten-year period of English history which included not only the Restoration, but the Great Plague of 1665 and the Fire of London of the following year.

The final letters and diary entries of Robert Falcon Scott – written in his last days, while hopelessly trapped in a tiny tent by a raging blizzard on the Great Ice Barrier – are among the most poignant and haunting passages ever penned. 'Had we lived,' he wrote, 'I should have had a tale to tell of the hardihood, endurance, and courage of my companions which would have stirred the heart of every Englishman.' Scott's diaries, discovered with his...

With an Introduction by Derek Matravers. In The Social Contract Rousseau (1712-1778) argues for the preservation of individual freedom in political society. An individual can only be free under the law, he says, by voluntarily embracing that law as his own. Hence, being free in society requires each of us to subjugate our desires to the interests of all, the general will. Some have seen in this the promise of a free and equal relationship between...

A global financial collapse is caused by hostile nations freezing assets, and the end of the credit system. The Panic, which is followed by The Purple Death. The War in the Air, the Panic, and the Purple Death bring about a total collapse of the whole fabric of civilisation. But Bert Smallways, fixated on his amorous attachment, returns home after many adventures to kill a rival and win the hand of his beloved Edna; they marry and have eleven children....