Engelstalige historische romans

1. Friedrich , Nietzsche

Thus Spoke Zarathustra

Friedrich Nietzsche's most accessible and influential philosophical work, misquoted, misrepresented, brilliantly original and enormously influentialNietzsche was one of the most revolutionary and subversive thinkers in Western philosophy, and Thus Spoke Zarathustra remains his most famous and influential work. It describes how the ancient Persian prophet Zarathustra descends from his solitude in the mountains to tell the world that God is dead and that the Superman, the human embodiment of divinity, is his successor. Nietzsche's utterance 'God is dead', his insistence that the meaning of life is to be found in purely human terms, and his doctrine of the Superman and the will to power were all later seized upon and unrecognisably twisted by, among others, Nazi intellectuals. With blazing intensity and poetic brilliance, Nietzsche argues that the meaning of existence is not to be found in religious pieties or meek submission to authority, but in an all-powerful life force: passionate, chaotic and free. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

1. Andrew , Lang

Historical Mysteries

«Historical Mysteries» by Andrew Lang is a captivating collection of Victorian true crime essays that investigates twelve of history's most perplexing unsolved cases. First published in 1904, this masterwork of historical investigations combines scholarly rigor with gripping storytelling as Lang re-examines notorious mysteries through contemporary 19th-century perspectives.The book opens with the enigmatic disappearance of James IV of Scotland's body after the Battle of Flodden (1513), applying modern forensic thinking to medieval warfare. Subsequent chapters analyze:The baffling vanishing of Benjamin Bathurst (1809), a British diplomat who stepped behind an inn and never reappearedThe controversial Kaspar Hauser case, questioning whether this "wild child" was truly a German princeThe suspicious death of Charles Bravo, featuring one of England's most controversial poison trialsLang's distinctive approach blends 19th century mysteries research with psychological insight, particularly in his revolutionary re-reading of the Gowrie Conspiracy (1600) as a possible case of mistaken identity rather than royal treachery. Unlike typical famous disappearances compilations, Lang frequently disputes popular theories, notably debunking supernatural explanations for the "Dingwall Ghost" through meticulous document analysis.

1. Peter , Rock

Shelter Cycle

An American original, Peter Rock brings our strangest beliefs to vivid and sympathetic life in this haunting novel inspired by true events.

1. Read

A Peaceful Retirement

1. George Bernard , Shaw

Pygmalion

Pygmalion is a 5-act play by George Bernard Shaw. It was written in 1912 and first produced in 1913. The plot revolves around Professor Henry Higgins¿ bet with a colleague over whether he can transform a low-class flower girl, Liza Doolittle, into the equivalent of a Duchess in just 6 months. Pygmalion was a Greek mythological figure who fell in love with a sculpture he had carved and was a popular theme in Victorian drama.Most people would be familiar with the characters Eliza Doolittle and Henry Higgins from the hit 1956 musical My Fair Lady, which was adapted from Pygmalion, though the plots differ in small but significant ways. In particular Shaw wanted to avoid any sense of a ¿happy ending¿ and, after viewing a performance of the play where an extra scene had been added, he wrote a sequel which definitively states what came after. The sequel was included in the published edition.

1. Tom , Taylor

Our American Cousin

Our American Cousin is a three-act play written by English playwright Tom Taylor. The play opened in London in 1858 but quickly made its way to the U.S. and premiered at Laura Keene¿s Theatre in New York City later that year. It remained popular in the U.S. and England for the next several decades. Its most notable claim to fame, however, is that it was the play U.S. President Abraham Lincoln was watching on April 14, 1865 when he was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth, who used his knowledge of the script to shoot Lincoln during a more raucous scene.The play is a classic Victorian farce with a whole range of stereotyped characters, business, and many entrances and exits. The plot features a boorish but honest American cousin who travels to the aristocratic English countryside to claim his inheritance, and then quickly becomes swept up in the family¿s affairs. An inevitable rescue of the family¿s fortunes and of the various damsels in distress ensues.Our American Cousin was originally written as a farce for an English audience, with the laughs coming mostly at the expense of the naive American character. But after it moved to the U.S. it was eventually recast as a comedy where English caricatures like the pompous Lord Dundreary soon became the primary source of hilarity. This early version, published in 1869, contains fewer of that character¿s nonsensical adages, which soon came to be known as ¿Dundrearyisms,¿ and for which the play eventually gained much of its popular appeal.