Edward Prime-Stevenson (1858-1942) has been described by one critic as "the first modern gay American author," and his novel Imre: A Memorandum (1906) has been cited as the first openly gay American novel. But fifteen years earlier, Stevenson published another milestone work, Left to Themselves (1891), a young adult novel described by its author as "homosexual in essence," the first such book ever published.

This book presents the life stories of the two young gentlemen: the seventeen-year-old Philip Touchstone and twelve-year-old Gerald Saxton. The encounter leads to a unique friendship and a series of adventures for the two boys. Although aimed as a book for teenagers, this work can also be of great interest to readers of any age.

BOOKER PRIZE WINNER • NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A novel that follows a middle-aged man as he contends with a past he never much thought about—until his closest childhood friends return with a vengeance: one of them from the grave, another maddeningly present. A novel so compelling that it begs to be read in a single setting, The Sense of an Ending has the psychological and emotional depth and sophistication of Henry James at his best, and is a stunning achievement in Julian Barnes's oeuvre. Tony Webster thought he left his past behind as he built a life for himself, and his career has provided him with a secure retirement and an amicable relationship with his ex-wife and daughter, who now has a family of her own. But when he is presented with a mysterious legacy, he is forced to revise his estimation of his own nature and place in the world.

"Left to themselves, they drift, drink, disconnect. This stunning novel, by award-winning story writer Mary Grimm, is about loss and love in ordinary lives." "One night, in a bar, Lucette drifts into Harry's life. Distant, passionate, passive, Lucette is the catalyst of change. Harry has been in and out of jobs, bars, and women's beds, adept at avoidance, at not dealing with things, including feelings under the surface of his friendship with his cousin Cynthia. Cynthia goes through the motions of a marriage, but in fact spends her days waiting for Harry; she cannot find it in herself to leave the house that once belonged to her grandmother, where she and Harry played as children. The aimlessness with which Mary Grimm's flawlessly rendered characters live out their lives stems from complexities they are determined to ignore, to forget, repress - an ungiving mother, a father who died too soon, sexual feelings denied: actions and inactions that shift the fragile balance in people and in life." "Beautifully written, full of startling insight, Mary Grimm's mesmerizing novel illuminates the pretenses people use to avoid acknowledging the difficulty and pain of daily life. Left to Themselves is a remarkable first novel, one that reveals the empty spaces within us all."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

A "New York Times" bestseller and a National Book Award finalist, "The Year We Left Home" chronicles the lives of the Erickson family as the children come of age in 1970's and '80's America.

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A sociologist explores the many ways that digital natives' interaction with technology has changed their relationship with people, places, jobs, and other stabilizing structures and created a new way of life that is at odds with the American Dream of past generations. Digital natives are hacking the American Dream. Young people brought up with the Internet, smartphones, and social media are quickly rendering old habits, values, behaviors, and norms a distant memory--creating the greatest generation gap in history. In this eye-opening book, digital sociologist Julie M. Albright looks at the many ways in which younger people, facilitated by technology, are coming "untethered" from traditional aspirations and ideals, and asks: What are the effects of being disconnected from traditional, stabilizing social structures like churches, marriage, political parties, and long-term employment? What does it mean to be human when one's ties to people, places, jobs, and societal institutions are weakened or broken, displaced by digital hyper-connectivity? Albright sees both positives and negatives. On the one hand, mobile connectivity has given digital nomads the unprecedented opportunity to work or live anywhere. But, new threats to well-being are emerging, including increased isolation, anxiety, and loneliness, decreased physical exercise, ephemeral relationships, fragmented attention spans, and detachment from the calm of nature. In this time of rapid, global, technologically driven change, this book offers fresh insights into the unintended societal and psychological implications of lives exclusively lived in a digital world.