"Analytical bibliography of the National Art Library's collection of literary ephemera of the mid-eighteenth to the mid-nineteenth century. Nearly 800 titles described in detail, including histories, tales, verse collections, primers, alphabets, and allowing accurate identification and verification with other collections. Includes reproduced illustrations from all books described"--Provided by publisher.

The Common Man, Maurice Manning’s fourth collection, is a series of ballad-like narratives, set down in loose, unrhymed iambic tetrameter, that honors the strange beauty of the Kentucky mountain country he knew as a child, as well as the idiosyncratic adventures and personalities of the oldtimers who were his neighbors, friends, and family. Playing off the book’s title, Manning demonstrates that no one is common or simple. Instead, he creates a detailed, complex, and poignant portrait—by turns serious and hilarious, philosophical and speculative, but ultimately tragic—of a fast-disappearing aspect of American culture. The Common Man’s accessibility and its enthusiastic and sincere charms make it the perfect antidote to the glib ironies that characterize much contemporary American verse. It will also help to strengthen Manning’s reputation as one of his generation’s most important and original voices.

From Time Beyond all time, he came. From the misty-fire of Light and Sound, he descended into Form. I AM, I AM, his name thundered through the infinite void. Demons stirred. Ancient gods of the earth, and angels of heaven awoke to peer through misty veils of eternity. The time of reaping had come to God's last creation, to man on earth, to the blue-white world of water, to the Garden planet. Shining angels shook moist, golden wings. Demons rattled dry curses from leathery throats. Giants, sylphs and avatars all wanted in the game. The time has come again for the Host. From the white-haired Old Man flowed a joyous song for all to hear, "Let the Play of Life begin. Let the Play of Life begin."

He was born in a middle-class family in small-town India of the late fifties. His parents chose for him the direction that his life should take. Yet, something was lacking. Was this the path that he was meant to walk? Did he want this? He fought his chosen destiny at every stage of his life. Would he be able to realise his true destiny?

Republicans and Democrats continue to fight with each other, but the truth is that neither side is really presenting Americans with solutions to their most pressing problems. One reason the so-called mainstream right and left cant understand the struggles of everyday people is that virtually all of them are far removed from regular life. A Common Mans View provides a fresh perspective from middle-class America in a bid to get the country back on the right track. Join a former US Marine Corps helicopter pilot who was deployed twice in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom as he focuses on what being a hero means; where to find modern-day heroes; what is at stake in the War on Terror; what faith, attitude, and a little bit of perspective can do; and what to do to achieve individual and collective success. The common people do not have nannies to watch over their children, and they somehow balance their household budgets as the economy goes up and down. Discover what makes the United States great and play your part in reversing its decline by holding up old-fashioned, common values.

O, The Oprah Magazine's 20 Best Titles of the Year Time Magazine's 100 Books to Read in 2020 Financial Times' Best Books of 2020 Esquire's Best Books of 2020 New York Times Editors' Choice Lit Hub's Best Books of 2020 Bustle's Best Short Story Collections of 2020 Electric Literature's Favorite Short Story Collections of 2020 Library Journal's Best Short Stories of 2020 “Superb. . . . Krauss’s depictions of the nuances of sex and love, intimacy and dependence, call to mind the work of Natalia Ginzburg in their psychological profundity, their intellectual rigor. . . . Krauss’s stories capture characters at moments in their lives when they’re hungry for experience and open to possibilities, and that openness extends to the stories themselves: narratives too urgent and alive for neat plotlines, simplistic resolutions or easy answers.” —Molly Antopol, New York Times Book Review “From a contemporary master, an astounding collection of ten globetrotting stories, each one a powerful dissection of the thorny connections between men and women. . . . Each story is masterfully crafted and deeply contemplative, barreling toward a shimmering, inevitable conclusion, proving once again that Krauss is one of our most formidable talents in fiction.” —Esquire In one of her strongest works of fiction yet, Nicole Krauss plunges fearlessly into the struggle to understand what it is to be a man and what it is to be a woman, and the arising tensions that have existed from the very beginning of time. Set in our contemporary moment, and moving across the globe from Switzerland, Japan, and New York City to Tel Aviv, Los Angeles, and South America, the stories in To Be a Man feature male characters as fathers, lovers, friends, children, seducers, and even a lost husband who may never have been a husband at all. The way these stories mirror one other and resonate is beautiful, with a balance so finely tuned that the book almost feels like a novel. Echoes ring through stages of life: aging parents and new-born babies; young women’s coming of age and the newfound, somewhat bewildering sexual power that accompanies it; generational gaps and unexpected deliveries of strange new leases on life; mystery and wonder at a life lived or a future waiting to unfold. To Be a Man illuminates with a fierce, unwavering light the forces driving human existence: sex, power, violence, passion, self-discovery, growing older. Profound, poignant, and brilliant, Krauss’s stories are at once startling and deeply moving, but always revealing of all-too-human weakness and strength.

Does saving your family’s honour trump personal happiness? Will the god be appeased if you overfeed him and not help the needy? Will the law protect the stray dog that tears an eight-year-old into shreds? Is a deceased manual scavenger just another statistic who risks his life for a cleaner future? In the voice of the common man, Bobby Sachdeva questions our everyday practices in an unorthodox manner in Stories of Us. From Rishi to Parth and Lata to Rajnath, the hard-hitting and honest narratives are sure to inspire the common person to rethink the values long etched in our belief system.