An NYRB Classics Original Simon Leys is a Renaissance man for the era of globalization. A distinguished scholar of classical Chinese art and literature and one of the first Westerners to recognize the appalling toll of Mao’s Cultural Revolution, Leys also writes with unfailing intelligence, seriousness, and bite about European art, literature, history, and politics and is an unflinching observer of the way we live now. The Hall of Uselessness is the most extensive collection of Leys’s essays to be published to date. In it, he addresses subjects ranging from the Chinese attitude to the past to the mysteries of Belgium and Belgitude; offers portraits of André Gide and Zhou Enlai; takes on Roland Barthes and Christopher Hitchens; broods on the Cambodian genocide; reflects on the spell of the sea; and writes with keen appreciation about writers as different as Victor Hugo, Evelyn Waugh, and Georges Simenon. Throughout, The Hall of Uselessness is marked with the deep knowledge, skeptical intelligence, and passionate conviction that have made Simon Leys one of the most powerful essayists of our time.

Famed for his singular prose style as much as for his controversial aestheticist principles, Walter Pater (1839-1894) was one of the great essayists in a century of great essayistic writing. His first book, Studies in the History of the Renaissance — one of the most original and influential texts of the Victorian Aesthetic Movement — was described by Arthur Symons as 'the most beautiful book of prose in our literature', and his later work moved Vernon Lee to call him 'the natural exponent of the highest aesthetic doctrine'. Selected Essays is a generous gathering of Pater's essays on literature, art, history, philosophy and mythology — all of them, in the words of Oscar Wilde, 'delicately wrought works of art'. The selection is accompanied by Alex Wong's critical and biographical introduction and rich explanatory notes.

A tense world struggles in chaos…and the clock is ticking. Events are aligning as mankind spirals into anger, war, fear, and hopelessness. Nations are at odds with populism and globalism. Political leaders and dictators vie for power and influence. Looking back, you wonder “how did we get here?” Yet, these events are only signposts to the real future of mankind…the prophetic end of days. Globalism and Israel remain the two important factors to understanding key biblical prophecies. Signals abound that this generation is on the edge of experiencing a transition into the Tribulation. There may be no more dramatic proof that this sudden change is about to happen than what has resulted from the election of Donald J. Trump as president of the United States. In addition to being staunchly anti-globalism, Trump is stridently pro-Israel; moving the American Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem is proof. Now discover: Why Israel is such an important target for SatanHow America is part of the biblical propheciesWhich country is Babylon the Great – and why it will be destroyed Follow prophecy expert Terry James as he shares a collection of pivotal essays from 2015 to 2017 that reveal and highlight the prophetic clues that have brought us to this point in the countdown to a coming judgment. It all comes down to a single question — are you prepared for what is to come?