Classics

A fresh view of the life, work and wit of Jonathan Swift, the first of Ireland's truly great writers, presented through his poetry, fiction, epigrams, social satires and personal letters.

Features Jonathan Swift's (1667-1745) devastating short satire on how to solve a famine.

No one is better equipped in the struggle for wealth and worldly success than the alluring and ruthless Becky Sharp, who defies her impoverished background to clamber up the class ladder. Her sentimental companion Amelia, however, longs only for caddish soldier George.

Dylan Thomas's classic radio play reprinted to celebrate the centenary of his birth. A true masterpiece that has never been out of print.

The first volume of the bestselling Gonzo Papers

In this classic of American literature, Thoreau gives an account of his two years' experience of the 'simple life' in the woods, telling how he sought and found material and spiritual sustenance in the solitude of the cabin which he built for himself on the shore of Walden Pond, near Concord, Massachusetts.

Thucydides' history of the Peloponnesian War combines brilliant narrative and penetrating analysis; his writing has had more lasting influence on western thought than all but Plato and Aristotle. This masterly new translation is the most comprehensive single-volume edition currently available.

From sophisticated Moscow soirees to breathless troika rides through the snow, from the bloody front line at Austerlitz to a wife's death in childbirth, the author conjures a broad panorama of rich, messy, beautiful and debased human life.

Tolstoy's epic novel focuses on the chaos of battle, the horror of death and bloodshed, and the expression of the noble virtues of love and valour.