In 1947 the young American writer traveled to Rome on a Guggenheim fellowship. But instead of a novel, Clark created a series of sketches of Roman life written mostly between 1948 and 1951.
Bringing to life the legendary city’s beauty and magic in all its many facets, Eleanor Clark’s masterful collection of vignettes, Rome and a Villa, has transported readers for generations.
In 1947 the young American writer traveled to Rome on a Guggenheim fellowship. But instead of a novel, Clark created a series of sketches of Roman life written mostly between 1948 and 1951. Wandering the streets of this legendary city, Eleanor fell under Rome’s spell—its pace of life, the wry outlook of its men and women, its magnificent history and breathtaking contribution to world culture. Rome is life itself—a sensuous, hectic, chaotic, and utterly fascinating blend of the comic and the tragic. Clark highlights Roman art and architecture, including Hadrian’s Villa—an enormous, unfinished palace—as a prism to view the city and its history, and offers a lovely portrait of the Cimitero acattolico—long known as the Protestant cemetery—where Keats, Shelley, and other foreign notables rest. [Harper Perennial]
Whittaker Chambers had just participated in America’s trial of the century in which Chambers claimed that Alger Hiss, a full-standing member of the political establishment, was a spy for the Soviet Union. This poetic autobiography recounts the famous case, but also reveals much more.
First published in 1952, Witness was at once a literary effort, a philosophical treatise, and a bestseller. Whittaker Chambers had just participated in America’s trial of the century in which Chambers claimed that Alger Hiss, a full-standing member of the political establishment, was a spy for the Soviet Union. This poetic autobiography recounts the famous case, but also reveals much more. Chambers’ worldview – i.e. man without mysticism is a monster – went on to help make political conservatism a national force. [Regnery]
The Big Change illustrates a transformative moment in American history and provides an implicit and illuminating perspective 1900 to 1950 from the perspective of someone at that moment in history.
Allen was one of the first to start a model of what is sometimes called instant history, the reconstruction of past eras through vivid commentary on the news, fashions, customs, and artifacts that altered the pace and forms of American life. The Big Change was Allen’s last and possibly most ambitious book. The Big Change attempted to chart and explain progressive evolution of American life from 1900 to 1950! It was written at a time of unprecedented optimism and prosperity. The Big Change illustrates a transformative moment in American history and provides an implicit and illuminating perspective 1900 to 1950 from the perspective of someone at that moment in history. [eStar Books]
The Build-up, Volume 3 of the
Stecher Trilogy, picks up the thread of
White Mule and
In the Money. Although all of the novels deal with the triumphant rise of an immigrant family in the early 1900s,
the Build-up is more concerned with the overwhelming drive and ambition of Joe Stecher’s wife, Gurlie
The Build-up, Volume 3 of the Stecher Trilogy, picks up the thread ofWhite Mule and In the Money. Although all of the novels deal with the triumphant rise of an immigrant family in the early 1900s, the Build-up is more concerned with the overwhelming drive and ambition of Joe Stecher’s wife, Gurlie. After years of hard work, careful planning (and his wife’s badgering) Joe’s printing business is providing his family with a comfortable income. As soon as her financial goal is realized, Gurlie focuses her attention on another area. Her phenomenal energy is soon earning her all unassailable position as a social leader in a small New Jersey suburb. Her achievement is not without its heartache, however. This story is told with all the gentle humor and exacting detail that mark Williams’s prose works. [New Directions]
Set in the rich farmland of California’s Salinas Valley, this sprawling and often brutal novel follows the intertwined destinies of two families—the Trasks and the Hamiltons—whose generations helplessly reenact the fall of Adam and Eve and the poisonous rivalry of Cain and Abel.
A masterpiece of Biblical scope, and the magnum opus of one of America’s most enduring authors.
In his journal, Nobel Prize winner John Steinbeck called East of Eden “the first book,” and indeed it has the primordial power and simplicity of myth. Set in the rich farmland of California’s Salinas Valley, this sprawling and often brutal novel follows the intertwined destinies of two families—the Trasks and the Hamiltons—whose generations helplessly reenact the fall of Adam and Eve and the poisonous rivalry of Cain and Abel.
The masterpiece of Steinbeck’s later years, East of Eden is a work in which Steinbeck created his most mesmerizing characters and explored his most enduring themes: the mystery of identity, the inexplicability of love, and the murderous consequences of love’s absence. Adapted for the 1955 film directed by Elia Kazan introducing James Dean and read by thousands as the book that brought Oprah’s Book Club back, East of Eden has remained vitally present in American culture for over half a century. [Penguin]
