Stephen Thorne

Jude the Obscure, the semi-autobiographical final novel from Thomas Hardy explores notions of surprising candor; within the eponymous protagonist lies the tragic truth of failed ambitions and relationships. In a fierce exploration of the darkness of love and the intellect, this is one of the great tragic novels of English literature. Jude Fawley, an earnest boy from a rural English village, dreams of a life of academia despite his working-class background....

"From the cars we drive to what toothpaste we use, how a tiny group of corporations have come to dominate every aspect of our lives"--

A Study in Scarlet is a detective novel by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. Written in 1886, the story marks the first appearance of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, who would become two of the most famous characters in popular fiction. The book's title derives from a speech given by Holmes, an amateur detective, to his friend and chronicler Watson on the nature of his work, in which he describes the story's murder investigation as his "study in...

"A Scandal in Bohemia" is the first short story, third overall work featuring Doyle's fictional detective Sherlock Holmes. Dr. Watson recounts that a masked visitor to Baker Street is quickly deduced to be the hereditary King of Bohemia. The King is to become engaged to a young Scandinavian princess. However, five years before, he had a liaison with American opera singer, Irene Adler. Fearful that the marriage would be called off, he had sought to...

Kieran Setiya is professor of philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is the author of Reasons without Rationalism (Princeton) and Knowing Right from Wrong. He lives in Brookline, Massachusetts, with his wife and son. Philosophical wisdom and practical advice for overcoming the problems of middle age How can you reconcile yourself with the lives you will never lead, with possibilities foreclosed, and with nostalgia for lost...

A master thief wraps up some unfinished business in this fast-paced, hard-boiled crime novel by the author of Nobody Runs Forever. Parker's got a new fence and a new plan to get the loot back from a botched job. But a bounty hunter, the FBI, and the local cops are on his tail. Only his brains, his cool, and the help of his lone longtime dame, Claire, can keep him one step ahead of the cars and the guns in this final Parker thriller. Praise for...

Jonathan Rothwell is the principal economist at Gallup, a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, and a visiting scholar at George Washington University. He lives in Washington, DC. Twitter @jtrothwell Why political inequality is to blame for economic and social injustice Political equality is the most basic tenet of democracy. Yet in America and other democratic nations, those with political power have special access to markets...

Caught in a war that pits greed and ambition against conscience and love, Emma Conway faces the fight of her life-to save her family, her company, and everything she treasures. Emma is finally living the dream-a happy second marriage and a great career. She has built Percival & Baxter's painkiller, Acordinol, into a huge success. But her dream becomes a nightmare when a Wall Street raider threatens a hostile takeover. Worse, the raider is no ordinary...

While the hyper-partisanship in Washington that has stunned the world has been building for decades, Ira Shapiro argues that the U.S. Senate has suffered most acutely from the loss of its political center. In Broken, Ira Shapiro, a former senior Senate staffer and author of the critically-acclaimed book The Last Great Senate, offers an expert's account of some of the most prominent battles of the past decade and lays out what must be done to restore...

In a world where success means owning a company before your 30th birthday, Mike Iamele seemed to have it all. By the age of 24, he was already making piles of money at his own public relations firm. And it was killing him. Literally. When a stress-induced illness brought him to his knees, he began to question everything he believed about success. And everywhere he turned, he met other young entrepreneurs who were praying to the temples of money, status,...