A biography of Samuel Johnson which concerns the last twenty years of his life. It establishes Johnson's centrality in 18th century letters. It places him in a literary and cultural context.

In 1762 James Boswell, then twenty-two years old, left Edinburgh for London. The famous Journal he kept during the next nine months is an intimate account of his encounters with the high-life and the low- life in London, and a frank personal portrait of the young Boswell.

A survey of English literature from the Middle Ages to the twenty-first century, this edition represents essential works in genres, ranging from Seamus Heaney's translation of Beowulf to global twentieth-century classics. It contains concise glosses and annotations, period introductions, biographical headnotes, timelines and bibliographies.

A sparkling account of the writing of one of the most celebrated biographies of all time -- 'The Life of Samuel Johnson' -- and an account of the friendship that blossomed between writer and his subject.

A provocative and entertaining guided tour of atheist and agnostic thought through the ages selected by bestselling author Christopher Hitchens

Book by Samuel Johnson, published in 1775. The Journey was the result of a three-month trip to Scotland that Johnson took with James Boswell in 1773. It contains Johnson's descriptions of the customs, religion, education, trade, and agriculture of a society that was new to him. The account in Boswell's diary, published after Johnson's death as The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, with Samuel ...

'Every Scot should read it. Scotland now has the lively, provocative and positive history it deserves.' Irvine Welsh, Guardian A dramatic and intriguing history of how Scotland produced the institutions, beliefs and human character that have made the West into the most powerful culture in the world.

The everyday realities of life in the city of Hogarth, Fielding and Dr Johnson, based on contemporary evidence, by the author of the best-selling ELIZABETH'S LONDON.

The essay is one of the richest, most imaginative, and most eloquent literary form. This anthology contains some 140 essays by all the leading exponents of the genre.