Ocean State Libraries

In 1831, the then twenty-seven year old Alexis de Tocqueville, was sent with Gustave de Beaumont to America by the French Government to study and make a report on the American prison system. Over a period of nine months the two traveled all over America making notes not only on the prison systems but on all aspects of American society and government. From these notes, Tocqueville wrote "Democracy in America", an exhaustive analysis of the successes...

John Harmon will inherit a fortune if he marries a girl whose personality has been affected by her wealth, and friends and events conspire to prove her true worth.

Immerse yourself in the world of Oscar Wilde with the collection: "The Plays of Oscar Wilde." Containing all of Wilde's plays, this collection is a must-have for every bookshelf. Oscar Wilde was born in mid-1800's Dublin to highly intellectual parents. He found a niche in the growing trend of aestheticism and was mentored by Walter Pater and John Ruskin. Although he dabbled in short stories and poems at the beginning of his career, Wilde was taken...

"The Call of the Wild (1903) and White Fang (1906) are two classic American adventure novels depicting the evolution of two dogs in the wild. The novels are in fact mirror images of one another, as Call of the Wild depicts Buck's journey from domestic to wild dog, while White Fang recounts White Fang's transformation from wild beast to domestic companion. Both convey powerful themes of redemption and survival that continue to affect readers even today.The...

Presents the original text of Shakespeare's play side by side with a modern version, discusses the author and the theater of his time, and provides quizzes and other study activities.

Elfride finds herself caught in a love triangle and a battle between her heart, her mind and the expectations of those around her – her parents and society. Her two suitors are from very different backgrounds. Stephen Smith is a socially inferior but ambitious young man who adores her and with whom she shares a country background. Henry Knight is the respectable, established, older man who represents London society. Although the two are friends,...

The Forsyte Saga is a series of three novels and two interludes published between 1906 and 1921 by Nobel Prize-winning English author John Galsworthy. They chronicle the vicissitudes of the leading members of a large commercial upper middle-class English family, similar to Galsworthy's own. The Man of Property is the first novel of the The Forsyte Saga. Soames Forsyte, a solicitor and "man of property," is married to the beautiful, penniless Irene,...

Tells the story of Bathsheba Everdene, who must choose among three suitors in Wessex in the 1840s.

An edition of Shakespeare's tragedy, including discussion of its plot, themes, characters, language, production, and author. As well as the complete scripts (established by scholars working on the New Cambridge Shakespeare), the student will find a running synopsis of the action, an explanation of unfamiliar words, and a wide range of classroom-tested activities to help turn the script into drama.

For an ambitious, keenly intelligent woman, lying proves to be the easiest way to get through life, in this Victorian-era classic. Lizzie Greystock is a woman of rare cunning and determination-both of which she uses to better her lot in life. This is especially true when she manages to convince the ailing Sir Florian Eustace to marry her shortly before his demise, leaving Lizzie both a wealthy widow and the mother to Florian's young son. A born...