Historical genre books (486)



222.

Nana by Émile Zola EN

Rating: 5 (1 vote)
Country: Europe / France flag France
Description:
"Nana is probably the most famous character in Les Rougon-Macquart. The novel that bears her name, published in 1880, is the ninth volume in the series. It consists of a number of episodes, or tableaux, in the short but spectacular life of Ana Coupeau, the fourth child of Gervaise Macquart. We first saw her as a young girl in L'Assommoir (1877), her father an abusive alcoholic, her mother Gervaise reduced to a similar degraded state. She works as a milliner's assistant and dabbles in casual street prostitution. She has a child by an unknown father when she is sixteen. Having escaped from the s... continue

223.

Night by Elie Wiesel EN

Rating: 5 (16 votes)
Country: Europe / Romania flag Romania
Description:
Presents a true account of the author's experiences as a Jewish boy in a Nazi concentration camp.

224.

Nightmare in Berlin by Hans Fallada EN

0 Ratings
Country: Europe / Germany flag Germany
Description:
Available for the first time in English, here is an unforgettable portrayal by a master novelist of the physical and psychological devastation wrought in the homeland by Hitler’s war. Late April, 1945. The war is over, yet Dr Doll, a loner and ‘moderate pessimist’, lives in constant fear. By night, he is haunted by nightmarish images of the bombsite in which he is trapped — he, and the rest of Germany. More than anything, he wishes to vanquish the demon of collective guilt, but he is unable to right any wrongs, especially in his position as mayor of a small town in north-east Germany that has ... continue

225.

Njal's Saga by Unknown EN

Rating: 3 (1 vote)
Country: Europe / Iceland flag Iceland
Description:
Written in the thirteenth century, Njal's Saga is a story that explores perennial human problems-from failed marriages to divided loyalties, from the law's inability to curb human passions to the terrible consequences when decent men and women are swept up in a tide of violence beyond their control. It is populated by memorable and complex characters like Gunnar of Hlidarendi, a powerful warrior with an aversion to killing, and the not-so-villainous Mord Valgardsson. Full of dreams, strange prophecies, violent power struggles, and fragile peace agreements, Njal's Saga tells the compelling stor... continue

226.

Noli Me Tangere (Touch Me Not) by Jose Rizal EN

Rating: 4 (2 votes)
Country: Asia / Philippines flag Philippines
Description:
The great novel of the Philippines In more than a century since its appearance, José Rizal's Noli Me Tangere has become widely known as the great novel of the Philippines. A passionate love story set against the ugly political backdrop of repression, torture, and murder, "The Noli," as it is called in the Philippines, was the first major artistic manifestation of Asian resistance to European colonialism, and Rizal became a guiding conscience—and martyr—for the revolution that would subsequently rise up in the Spanish province. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher... continue

227.

Nothing to Envy by Barbara Demick EN

Rating: 5 (2 votes)
Description:
WINNER OF THE BBC SAMUEL JOHNSON PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION 2010 A spectacularly revealing and harrowing portrait of ordinary lives in the world's least ordinary country, North Korea North Korea is Orwell's 1984 made reality: it is the only country in the world not connected to the internet; Gone with the Wind is a dangerous, banned book; during political rallies, spies study your expression to check your sincerity. After the death of the country's great leader Kim Il Sung in 1994, famine descended, and Nothing to Envy - winner of the 2010 BBC Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction - weaves together ... continue

228.

O mundo é bárbaro by Luis Fernando Verissimo PT

0 Ratings
Description:
Passados 508 anos, o ser-humano parece inviável, segue ateando fogo à Terra e nada indica que um superbombeiro se aproxima para a apagar o incêndio. Do meio ambiente à política, passando pela economia e pelo comportamento bárbaro das pessoas no dia-a-dia, sobram argumentos para os pessimistas. Mas nem tudo está perdido. O planeta é habitado pelo humor de Luis Fernando Verisimo e sua salvação está nas crônicas reunidas no livro O Mundo é Bárbaro. Escolhidas num universo de 500 textos, entre os melhores que o autor escreveu nos últimos oito anos, elas discutem a ascensão chinesa, a guerra contra... continue

229.

Oblivion : A Memoir by Héctor Abad EN

Rating: 4 (1 vote)
Description:
Now the basis for the acclaimed film Memories of My Father, directed by Fernando Trueba. "An irreplaceable testimony of the struggle for democracy and tolerance in Latin America." —El País Héctor Abad's Oblivion is a heartbreaking, exquisitely written memorial to the author's father, Héctor Abad Gómez, whose criticism of the Colombian regime led to his murder by paramilitaries in 1987. Twenty years in the writing, it paints an unforgettable picture of a man who followed his conscience and paid for it with his life during one of the darkest periods in Latin America's recent history.

230.

Of Water and the Spirit—Ritual, Magic, and Initiation in the Life of an African Shaman by Malidoma Patrice Somé EN

Rating: 4 (3 votes)
Description:
Maliodoma Patrice Some was born in a Dagara Village, however he was soon to be abducted to a Jesuit school, where he remained for the next fifteen years, being harshly indoctrinated into european ways of thought and worship. The story tells of his return to his people, his hard initiation back into those people, which lead to his desire to convey their knowledge to the world. Of Water and the Spirit is the result of that desire; it is a sharing of living African traditions, offered in compassion for those struggling with our contemporary crisis of the spirit.