The Prince shocked Europe on publication with its ruthless tactics for gaining absolute power and its abandonment of conventional morality. Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527) came to be regarded as some by an agent of the Devil and his name taken for the intriguer 'Machevill' of Jacobean tragedy. For his treatise on statecraft Machiavelli drew upon his own experience of office under the turbulent Florentine republic, rejecting traditional values of political theory and recognizing the complicated, transient nature of political life. Concerned not with lofty ideals, but with a regime that would last, The Prince has become the Bible of realpolitik, and still retains its power to alarm and to instruct.

Poems of famous men -- and the women who married them -- by the Poet Laureate

Beginning theory has been helping students navigate through the thickets of literary and cultural theory for well over a decade. This volume focuses on literary theory. It offers students and readers introduction to the field.

Part of a series that helps you to get to grips with the novels, poetry and plays most commonly studied for GCSE coursework and exams, this guide covers Steinbeck's 'Of Mice and Men'.

Revised and updated, the second edition of this book carefully tackles each stage of essay writing from interpretation of the question, to the research, planning, writing and revision, teaching students not just how to improve their study skills, but their thinking skills too.

This book has features to help students improve their grade. It has features that address the specific needs of students studying for the new AS and A2 exams. Text boxes in the margin labelled 'Context' describe the literary, historical, cultural, religious, or philosophical context of specific references in the text.

Commissioned to mark the centenary of the Abbey Theatre in Dublin in 2004, 'The Burial at Thebes' is Seamus Heaney's verse translation of Sophocles' great tragedy, 'Antigone' - whose eponymous heroine is one of the most sharply individualized and compelling figures in western drama.

An international selection of 15 short stories by distinguished modern writers including Peter Carey, Zadie Smith and Bernard Malamud. Featuring the theme of 'difference', each story has something to say about cultural encounters, often arising from experiences of migration or uprooting. With biographic and photographic portraits.

A Study Guide covering the Poetry Cluster: Relationships - Higher Level. A new version of CGP's best-selling GCSE English Literature Anthology titles for the new GCSE English courses starting September 2010.

An anthology of poems about creatures of many kinds, including some perhaps more fanciful than real. The poets range from Homer to the present.

"For those who have vision and the courage to follow it, there is no law and no crime and no punishment, only a revaluation of all values." So declares Rodya Raskolnikov the young Russian intellectual living in ugly poverty. In order to eat, he is forced to pawn precious possessions for a few roubles to the greedy"cockroach", Alyona. If he kills her, Rodya argues, he commits no crime: rather he will rid the world of a"filthy insect", just like one of the cockroaches the listener can hear being crushed beneath his boots. As Alyona examines Rodya's silver cigarette case, he brings his axe down upon her with the horrifying sound of steel hitting human flesh. Despite this not being a crime, Rodya suffers fearful guilt--and inevitable punishment. It is Sonya, the abused young woman forced into prostitution by her drunken father, who holds the power of Rodya's redemption. Dramatisation is a superb vehicle for this tense psychological masterpiece and the performances are powerful: the baiting of Rodya by Jim Norton as Petrovich, the police officer who suspects Rodya's guilt, is chilling; while Barnaby Kay skilfully conveys Rodya's duality as his human conscience, breathless with panic, argues with his controlled and truculent intellect. -- Running time approx 2 hours 50 minutes

-- Rachel Redford

'Nothing happens, nobody comes, nobody goes, it's awful.' This line was adopted by Jean Anouilh, to characterize the first production of 'Waiting For Godot' at the Theatre de Babylone, in 1953. Anybody acquinted with Beckett's masterly black comedy would not question the recognition of this twentieth-century literature classic.

The ultimate guides for the very best grades

Near A5 size unabridged version of classic play.