Finding the best bantam classics suitable for your needs isnt easy. With hundreds of choices can distract you. Knowing whats bad and whats good can be something of a minefield. In this article, weve done the hard work for you.
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1. The Count of Monte Cristo (Bantam Classics)
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Set against the turbulent years of the Napoleonicera, Alexandre Dumas's thrilling adventure storyis one of the most widely read romantic novels ofall time. In it the dashing young hero, EdmondDants, is betrayed by his enemies and throwninto a secret dungeon in the Chateau d'If -- doomedto spend his life in a dank prison cell. The storyof his long, intolerable years in captivity, hismiraculous escape, and his carefully wroughtrevenge creates a dramatic tale of mystery and intrigueand paints a vision of France -- a dazzling,dueling, exuberant France -- that has become immortal.2. Complete Short Stories of Mark Twain (Bantam Classics)
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For deft plotting, riotous inventiveness, unforgettable characters, and language that brilliantly captures the lively rhythms of American speech, no American writer comes close to Mark Twain. This sparkling anthology covers the entire span of Twains inimitable yarn-spinning, from his early broad comedy to the biting satire of his later years.Every one of his sixty stories is here: ranging from the frontier humor of The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, to the bitter vision of humankind in The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg, to the delightful hilarity of Is He Living or Is He Dead? Surging with Twains ebullient wit and penetrating insight into the follies of human nature, this volume is a vibrant summation of the career ofin the words of H. L. Menckenthe father of our national literature.
3. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass (Bantam Classics)
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In 1862 Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, a shy Oxford mathematician with a stammer, created a story about a little girl tumbling down a rabbit hole. Thus began the immortal adventures of Alice, perhaps the most popular heroine in English literature. Countless scholars have tried to define the charm of the Alice bookswith those wonderfully eccentric characters the Queen of Hearts, Tweedledum, and Tweedledee, the Cheshire Cat, Mock Turtle, the Mad Hatter et al.by proclaiming that they really comprise a satire on language, a political allegory, a parody of Victorian childrens literature, even a reflection of contemporary ecclesiastical history. Perhaps, as Dodgson might have said, Alice is no more than a dream, a fairy tale about the trials and tribulations of growing upor down, or all turned roundas seen through the expert eyes of a child.4. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Bantam Classic)
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Hilariously picaresque, epic in scope, alive withthe poetry and vigor of the American people, MarkTwain's story about a young boy and his journeydown the Mississippi was the first great novel tospeak in a truly American voice. Influencingsubsequent generations of writers -- from SherwoodAnderson to Twain's fellow Missourian,T.S. Eliot, from Ernest Hemingway and WilliamFaulkner to J.D. Salinger --Huckleberry Finn, like the riverwhich flows through its pages, is one of the greatsources which nourished and still nourishes theliterature of America.5. Four Comedies: The Taming of the Shrew, A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Merchant of Venice, Twelfth Night (Bantam Classic)
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The Taming of the ShrewRobust and bawdy, The Taming of the Shrew captivates audiences with outrageous humor as Katharina, the shrew, engages in a contest of willsand lovewith her bridegroom, Petruchio, in a comedy of unmatched theatrical brilliance, filled with visual gags and witty repartee.
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Fairy magic, love spells, and an enchanted wood turn the mismatched rivalries of four young lovers into a marvelous mix-up of desire and enchantment, all touched by Shakespeares inimitable vision of the intriguing relationship between dreams and the waking world.
The Merchant of Venice
This dark comedy of love and money contains one of the truly mythic figures in literatureShylock, the Jewish moneylender. The pound of flesh he demands as payment of Antonios debt has become a universal metaphor for vengeance. Here, pathos and farce combine with moral complexity and romantic entanglements, to display the extraordinary power and range of Shakespeare at his best.
Twelfth Night
Set in a topsy-turvy world like a holiday revel, this comedy juxtaposes a romantic plot involving separated twins and mistaken identity with a more satiric one about the humiliation of a pompous killjoy. The hilarity is touched with melancholy, and the play ends, not with laughter, but with a clowns plaintive song.
Each Edition Includes:
Comprehensive explanatory notes
Vivid introductions and the most up-to-date scholarship
Clear, modernized spelling and punctuation, enabling contemporary readers to understand the Elizabethan English
Completely updated, detailed bibliographies and performance histories
An interpretive essay on film adaptations of the play, along with an extensive filmography
6. The Tell-Tale Heart (Bantam Classics)
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ISBN13: 9780553212280Condition: New
Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
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Edgar Allan Poe remains the unsurpassed master of works of mystery and madness in this outstanding collection of Poe's prose and poetry are sixteen of his finest tales, including "The Tell-Tale Heart", "The Murders in the Rue Morgue", "The Fall of the House of Usher," "The Pit and the Pendulum," "William Wilson," "The Black Cat," "The Cask of Amontillado," and "Eleonora". Here too is a major selection of what Poe characterized as the passion of his life, his poems - "The Raven," "Annabel Lee," Ulalume," "Lenore," "The Bells," and more, plus his glorious prose poem "Silence - A Fable" and only full-length novel, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym.7. The Wealth of Nations (Bantam Classics)
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The Wealth of NationsDescription
The Wealth of Nationsby Adam Smith
It is symbolic that Adam Smiths masterpiece of economic analysis, The Wealth of Nations, was first published in 1776, the same year as the Declaration of Independence.
In his book, Smith fervently extolled the simple yet enlightened notion that individuals are fully capable of setting and regulating prices for their own goods and services. He argued passionately in favor of free trade, yet stood up for the little guy. The Wealth of Nations provided the first--and still the most eloquent--integrated description of the workings of a market economy.
The result of Smiths efforts is a witty, highly readable work of genius filled with prescient theories that form the basis of a thriving capitalist system. This unabridged edition offers the modern reader a fresh look at a timeless and seminal work that revolutionized the way governments and individuals view the creation and dispersion of wealth--and that continues to influence our economy right up to the present day.
8. The Annotated Milton: Complete English Poems (Bantam Classics)
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Affordable, compact, and authoritative, this one-volume edition of The Annotated Milton encompasses the monumental sweep of John Miltons poetry. Here are Milton s early works, including his first great poem, On the Morning of Christs Nativity, the light and lyrical LAllegro and Il Penseroso, the masque Comus, and the lushly beautiful pastoral elegy Lycidas. Here, too, included in their entirety, are the three epic poems considered to be among the finest works in the English language: Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained, and Samson Agonistes.Fully annotated by Burton Raffel, this distinguished edition clarifies the complex allusions of Miltons verse and references the personal, religious, historical, and mythical influences that inspired the great blind poet of England, who ranks among the undisputed giants of world literature.
9. Kidnapped (Bantam Classics)
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Acclaimed by Henry James as Robert Louis Stevenson's best novel,Kidnappedachieves what Stevenson called, "the particular crown and triumph of the artist...not simply to convince, but to enchant."Spirited, romantic, and full of danger, Kidnapped is Robert Louis Stevenson's classic of high adventure. Beloved by generations, it is the saga of David Balfour, a young heir whose greedy uncle connives to do him out of his inherited fortune and plots to have him seized and sold into slavery. But honor, loyalty, and courage are rewarded; the orphan and castaway survives kidnapping and shipwreck, is rescued by a daredevil of a rogue, and makes a thrilling escape to freedom across the wild highlands of Scotland.
10. The Dialogues of Plato (Bantam classics)