The modern readers' series

Excellent

From Chapter 1... Certain philosophers hold that machinery is enslaving us. I am not a machine tender, but first and last I encounter a good many mechanisms in a day's march, particularly when that day is spent in a city so large and so complicated that it could never have been built by human muscle. Before analyzing the extent of serfdom in others, it might be well to determine how far I am myself a slave. The first thing that I hear in the morning is a machine —a patented alarm clock. It calls and I obey. But if I do not feel like obeying, I touch its back, and it relapses humbly into silence. Thus we bully each other, with the clock normally leading by a wide margin. (Once, however, I threw a clock out of the window, and it never bullied anyone again.)

This collection of Chekhov's finest early writing reveals a young writer mastering the art of the short story. 'The Steppe', which established his reputation, is the unforgettable tale of a boy's journey to a new school in Kiev, travelling through majestic landscapes towards an unknown destiny. 'Gusev' depicts an ocean voyage, where the sea takes on a terrifying, primeval power; 'The Kiss' portrays a shy soldier's failed romantic encounter; and in 'The Duel' two men's enmity ends in farce. Haunting and highly atmospheric, all the stories in this volume show a writer emerging from the shadow of his masters – Tolstoy, Turgenev and Gogol – and discovering his own voice. They also illustrate Chekhov's genius for evoking the natural world and exploring inner lives.

Francis Parkman may have been America’s most famous historian in the 19th century, and is still well-known for books on the Oregon Trail and the French in North America. He is also still highly regarded for his prose, although there is less consensus about the quality of his historical interpretation. Historian C. Van Woodward wrote that “…Modern sensibilities will be nettled by his casual stereotypes of national character and by the sharp distinction he draws between “civilization” and “savagery”.” (Foreword to Parkman’s Montcalm and Wolfe: The French and Indian War, p. xxx.)