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Literature by Place

It's kind of crazy to what extent geography can inform an author's work. Jack London spent most of his life at sea, dog-sledding across Alaska, boxing and generally being an adventurous guy who would put today's REI crowd to shame. Would he have penned some of the greatest American novels otherwise? especially ones concerned primarily with man battling the elements for survival in both a mental and physical sense? Very probably not, which explains why Oscar Wilde didn't write about wolves and crazy ship captains.

No, Oscar Wilde wrote primarily about fops and society people parrying witticisms incessantly. That's not to say his work has no place in a serious consideration of literature—au contraire, The Picture of Dorian Grey is one of the finest novels written in English. It's just more evidence that if you're an author who lives in the Canadian mountains or the clubs of London, your writing will reflect that.

Physical terrain isn't the only consideration. Sartre wrote about people lolling about with no real sense of purpose except to drink wine and smoke cigarettes and look languorous because he lived in France in the 1940s. Friedrich Nietzsche had immense mustaches and espoused a form of nihilism because he was German. The Russians wrote impossibly long novels because they lived in Russia. And Chinua Achebe was almost entirely influenced by his African upbringing.

That's not to say no one can write well about a context they haven't experienced firsthand. I'm pretty sure Robert Heinlein never visited Mars, and even if he did it wasn't as his books describe; the same goes for Bradbury. And no, Roald Dahl was never lost in a delightfully (though at times, terrifyingly) absurd chocolate factory. Yet even with these examples, the authors conveyed essentially the attitudes of the countries they came from—Heinlein and Bradbury from the U.S., Dahl from the U.K.

Our Literature by Place subcategories are admittedly Anglo-centric. North American literature features, well, American literature, and you can be pretty sure British literature reflects the same system; everything else goes in world literature. We have plenty of non-American or -British literature, we just don't have much from any one place besides those two. At any rate, we hope these categories are helpful, and if they guide you toward one book you're looking for (or maybe one you didn't even know existed), they've done their job.

Review by C. Hollis Crossman
C. Hollis Crossman used to be a child. Now he's a husband and father who loves church, good food, and weird stuff. He might be a mythical creature, but he's definitely not a centaur. Read more of his reviews here.
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Active Filters: Philosophy & Social Commentary
Abolition of Man
by C. S. Lewis
from HarperCollins
Philosophy/Religion for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$17.99
Abraham Lincoln: Great Speeches
Dover Thrift Editions
by Abraham Lincoln & John Grafton, editor
from Dover Publications
Political Philosophy for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$2.00
Anselm of Canterbury: The Major Works
Oxford World's Classics
by Anselm, edited and introduction by Brian Davies and Gillian Evans
from Oxford University
for 10th-Adult
in Medieval Literature (Location: LIT2-MED)
$14.95 $8.00 (1 in stock)
Art of War
by Sun Tzu
Later Printing from Dover Publications
for 10th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$5.95 $3.00 (1 in stock)
Art of War
by Sun Tzu
from Unknown Publisher
for 10th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
Basic Works of Aristotle
by Aristotle
from Modern Library
for 10th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$24.00
Basic Writings of St. Anselm
by St. Anselm of Canterbury
2nd edition from Open Court Publishing
Medieval Theology for 10th-Adult
in Medieval Literature (Location: LIT2-MED)
Bondage of the Will
by Martin Luther
from Revell Publishing
for 9th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$8.50 (1 in stock)
Bondage of the Will
by Martin Luther, translated by J. I. Packer and O. R. Robinson
from Baker Academics
for 9th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$24.99
Bondage of the Will
by Martin Luther, translated by Henry Cole
from Canon Press
for 9th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$12.95
Bondage of the Will
by Martin Luther, translated by Henry Cole
from Feather Trail Press
for Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
C. S. Lewis: The Signature Classics Audio Collection
by C. S. Lewis
from HarperAudio
for 10th-Adult
in Audio Books & Dramas (Location: CD-AUDIO)
$59.99
C. S. Lewis: The Signature Classics Boxed Set
by C. S. Lewis
Box from HarperOne
for 9th-Adult
in Boxed Sets & Literature Packages (Location: FIC-BOX)
$120.00
Candide
by Francois-Marie Arouet de Voltaire, translated by Richard Aldington and illustrated by Sylvain Sauvage
from Nonesuch Press
for 10th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Candide, Zadig and Selected Stories
by Voltaire
from Signet Classics
for 11th-Adult
in 18th Century Literature (Location: LIT5-18)
$3.50
City of God
Penguin Classics
by Augustine of Hippo (translated by Henry Bettenson)
from Penguin Classics
Ancient/Medieval Theology for 11th-Adult
in Medieval Literature (Location: LIT2-MED)
$18.00
City of God
by St. Augustine, translated by Marcus Dods
from Modern Library
for 10th-Adult
in Medieval Literature (Location: LIT2-MED)
$26.00
City of God
by St. Augustine (translation by Marcus Dods)
from Modern Library
for 10th-Adult
in Medieval Literature (Location: LIT2-MED)
$18.00
City of God (abridged)
by St. Augustine
Abridged from Image
for 10th-Adult
in Medieval Literature (Location: LIT2-MED)
$19.00
Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy
by Jacob Burckhardt
from Penguin Classics
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$17.00
Common Sense
Dover Thrift Editions
by Thomas Paine
from Dover Publications
Political Philosophy for 9th-Adult
in 18th Century Literature (Location: LIT5-18)
$4.00
Common Sense
Dover Thrift Editions
by Thomas Paine
from Living Book Press
Political Philosophy for 9th-Adult
in 18th Century Literature (Location: LIT5-18)
Communist Manifesto
Penguin Classics
by Karl Marx & Friedrich Engels
from Penguin Classics
Political Philosophy for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$8.00
Communist Manifesto
by Karl Marx & Friedrich Engels
from Signet Classics
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$5.95
Communist Manifesto
Penguin Classics
by Karl Marx & Friedrich Engels
from Penguin Classics
Political Philosophy for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Confessions
by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
from Penguin Classics
for 10th-Adult
in 18th Century Literature (Location: LIT5-18)
$13.00
Confessions of Jean-Jacques Rousseau
by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
from Heritage Press
for 10th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Confessions of Saint Augustine
Penguin Classics
by Augustine of Hippo (introduction & translation by R.S. Pine-Coffin)
from Penguin Classics
Autobiography/Devotional Material for 11th-Adult
in Medieval Literature (Location: LIT2-MED)
$10.00
Confessions of Saint Augustine
Penguin Classics
by Augustine of Hippo (translation by John K. Ryan)
from Image
Autobiography/Devotional Material for 11th-Adult
in Medieval Literature (Location: LIT2-MED)
$17.00
Confessions of Saint Augustine
Penguin Classics
by Augustine of Hippo (translation by Maria Boulding)
from Vintage Classics
Autobiography/Devotional Material for 11th-Adult
in Medieval Literature (Location: LIT2-MED)
$14.95
Confessions of Saint Augustine
Penguin Classics
by Augustine of Hippo (translation by Garry Wills)
from Penguin Classics
Autobiography/Devotional Material for 11th-Adult
in Medieval Literature (Location: LIT2-MED)
$16.00
Confessions of Saint Augustine
by Augustine of Hippo (translation by Sarah Ruden)
from Modern Library
Autobiography/Devotional Material for 11th-Adult
in Medieval Literature (Location: LIT2-MED)
$16.00
Confessions of Saint Augustine
by Augustine of Hippo (translation by Thomas Williams)
from Hackett Publishing Company
Autobiography/Devotional Material for 11th-Adult
in Medieval Literature (Location: LIT2-MED)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Consolation of Philosophy
by Ancius Boethius
from Penguin Classics
for 10th-Adult
in Medieval Literature (Location: LIT2-MED)
$16.00
Consolation of Philosophy
by Ancius Boethius
from Ignatius Press
for 10th-Adult
in Medieval Literature (Location: LIT2-MED)
Democracy in America
Penguin Classics
by Alexis De Tocqueville
from Penguin Classics
American Government for 11th-12th grade
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$15.00
Democracy in America
by Alexis De Tocqueville
from Harper Perennial
American Government for 11th-12th grade
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$22.99
Democracy in America
Penguin Classics
by Alexis De Tocqueville
from Bantam Books
American Government for 11th-12th grade
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Dialogues on Love and Friendship
by Plato
from Heritage Press
for 10th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Discourse on Method and Related Writings
by Rene Descartes
from Penguin Classics
for 11th-Adult
in 17th Century Literature (Location: LIT4-17)
$12.00 $7.00 (1 in stock)
Discourses of Epictetus
by Epictetus
from Heritage Press
for 10th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Discourses of Epictetus
Walter J. Black Classics Club
by Epictetus
from Walter J. Black, Inc.
for 10th-Adult
in Walter J. Black Classics Club (Location: VIN-LITWJB)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Economic Harmonies
by Frederic Bastiat
Third Printing from Foundation for Economic Education
for 10th-Adult
in Economics Resources (Location: ECON-REF)
Essay Concerning Human Understanding
by John Locke
from Penguin Classics
Political Philosophy for 11th-Adult
in 17th Century Literature (Location: LIT4-17)
$17.00
Fear and Trembling
by Soren Kierkegaard
Reprint from Penguin Putnam
for 11th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Federalist Papers
Signet Classics
by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison & John Jay
from Signet Classics
American Political Philosophy for 9th-Adult
in 18th Century Literature (Location: LIT5-18)
$7.95
Federalist Papers
Dover Thrift series
by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison & John Jay
from Dover Publications
American Political Philosophy for 9th-Adult
in 18th Century Literature (Location: LIT5-18)
$7.00
Five Dialogues of Plato
by Plato, translated by G.M.A. Grube, revised by John M. Cooper
2nd edition from Hackett Publishing Company
Ancient Philosophy for 9th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$4.00 (2 in stock)
Five Great Dialogues of Plato
by Plato
2nd edition from Walter J. Black, Inc.
Ancient Philosophy for 9th-Adult
in Walter J. Black Classics Club (Location: VIN-LITWJB)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Four Loves
by C. S. Lewis
from Harcourt
Philosophy for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Four Loves
Reissue from HarperOne
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$17.99
God in the Dock
by C. S. Lewis
from Eerdmans
Religion/Philosophy for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$18.00
Gorgias
Penguin Classics
by Plato
from Penguin Classics
Ancient Philosophy for 9th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$10.00
Gorgias
Oxford World's Classics
by Plato
from Oxford University
Ancient Philosophy for 9th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$8.95 $6.00 (2 in stock)
Great Dialogues of Plato
Signet Classics
by Plato
from Signet Classics
Ancient Philosophy for 9th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$6.95
Heretics
by G. K. Chesterton
from Dover Publications
Philosophy/Religion for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$9.95
Heretics
by G. K. Chesterton
from Hendrickson Publishers
Philosophy/Religion for 10th-Adult
in Hendrickson Christian Classics (Location: XCL-DEV)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
History of Rasselas
by Samuel Johnson
from Oxford University
in 18th Century Literature (Location: LIT5-18)
$8.95
History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia
by Samuel Johnson
from Dover Publications
for 10th-Adult
in 18th Century Literature (Location: LIT5-18)
$6.95
If The South Had Won The Civil War
by MacKinlay Kantor
from Forge
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$15.99
In Praise of Folly
Dover Thrift Editions
by Desiderius Erasmus
from Dover Publications
Religious Satire for 9th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$3.00
Interpretation of Dreams
by Sigmund Freud
from Basic Books
for 12th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$12.99
John Ploughman's Talk
by Charles Haddon Spurgeon
from Wipf and Stock Publishers
Christian Living for 10th-Adult
in Practical Christian Living (Location: XCL-PRAC)
$15.00
Jungle, The
by Upton Sinclair
from Heritage Press
for 10th grade-adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Last Days of Socrates
Penguin Classics
by Plato
from Penguin Classics
Ancient Philosophy for 9th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$14.00
Last Days of Socrates
by Plato
from Penguin Classics
for 10th-Adult
in Clearance: Literature (Location: ZCLE-LIT)
$3.00 (2 in stock)
Leviathan
Penguin Classics
by Thomas Hobbes
from Penguin Classics
Political Philosophy for 11th-Adult
in 17th Century Literature (Location: LIT4-17)
$13.00
Marco Polo
by Marco Polo
from Book League of America
for Adult
in Medieval Literature (Location: LIT2-MED)
Marcus Aurelius and His Times
by Marcus Aurelius
from Walter J. Black, Inc.
Classic Literature for 9th-Adult
in Walter J. Black Classics Club (Location: VIN-LITWJB)
Meditations
by Marcus Aurelius
from Modern Library
Classic Literature for 9th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$11.00
Metamorphosis
by Franz Kafka
from Dover Publications
for 11th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$6.95
Mind of the Maker
by Dorothy L. Sayers
from HarperCollins
Christian Philosophy for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$17.99 $9.00 (1 in stock)
Nature of the Gods
by Cicero
1st edition from Oxford University
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$13.95
Nature of the Gods
by Cicero
from Penguin Classics
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
New Atlantis and The City of the Sun: Two Classic Utopias
by Francis Bacon, Tomasso Campanella
from Dover Publications
for 10th-Adult
in 17th Century Literature (Location: LIT4-17)
New Testament
by Richmond Lattimore
from North Point Press
for 9th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$25.00
Nicomachean Ethics
by Aristotle
from Dover Publications
Ancient Greek Political Philosophy for 9th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$6.00
Nicomachean Ethics
by Aristotle
from University of Chicago
Ancient Greek Political Philosophy for 9th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$15.00
Nicomachean Ethics
by Aristotle
from Hackett Publishing Company
Ancient Greek Political Philosophy for 9th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$21.00
On Politics and Education
Walter J. Black Classics Club
by John Locke
from Walter J. Black, Inc.
for 10th-Adult
in Walter J. Black Classics Club (Location: VIN-LITWJB)
On the Genealogy of Morals / Ecce Homo
by Friedrich Nietzsche
from Vintage Classics
for 11th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$7.50 (1 in stock)
On the Nature of Things
by Lucretius
from Penguin Classics
for 10th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$16.00
On the Nature of Things
by Lucretius
from Veritas Press
for 10th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$19.00
On the Nature of Things
by Lucretius
from Walter J. Black, Inc.
for 10th-Adult
in Walter J. Black Classics Club (Location: VIN-LITWJB)
On the Social Contract
by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
from Dover Publications
Philosophy for 9th-Adult
in 18th Century Literature (Location: LIT5-18)
$5.00
Origin and Principles of the American Revolution, Compared with the Origin and Principles of the French Revolution
by Friedrich Von Gentz
from Liberty Fund
for 12th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$12.00
Origin of Species
Penguin Classics
by Charles Darwin
from Penguin Putnam
Scientific Philosophy for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$13.00
Origin of Species
Penguin Classics
by Charles Darwin
Rep Anv from Signet Classics
Scientific Philosophy for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$6.95
Orthodoxy
by G. K. Chesterton
from Ignatius Press
Philosophy/Religion for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$12.95
Orthodoxy
by G. K. Chesterton
from Dover Publications
Philosophy/Religion for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$10.95
Orthodoxy
by C. K. Chesterton
from Moody Press
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$9.99
Pensees
Penguin Classics
by Blaise Pascal
from Penguin Putnam
Philosophy/Religion for 10th-Adult
in 17th Century Literature (Location: LIT4-17)
$13.00
Plague, The
by Albert Camus, Stuart Gilbert
from Vintage Classics
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$15.00
Poetics
by Aristotle
from Dover Publications
Ancient Greek Philosophy of the Arts for 9th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$2.00
Politics
by Aristotle
from Dover Publications
Ancient Greek Political Philosophy for 9th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$7.00
Politics & Poetics
by Aristotle
from Heritage Press
for 10th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
Practical View of Christianity
by William Wilberforce
from Hendrickson Publishers
Religion/Philosophy for 11th-Adult
in Hendrickson Christian Classics (Location: XCL-DEV)
$12.95 $6.00 (2 in stock)
Praise of Folly
Dover Thrift Editions
by Desiderius Erasmus
from Penguin Classics
Religious Satire for 9th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$15.00
Praise of Folly
Walter J. Black Classics Club
by Desiderius Erasmus
from Princeton University Press
Religious Satire for 9th-Adult
in Walter J. Black Classics Club (Location: VIN-LITWJB)
Prince, The
Penguin Classics
by Niccolò Machiavelli
from Penguin Classics
Political Philosophy for 11th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$8.00
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