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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, Trade Paperback
Abolition of Man
by C. S. Lewis
from HarperCollins
Philosophy/Religion for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$17.99
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
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
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
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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
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
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
Meditations
by Marcus Aurelius
from Modern Library
Classic Literature for 9th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$11.00
Mind of the Maker
by Dorothy L. Sayers, with an introduction by Madeleine L'Engle
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
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 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)
$10.36
Orthodoxy
by C. K. Chesterton
from Moody Press
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$7.99
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 Penguin Classics
Ancient Greek Philosophy of the Arts for 9th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$5.00 (1 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
Prince, The
Penguin Classics
by Niccolò Machiavelli
from Penguin Classics
Political Philosophy for 11th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$8.00
Prince, The
by Niccolò Machiavelli (translation by Harvey C. Mansfield)
from University of Chicago
Political Philosophy for 11th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Problem of Pain
by C. S. Lewis
from HarperCollins
Religion/Philosophy for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$16.99
Republic
by Plato, translated by G.M.A. Grube, revised by C.D.C. Reeve
from Hackett Publishing Company
for 10th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Republic Of Plato
by Plato, translated by Alan Bloom
2nd edition from Basic Books
for 10th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$22.99
Road to Wigan Pier
by George Orwell
from Mariner Books
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$16.99 $9.00 (1 in stock)
Scarlet Letter
Copper Lodge Library
by Nathaniel Hawthorne, annotated by Stephanie B. Meter
from Classical Conversations
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Second Treatise of Civil Government
by John Locke
from Prometheus Books
for 10th-Adult
in 17th Century Literature (Location: LIT4-17)
$12.99
Second Treatise of Civil Government
by John Locke
from Dover Publications
for 10th-Adult
in 17th Century Literature (Location: LIT4-17)
$5.00
Selected Works of Cicero
Penguin Classics
by Cicero
from Penguin Classics
Ancient Roman Philosophy for 10th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$17.00
Social Contract
Penguin Classics
by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
from Penguin Classics
Philosophy/Politics for 10th-Adult
in 18th Century Literature (Location: LIT5-18)
$11.00
Souls of Black Folk
by W. E. B. Du Bois
from Penguin Classics
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$14.00
Souls of Black Folk
by W. E. B. Du Bois
from Dover Publications
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$5.00
The Stranger
by Albert Camus
from Vintage Classics
for 11th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$15.00
Theogony and Works & Days
by Hesiod
from Oxford University
for 10th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$11.95
Theogony and Works & Days
by Hesiod & Theognis, translated by Dorothea Wender
from Penguin Classics
for 10th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$14.00
Twilight of the Idols & The Antichrist
by Friedrich Nietzsche
from Dover Publications
for 11th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$7.95
Two Treatises of Government
by John Locke
from Tuttle Publishing
Political Philosophy for 10th-Adult
in 17th Century Literature (Location: LIT4-17)
$9.95
Two Treatises of Government
by John Locke
3rd edition from Cambridge University
Political Philosophy for 10th-Adult
in 17th Century Literature (Location: LIT4-17)
$19.99
Utopia
Penguin Classics
by Thomas More
from Penguin Classics
Utopian/Dystopian literature for 10th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$12.00
Utopia
by Thomas More
3rd edition from W. W. Norton and Co.
for 10th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
Waiting for God
by Simone Weil
from HarperCollins
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$13.99
Walden
The Writings of Henry David Thoreau
by Henry David Thoreau
150th Anniversary Edition from Princeton University Press
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Walden and Civil Disobedience
by Henry David Thoreau
from Penguin Classics
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$14.00
Wealth of Nations
Great Minds Series
by Adam Smith
from Prometheus Books
for 12th-Adult
in 18th Century Literature (Location: LIT5-18)
$15.99
Wealth of Nations
by Adam Smith, introduction by Robert Reich, notes by Edwin Cannan
from Modern Library
for 10th-Adult
in 18th Century Literature (Location: LIT5-18)
Weight of Glory
by C. S. Lewis
from HarperCollins
Religion/Philosophy for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$16.99
Well and the Shallows
by G. K. Chesterton
from Ignatius Press
Philosophy/Social Commentary for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
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