World History and Literature - From the Middle Ages through the 18th Century

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World History and Literature
From the Middle Ages through the 18th Century
Compiled by Richard Seltzer

Medieval/Renaissance
(474 books as of 6/26/2008)

16th Century
(347 books as of 6/26/2008)

17th Century
(470 books as of 6/26/2008)

18th Century
(614 books as of 10/8/2008)

World History and Literature - From the Middle Ages through the 18th Century
4 CD's Compiled by Richard Seltzer
B&R Samizdat Express: May 25, 2004
Medieval / Renaissance CD - ISBN: 0-931968-87-9
Sixteenth Century CD - ISBN: 0-931968-88-7
Seventeenth Century CD - ISBN: 0-931968-89-5
Eighteenth Century CD - ISBN: 0-931968-90-9
Genre: History and Literature, Reference

Reviewed by Rochelle Caviness - July 5, 2004

Richard Seltzer has a knack for hunting down, compiling, and creating outstanding book collections. His collections are published on CD, and sold at extremely reasonable rates, with most ranging from between $12 to $29. Usually, when you buy a book, you get just that, one book. Although these CD collections cost about the same, or even less, than a single book, you are actually getting a whole library of books on one CD. Four new thematic collections that have recently been published by B&R Samizdat Express focus on works written in, or related to, specific periods in World history.

These four new collections are entitled, Medieval / Renaissance, which covers the period from about 476 to 1500, The Sixteenth Century in History and Literature The Seventeenth Century in Histiory and LiteratureThe Eighteenth Century in Histiory and Literature. Each collection is contained on a single CD that sells for $19. The smallest collection in this series, The Sixteenth Century currently contains 212 books, and the largest, The Eighteenth Century contains 397 books. The books in each collection are organized into categories based upon the country where the books were written or focus upon, or by major 'players' in history, such as the Catholic Church. Because there are hundreds of books in each of these collections it is hard to give a detailed overview of what each contains, but here are a few titles to give you a taste of the breadth of material contained in each collection...

Medieval / Renaissance CD

Fall of the Roman Empire, by Edward Gibbon
Mahomet: Founder of Islam by G.M. Daycott
The Guide for the Perplexed by Moses Maimonides translated by M. Friedlander
Life and Legends of St. Francis of Assisi by Father Candide Chalippe
The Renaissance by Walter Pater
Beowulf, translated by Francis Gummere
A Concise Dictionary of Middle English from 1150 to 1580 by A.L. Mayhew and Walter Skeat
Short History of Wales by Owen M. Edwards
Ballads and Lyrics of Old France: with Other Poems, translated to English by Andrew Lang
The Religion of the Samurai by Kaiten Nukariya

Sixteenth Century CD

History of the Catholic Church by James MacCaffrey
The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women by John Knox
Essays, by Sir Francis Bacon
The Prince, by Niccolo Machiavelli
The Golden Speech, by Queen Elizabeth I
The Spanish Tragedie, a play by Thomas Kyd
Dr. Faustus, by Christopher Marlowe
Utopia, by Thomas More
The Mobey electronic edition of the plays of William Shakespeare
95 Theses by Martin Luther

Seventeenth Century CD

A Briefe and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia by Thomas Hariot
Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes, in Spanish and English
L'Avare, by Moliere, in French and English
The Three Musketeers Saga (6 books) by Alexander Dumas, in English
Pilgrim's Progress, by John Bunyan
Moll Flanders, by Daniel Defoe
Leviathan by John Hobbes
Two Treatises of Government by John Locke
Diary of Samuel Pepys
Discourse on the Method of Rightly Conducting the Reason and Seeking Truth in the Sciences, by Rene Descartes

Eighteenth Century CD

Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
Letters of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, volume 1
The Conquest of New France, a Chronicle of the Colonial Wars by George Wrong
Jung Lou Meng or The Dream of the Red Chamber, by Cao Xuequin
Vanished Arcadia: Being Some Account of the Jesuits in Paraguay 1607 to 1767 by R.B. Cunninghame Graham
The French Revolution by Thomas Carlyle
Faust, by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
The Vicar of Wakefield, by Oliver Goldsmith
Ivanhoe, by Sir Walter Scott
Renascence of Hebrew Literature (1743-1885) by Nahum Slouschz

While most of the books in these collections are in English, or in English translation, you will also find a selection of texts in their original language. Some of these original language texts are also accompanied by English translations, although not all are. Students studying new language will find these dual copies (the original language and the English translation) a great study aid in acquiring greater proficiency in the language that they are studying. Some of the languages in which you may find texts in (depending upon which collection you are looking at) include German, French, Spanish, and Itallian.

These CD book collections offer readers unprecedented access to, literally, a world of books. They are ideal for use by homeschoolers, high school and college students, and anyone looking for something good to read. They are also ideal for anyone short on space, but who wants to have complete library in their home that can easily fit into a drawer! The texts in these collections are presented in plain text formats, and they can be opened in any web browser or word processing program. Once you open a book, you can easily change the size, style, or color, just as you can with any text document. Because these books are in plain text format, they are also readily accessible to those with visual impairments using screen reading or braille display programs, or programs such as OpenBook.

All in all, four great, new collections from Richard Seltzer and B&R Samizdat Express that will supply you with years of reading material in a variety of literary genres, and historical periods. Highly recommended!

Related Reviews:

Victoriana Science and Technology, compiled by Richard Seltzer.
A collection of over 200 books, on one CD, that span the breadth of Victorian science and technology from the theories of Charles Darwin to the development of dirigibles.
Spain, Portugal and Latin America on CD, Compiled by Richard Seltzer.
A collection of books on Spain, Portugal the Caribbean, and Latin America, including country studies, history books, literature, and religious texts.

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