Lawrence's first major novel was also the first in the English language to explore ordinary working-class life from the inside. No writer before or since has written so well about the intimacies enforced by a tightly-knit mining community, and his powerful description of Paul Morel's relationships make this novel as relevant now as when it was first published.

A lively history set in sixteenth-century England, detailing the hitherto unknown case of an extraordinary physician, magician, and con-man named Gregory Wisdom - and the London underworld to which he belonged.

Drawing on his own unhappy experiences, Goethe's account of Werther's passionate love for Lotte, who is promised to another, is one of the first great Romantic tragic novels. David Constantine's new translation captures the novel's lyric intensity, and is accompanied by an introduction and notes that illuminate Goethe's achievement.

The Souls of Black Folk is a classic study of race, culture, and education at the turn of the twentieth century. A singular combination of essays, memoir, and fiction, the book is a searing account of the situation of African Americans in the United States. This edition includes an invaluable appendix of contextualizing material.

This Very Short Introduction explores the science of sound and its nature, hearing and harmony. Considering sound we can't hear, the author also covers different sound worlds, as well as noise and its reduction.

Originally published as a World's classics paperback, 1996; reissued as an Oxford World's classics paperback, 1999; reissued 2008.

The Soviet Union: A Very Short Introduction blends political history with an investigation into the society and culture at the time. Stephen Lovell examines aspects of patriotism, political violence, poverty, and ideology; and provides answers to some of the big questions about the Soviet experience.

Amid the catastrophes of the twentieth century, the Spanish Civil War continues to exert a particular fascination. The Spanish Civil War: A Very Short Introduction provides a powerfully-written explanation of the war's complex origins and course, and explores its impact on a personal and an international scale.