Memoirs

Articles in this section

• "Anabasis, or The Retreat of the Ten Thousand", by Xenophon

  21 March by Xenophon

  The dramatic account by Xenophon (430-355 BC), an Athenian philosopher, author, soldier and student of Socrates, of the expedition – that he participated in and eventually led – of an elite force of Greek soldiers into the heart of Persia on behalf of one of the contestants to the throne there, (...)

• "Commentaries on the Gallic War" by Julius Caesar

  14 February by Julius Caesar

  Julius Caesar’s account of his military campaign from 58-52 B.C. that integrated Gaul – and Britain – into the Roman Empire. A remarkably vivid, dramatic and on the whole accurate account of a particularly important episode in European history, written with the clarity, style and forcefulness that (...)

• "Homage to Catalonia" (1938) by George Orwell

  10 May 2021 by George Orwell

  George Orwell, a convinced left-wing socialist, went to Barcelona in December 1936 to join the forces in Catalonia fighting against the military uprising led by the General Franco. He joined the extreme-left party P.O.U.M. there and spent six months on duty in their section of the front line (...)

• "Down and Out in Paris and London" (1933) by George Orwell

  6 May 2021 by George Orwell

  George Orwell (1903-1950) was a passionate defender all his life of the underdogs in the society of his time, and in spite of his background as a member of the upper middle class — he was well educated and spoke with a “posh” accent — spent several years in his late twenties working as a dishwasher (...)

• "Typee" (1846) by Herman Melville - a fascinating account of life in a South Sea island before the spread of Western civilization

  1 May 2019 by Herman Melville

  This account of his four-months stay among the fiercest tribe in the remote Marquesas Island of Nukuheva was Herman Melville’s first book, and its enormous success – it was the best-selling of all his books during his lifetime – was essential in deciding the future author of the monumental “Moby (...)