Memoirs


Articles in this section

  • "Letter to Father" (1919) by Franz Kafka

    by Franz Kafka

    The long letter that Kafka wrote to his father to explain why he’d always had so much difficulty communicating with him. An extraordinary document told from the heart by a son who may not have been as good a talker as his domineering and self-assured father, but who sure knew how to put words (...)

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

    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

    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

    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

    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 (...)