In 1831, Alexis de Tocqueville and Gustave de Beaumont spent nine months in the U.S. studying American prisons on behalf of the French government. They investigated not just the prison system but indeed every aspect of American public and private life - the political, economic, religious, cultural, and above all the social life of the young nation. From Tocqueville's copious notes came Democracy in America. This English-only edition of Democracy in...

The 'Seven Seas' is a bitter, disillusioned series of poems centered on Britain's role in colonialism and Empire building. With reverberating lyrics and powerful imagery, Kipling writes of the ruthless means that were often employed to add nations to the glorious Empire, and the subsequent effects upon these colonized nations. Though disturbing and unsettling in theme, Kipling's lyrical dexterity makes these poems strangely compelling reading.