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Captain Cook’s Voyages

Captain Cook’s Voyages

By Adrienne Raptis | November 1, 2014 | Comments Off on Captain Cook’s Voyages

Considered “really the first scientific navigator,” Captain James Cook made invaluable contributions to European knowledge of the Pacific Ocean, which he sailed for 12 years in 3 voyages. His accomplishments include the first recorded contact with Australia and the Hawaiian Islands, as well as the first recorded circumnavigation of New Zealand. Within these achievements, however,…

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Don Quixote de la Mancha and the Life of Cervantes

Don Quixote de la Mancha and the Life of Cervantes

By Adrienne Raptis | October 31, 2014 | Comments Off on Don Quixote de la Mancha and the Life of Cervantes

Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra led a life as fascinating as the characters in his novels, poems, and plays. Having spent much of his early life in Rome, Italy, Cervantes became enraptured in a Renaissance dream of art, architecture, and poetry. It was during this period of his life that the author became obsessed with capturing…

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American Presidents

American Presidents

By Adrienne Raptis | October 7, 2014 | Comments Off on American Presidents

United States Presidents have carried out countless important acts for our country, including the Fifteenth Amendment in 1870 that allowed US citizens of any race or color to vote in any state, the New Deal relief programs that helped the country out of its Great Depression in the 1930s, and the initiation of Project Apollo,…

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Charles Dickens & His Works

By Adrienne Raptis | September 30, 2014 | Comments Off on Charles Dickens & His Works

More than a famed writer and social critic of the Victorian period, Charles John Huffam Dickens touched the lives of people with the very human complexity of his fictional characters. Through his critically acclaimed novels, Dickens invoked profound thought and criticism around “social evils, injustice, and hypocrisy.” In a commentary on a rare, extensive collection…

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Isaac Newton’s The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy

By Adrienne Raptis | September 2, 2014 | Comments Off on Isaac Newton’s The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy

Einstein describes Newton’s The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy: “”Newton’s Principia is generally described as the greatest work in the history of science. Copernicus, Galileo and Kepler had certainly shown the way; but where they described the phenomena they observed, Newton explained the underlying universal laws. The Principia provided the greatest synthesis of the cosmos,…

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Edward Gibbon: The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

By Adrienne Raptis | August 17, 2014 | Comments Off on Edward Gibbon: The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

Edward Gibbon, an English historian and member of Parilament in the 18th century, is most known for his six volume work The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. This work is still highly regarded by both historians and critics, over 200 years after its publication. Giobbon was born in Putney, Surrey,…

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Remembering the Life and Works of Nadine Gordimer

By Adrienne Raptis | August 4, 2014 | Comments Off on Remembering the Life and Works of Nadine Gordimer

Nadine Gordimer was a famous South African writer and political activist, using her talents to help shed light on moral and racial issues. She was known for her involvement in HIV/AIDS causes as well as the anti-apartheid movement. She was the recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1991. Nadine Gordimer was born outside…

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Henry Fielding and The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling

By Adrienne Raptis | July 7, 2014 | Comments Off on Henry Fielding and The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling

Henry Fielding, born in Sharpham, England, was an English novelist that was famous for his dry humor and satirical writing style. His novel The History of Tom Jones, a Founling is his most famous work and what Fielding is truly remembered for, over 250 years after his death. Fielding’s literary career did not start until…

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Author Spotlight – Cormac McCarthy

By Adrienne Raptis | June 23, 2014 | Comments Off on Author Spotlight – Cormac McCarthy

Cormac McCarthy has become a household name for his various novels that have won him a Pulitzer Prize, landed on the New York Times bestseller list, and been turned into blockbuster films. The now 80-year-old writer lives in Providence, Rhode Island, and is still somewhat of an enigma in the literary world. McCarthy was born…

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Remembering Maya Angelou

By Adrienne Raptis | May 29, 2014 | Comments Off on Remembering Maya Angelou

With Maya Angelou’s recent passing, we thought we would commemorate the amazing author, poet and role model by writing a bit about her life and works. Angelou was born in 1928 in Missouri, the child of working-class parents who divorced shortly after she was born. When Angelou was eight, she was sexually abused by her…

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