Illuminations Literature

In this brief and incisive book, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Garry Wills tells the story of the "Confessions"--what motivated Augustine to dictate it, how it asks to be read, and the many ways it has been misread in the one-and-a-half millennia since it was composed. Following Wills's biography of Augustine and his translation of the "Confessions," this is an unparalleled introduction to one of the most important books in the Christian and Western traditions.

The story of King Arthur as it has never been told before. Galwyn, the son of a bankrupt and dishonored aristocrat, has always had an ear for languages. So when Lord Artos--later known as King Arthur--needs an interpreter to help him buy large horses to breed a troop strong enough to carry armed warriors against the Saxon invaders, Galwyn gets a chance to redeem his father's honor and make a name for himself. 

When De Witt Clinton, a young politician, first dreams of building a canal to connect the Hudson River with the Great Lakes, folks don't believe such a thing can be done. But eight long years after the first shovelful of earth is dug, Clinton realizes his vision at last. The longest uninterrupted canal in history has been built, and it is now possible to travel by water from the American prairie all the way to Europe!

"Erasmus laid the egg that Luther hatched" is what the people said. And that made young Gerhard Koestler smile. He knew that Erasmus had influenced Luther's thinking. He also believed both men were trying to serve God according to the Scriptures. Young Gerhard Koestler lived in Germany in the 1500s. He inherited money and a castle when his rich parents died. After a series of adventures and narrow escapes, Gerhard arrived in Basel, Switzerland, where he was able to live in the same house as Erasmus. Although Erasmus' enemies accused him of agreeing with Martin Luther, Erasmus said that the Bible was his guide.

A Polish family in the Middle Ages guards a great secret treasure and a boy's memory of an earlier trumpeter of Krakow makes it possible for him to save his father.