Essays trace the history of the detective story in America and England, looks at how mysteries are written, and provides a guide to detective characters and their creators

From Publishers Weekly Though billed as memoir, Bryson's follow-up to A Short History of Nearly Everything can only be considered one in the broadest sense. Sure, it's filled with Bryson's recollections of his Des Moines, Iowa, childhood. But it's also a clear foray into Jean Shepherd territory, where nostalgia for one's youth is suffused with comic hyperbole: "All sneakers in ...(展开全部)

If you can find a better bang for the buck than Wicked, please let me know. I picked up Wicked, knowing nothing except that its subject matter was the Wicked Witch of the West, to be drawn immediately into Maguire's splendidly imagined world of sentient animals, multiple societies, and unique physical laws. Wicked is an enthralling, great read, hugely entertaining. On top of al...(展开全部)

In celebration of distinguished author/critic Julian Symons' 80th year, here is the third and final revised edition of his classic history of mystery fiction. The views expressed here are as candid as ever. One bestselling writer is called unreadable, another compared to writers of "strip cartoon stories". But the general tone is warmly appreciative of every sort of book within...(展开全部)

在线阅读本书 When Dorothy triumphed over the Wicked Witch of the West in L. Frank Baum's classic tale, we heard only her side of the story. But what about her arch-nemesis, the mysterious witch? Where did she come from? How did she become so wicked? And what is the true nature of evil? Gregory Maguire creates a fantasy world so rich and vivid that we will never look at Oz the sam...(展开全部)

Postmodernity has been dubbed the great transformation in society and culture, yet in this book Keith Tester casts a cautious eye on such grandiose claims. Drawing on a range of themes and stories from European sociology and literature, Tester shows how many of the great statements about postmodernityare misleading. Tester argues that "postmodernity" is not so much the harbinge...(展开全部)

From one of the most beloved and bestselling authors in the English language, a vivid, nostalgic, and utterly hilarious memoir of growing up in the 1950s Bill Bryson was born in the middle of the American century—1951—in the middle of the United States—Des Moines, Iowa—in the middle of the largest generation in American history—the baby boomers. As one of the best and funnies...(展开全部)

林语堂（1895-1976），福建龙溪人，原名和乐，后改玉堂，又改语堂。1912年入上海圣约翰大学，毕业后在清华大学任教。1919年秋赴美哈佛大学文学系。1922年获文学硕士学位。同年转赴德国入莱比锡大学，专攻语言学。1923年获会性　博士学位后回国，任北京大学教授、北京女子师范大学教务长和英文系主任。1924年后为《语丝》主要撰稿人之一。1926年到厦门大学任文学院长。1927年任外交部秘书。1932年主编《论语》半月刊。1934年创办《人间世》，1935年创办《宇宙风》，提倡“以自我为中心，以闲适为格调”的小品文。1935年后，在美国用英文写《吾国与吾民》、《京华烟云》、《风声鹤唳》等文化著作和长篇小说。1944年曾一度回国到重庆讲学。1945年赴新加坡筹建南洋大学，任校长。1952年在美国与人创办《天风》杂志。1966年定居台湾。1967年受聘...(展开全部)

本書作者藍迪．席爾茲，是全美主流報紙第一位專職報導愛滋病的新聞記者，在廿年的記者生涯中，緊告同性戀平權和愛滋病兩大議題，並曾四度獲獎。『同性戀平權鬥士』是他親見正聞，並以標準而專業化的報導方式撰寫的真人實事。本書不但是同性戀運動的故事，也是關於愛、尊嚴與平等的故事。

本書作者藍迪．席爾茲，是全美主流報紙第一位專職報導愛滋病的新聞記者，在廿年的記者生涯中，緊告同性戀平權和愛滋病兩大議題，並曾四度獲獎。『同性戀平權鬥士』是他親見正聞，並以標準而專業化的報導方式撰寫的真人實事。本書不但是同性戀運動的故事，也是關於愛、尊嚴與平等的故事。