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Although Edith Wharton may be best known for her novels analyzing New York's upper crust, the author lived in France from 1907 until her death in 1937. There, she witnessed the ravages of World War I, especially the hardships endured by refugees. She helped by establishing The Children of Flanders Relief Committee and The American Hostels for Refugees. To raise money for her charities, she edited this work of poems, essays, and pictures. Contributors include some of the brightest names of the time -- Joseph Conrad, Jean Cocteau, Paul Claudel, Thomas Hardy, Henry James, Maurice Maeterlinck, George Santayana, Igor Stravinsky, and W.B. Yeats. Theodore Roosevelt provided the introduction, in which he wrote: "We owe to Mrs. Wharton all the assistance we can give. We owe this assistance to the good name of America, and above all for the cause of humanity we owe it to the children, the women and the old men who have suffered such dreadful wrong for absolutely no fault of theirs."EDITH WHARTON (1862-1937) is the author of The House of Mirth, Ethan Frome, The Custom of the Country, and The Age of Innocence, for which she won the Pulitzer Prize. For her charitable work, she was awarded the French Legion of Honor and other decorations.

Whist was a wildly popular card game in the late 19th century--so popular that it was almost one's social duty to become an accomplished Whist player. Among the most reliable authorities and instructors was R.F. Foster, who developed a complete hands-on system for learning the game and becoming a first-class player. Those who follow his system can become expert in leading, playing the second hand, developing strategies, seeing signals, and using trumps. Also included are the Laws of Whist as adopted at the Third American Whist Congress in 1893, the Laws of Duplicate Whist, and the Etiquette of Whist."No book has won more popularity among the Whist-loving community than Foster's Whist Manual." -- Boston Herald, April 1894"[Foster's] method of teaching the beginner is simple, lucid, and progressive, and his rules concise, yet clear. Not only beginners, but also advanced players might profitably enter upon his studies." - The Milwaukee Whist Club

Irving Fisher's interest in public health was the result of a bout with tuberculosis, after which he wrote "How to Live: Rules for Healthful Living Based on Modern Science". In his foreword to the book, former president and then-future Chief Justice William Howard Taft wrote that there were many "considerations that have influenced me to cooperate with the life extension movement, and to commend this volume to the earnest consideration of all who desire authoritative guidance in improving their own physical condition or in making effective the knowledge now available for bringing health and happiness to our people." To do that, the authors present chapters on the air, food, poisons, activities, and general hygiene, followed by sections dealing with being overweight or underweight, alcohol, posture, and tobacco -- and even how to avoid colds. Irving Fisher was a top American economist in the early 20th century who earned the first Ph.D. in economics awarded by Yale University, where he also taught political economy. He was an accomplished mathematician and an engaging and talented writer on even the most technical of subjects whose investigations ranged beyond economics to encompass astronomy, health and hygiene, mechanics, philosophy, poetry, science, and myriad public policy issues. Dr. Eugene Lyman Fisk was the chairman of the Life Extension Institute, under whose auspices this book was published.

Evelyn Underhill was a prolific writer, with dozens of books and hundreds of articles to her credit. Underhill wrote about mysticism in the beginning of her career, but later focused more on the spiritual life as lived by ordinary people.Written by Underhill under the pseudonym John Cordelier, ¿The Spiral Way¿ is a Christian look at the journey of the spirit. With chapters structured to parallel the Roman Catholic tradition of the Mysteries of the Rosary, Underhill relates the spiritual journey to the life of Jesus Christ.This book, subtitled ¿Mediations Upon the Fifteen Mysteries of the Soul¿s Ascent,¿ examines those mysteries in three phases. The Joyful Mysteries (the Annunciation, the Visitation, the Nativity, the Presentation in the Temple, and the Child amongst the Doctors) examines the ascent of the soul. The Sorrowful Mysteries (the Agony in the Garden, the Scourging, the Crown of Thorns, the Bearing of the Cross, and the Crucifixion) expands upon the trials and the agony experienced along an often difficult path. The third phase, the Triumphant Mysteries (the Resurrection, the Ascension, the Coming of the Holy Spirit, the Assumption, and the Coronation) fulfills the promise of the soul¿s glorious ascension of ultimate redemption.

George Santayana, poet, philosopher, and literary and cultural critic, was one of the key figures in classical western philosophy. He was a man before his time . . . before the popularization of naturalism, multiculturalism, philosophy as literature, and spirituality without being a religious believer. "The Sense of Beauty" is a primary source for the study of aesthetics. Critics have described it as a milestone in aesthetic theory. Santayana's writings are thematically full of the relationships between literature, art, religion, and philosophy.

"Stray Birds" contains ideas on nature, man, and his environment as may be entertained by a man sitting by a window where the stray birds of summer sing and fly away. These short, sometimes merely one-line poems are often just an image or the distillation of a thought, but they stay in the mind and do not fly away as easily as the birds. The author, Rabindranath Tagore, was a Nobel laureate for literature (1913) as well as one of India's greatest poets and the composer of independent India's national anthem, as well as that of Bangladesh. He wrote successfully in all literary genres, but was first and foremost a poet, publishing more than 50 volumes of poetry. He was a Bengali writer who was born in Calcutta and later traveled around the world. He was knighted in 1915, but gave up his knighthood after the massacre of demonstrators in India in 1919.

Ireland is home to some of the world's most enchanting myths and tales. But many of these stories would have been lost if they hadn't been recorded and written down. Poet and Nobel laureate William Butler Yeats was one of these fortunate witnesses. In "The Celtic Twilight," originally published in 1893, he collected some of the most delightful myths and folktales of his native land.

Travels in Arabia Deserta, originally published in 1888, is a two-volume set which describes English poet Charles Doughty's extensive travels through the Arabian deserts and the discoveries he made there. The work became well-regarded for its beautiful prose as well as its extensiveness, which made it a benchmark of ambitious travel writing in the early 20th century. Written in the style of the King James Bible, the text is extravagant and creative. In the 1920's, it was discovered by British Army Officer T.E. Lawrence, who spurred the book's republication, this time with an introduction from Lawrence. The book has been in and out of print since then, but the Cosimo edition is a rare 1921 reprint, and includes the Lawrence introduction.Volume II contains Doughty's travels to Ibn Rash's town (and the people and culture there), life in Hayl, the journey to Kheybar and his discoveries and encounters there, the Shammar and Harb Deserts in Nejd, the Journey to El-Kasm, and more.

Travels in Arabia Deserta, originally published in 1888, is a two-volume set which describes English poet Charles Doughty's extensive travels through the Arabian deserts and the discoveries he made there. The work became well-regarded for its beautiful prose as well as its extensiveness, which made it a benchmark of ambitious travel writing in the early 20th century. Written in the style of the King James Bible, the text is extravagant and creative. In the 1920's, it was discovered by British Army Officer T.E. Lawrence, who spurred the book'ss republication, this time with an introduction from Lawrence. The book has been in and out of print since then, but the Cosimo edition is a rare 1921 reprint, and includes the Lawrence introduction.Volume I includes T.E. Lawrence's Introduction, as well as accounts of Doughty's treks to Mecca, Ammon and Moab, the Mountain of Edom, Arabia, the Passage of the Harra, Teyma, and more. He also describes nomad life in the desert and ancient stories, peoples, and myths connected with his travels.

Cartesian Economics, The Bearing of Physical Science upon State Stewardship is a compilation of two lectures given by Frederick Soddy to the student unions of Birbeck College and the London School of Economics. The lectures were the first of four works written between 1921 and 1934 that applied the concepts of hard science to the economy. Though Soddy's ideas were largely rejected at the time, much of his theories are rooted in real-world examples and mirrored in other aspects of life-like the laws of thermodynamics. Soddy's main arguments are against the concepts of debt and wealth. He likens the economy to a machine, which must draw energy from outside itself and which cannot forever recycle that energy to create more energy. Similarly, economists posited that debt could produce more wealth, and thus fuel an economy. Soddy argued instead that debt destroyed wealth, eating it up until there was more debt in a society than wealth, making it unsustainable. These lectures are poignant, and highly applicable to the economic situation at the beginning of the 21st century. They will interest burgeoning and seasoned economists yearning for a new perspective.