Penguin Classic / Literary collections

Utilitarianism and Other Essays

by John Mill & Jeremy Bentham

The Cloud of Unknowing and Other Works

by Anonymous & A. C. Spearing

In the fourteenth century there was a great flourishing of religious writings in English, both orthodox and heretical. Many of these works focused on Christ's Passion and humanity, whereas The Cloud of Unknowing...

Selected Writings (Eckhart, Meister)

by Meister Eckhart & Oliver Davies

American Scriptures: An Anthology of Sacred Writings

by Laurie F. Maffly-Kipp

A groundbreaking collection of sacred Christian writings of American origin from Mormons, Shakers, Christian Scientists, and others.

"Scripture" is any work in which the authors, translators, editors, or discoverers...

The Mayflower Papers: Selected Writings of Colonial New England

by Various & Nathaniel Philbrick

The most important personal accounts of the Plymouth Colony?the key sources of Nathaniel Philbrick?s New York Times bestseller Mayflower

National Book Award winner Nathaniel Philbrick and his father, Thomas...

The Letters of John and Abigail Adams

by Abigail Adams & John Adams

The Letters of John and Abigail Adams provide an insightful record of American life before, during, and after the Revolution; they also reveal the intellectually and emotionally fulfilling relationship between...

Pragmatism and Other Writings

by William James & Giles Gunn

The writings of William James represent one of America's most original contributions to the history of ideas. Ranging from philosophy and psychology to religion and politics, James composed the most engaging...

A Year in Thoreau's Journal: 1851

by Henry David Thoreau

Thoreau's journal of 1851 reveals profound ideas and observations in the making, including wonderful writing on the natural history of Concord.

American Indian Stories, Legends, and Other Writings

by Zitkala-Sa

Edna Pontellier, a young wife and mother, refuses to be caged by married and domestic life and claims for herself moral and erotic freedom. Through careful, subtle changes of style, Kate Chopin shows Edna's...

Tales, Speeches, Essays, and Sketches

by Mark Twain

These short fiction and prose pieces display the variety of Twain's imaginative invention, his diverse talents, and his extraordinary emotional range. Twain was a master of virtually every prose genre; in fables...

The Portable Benjamin Franklin

by Benjamin Franklin

It takes a very inclusive anthology to encompass the protean personality and range of interests of Benjamin Franklin, but The Portable Benjamin Franklin succeeds as no collection has. In addition to the complete...

The Portable Charles W. Chesnutt

by Charles W. Chesnutt

Collections from two of our most influential African American writers-under the general editorship of Henry Louis Gates, Jr. An icon of nineteenth-century American fiction, Charles W. Chesnutt-an incisive storyteller...

Letters to a Young Poet

by RainerMaria Rilke & Charlie Louth

Rilke's powerfully touching letters to an aspiring young poet, now available in a beautiful hardcover Penguin edition

At the start of the twentieth century, Rainer Maria Rilke wrote a series of letters...

The Portable Malcolm X Reader

by Manning Marable & Garrett Felber

A new look at Malcolm X's life and times from his Pulitzer Prize–winning biographer, Manning Marable

Manning Marable's Pulitzer Prize–winning biography, Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention, has already...

The Portable Steinbeck

by John Steinbeck & Pascal Covici

Penguin Classics commemorates the 50th anniversary of Steinbeck's Nobel Prize with Portable Steinbeck for the 21st century

It would be impossible to overstate John Steinbeck's enduring influence on American letters....

The Portable Dante

by Dante Alighieri & Mark Musa

Dante Alighieri paved the way for modern literature, while creating verse and prose that remain unparalleled for formal elegance, intellectual depth, and emotional grandeur. The Portable Dante contains complete...