All Episodes

Introductory Note: Sir Walter Raleigh

The Discovery of Guiana, by Sir Walter Raleigh

Introductory Note: Robert Browning

A Blot in the ’Scutcheon (Act I), by Robert Browning

Introductory Note: Jean Racine

Phædra (Act I), by Jean Racine

Introductory Note: Mohammed

The Koran (The Chapter of Mary)

Introductory Note: William Harrison

Holinshed’s Chronicles (Chapter VI: Of the Food and Diet of the English)

Introductory Note: Edmund Burke (#2)

Reflections on the French Revolution (Section 13), by Edmund Burke

Introductory Note: Plutarch

Parallel Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans (Pericles), by Plutarch

Introductory Note: Henry David Thoreau

Walking, by Henry David Thoreau

Introductory Note: Simon Newcomb

The Extent of the Universe, by Simon Newcomb

Introductory Note: Leif Ericsson

The Voyages to Vinland, by Leif Ericsson

Introductory Note: Francis Bacon

Essays (1-6), by Francis Bacon

Introductory Note: Percy Bysshe Shelley

The Cenci (Act I, Scene III), by Percy Bysshe Shelley

Introductory Note: Richard Brinsley Sheridan

The School for Scandal (Act I), by Richard Brinsley Sheridan

Introductory Note: Sir Thomas More

Utopia (The First Book), by Sir Thomas More

Introductory Note: The Thousand and One Nights

The Thousand and One Nights (The Story Told by the Tailor)

Introductory Note: Thomas Jefferson

The Declaration of Independence, by Thomas Jefferson

Introductory Note: Frank Aretas Haskell

Haskell’s Account of the Battle of Gettysburg, by Frank Aretas Haskell

Introductory Note: Plutarch

Parallel Lives of Famous Greeks and Romans (Cæsar), by Plutarch

Introductory Note: Charles Darwin

The Origin of Species (A Historical Sketch), by Charles Darwin

Introductory Note: John Stuart Mill

On Liberty (Ch. I), by John Stuart Mill

Introductory Note: The Tragedy of Macbeth

The Tragedy of Macbeth (Act III), by William Shakespeare

Introductory Note: Charles Darwin (#2)

The Voyage of the Beagle (Ch. III), by Charles Darwin

Introductory Note: Francis Bacon

Essays (Of Envy), Francis Bacon

Introductory Note: Beowulf

Beowulf (Sec. XXII-XXIII)

Introductory Note: Robert Herrick

Poems, Robert Herrick

Introductory Note: The Thousand and One Nights

The Thousand and One Nights (The Story Told by the Christian Broker)

Introductory Note: John Stuart Mill

Autobiography (Ch. I), by John Stuart Mill

Introductory Note: Pliny the Younger

Letters of Pliny (LXXXIII: Letter to Sura), by Pliny the Younger

Introductory Note: John Ruskin

Sesame and Lilies (Of Kings’ Treasuries), by John Ruskin

Introductory Note: Charles Darwin (#2)

The Voyage of the Beagle (Ch. 17 and 18), by Charles Darwin

Introductory Note: William Harrison

Holinshed’s Chronicles (Ch. XV), by William Harrison

Introductory Note: Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm

Cinderella, by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm

Introductory Note: John Eliot

John Eliot’s Brief Narrative, by John Eliot

Introductory Note: Lord Byron

Manfred (Act I Scene II, Act II Scene I), by Lord Byron

Introductory Note: Jean Froissart

The Chronicles of Froissart (Wat Tyler’s Rebellion), by Jean Froissart

Introductory Note: Socrates and Plato

Crito, by Plato

Introductory Note: Plutarch

Parallel Lives of Famous Greeks and Romans (Aristides), by Plutarch

Introductory Note: The Bhagavad-Gita

The Bhagavad-Gita (Ch. 1-2)

Introductory Note: Edmund Spenser

Epithalamion, by Edmund Spenser

Introductory Note: Sophocles

Oedipus the King (Part I), by Sophocles

Introductory Note: The Book of Psalms

The Book of Psalms (Psalms 23-31)

Introductory Note: John Woolman

The Journal of John Woolman (Ch. XII), by John Woolman

Introductory Note: Hamlet by William Shakespeare

The Tragedy of Hamlet Prince of Denmark (Act IV, Scene V), by William Shakespeare

Introductory Note: Richard Henry Dana, Jr.

Two Years Before the Mast, by Richard Henry Dana, Jr.

Introductory Note: Adam Smith

The Wealth of Nations (Book I, Ch. XI), by Adam Smith

Introductory Note: Egmont by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Egmont (Act I, Scene I), by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Introductory Note: William Harvey

On the Motion of the Heart and Blood in Animals, by William Harvey

Introductory Note: Jean Jacques Rousseau

Profession of Faith of a Savoyard Vicar, by Jean Jacques Rousseau