Satire
The Devil's Dictionary
The Devil's Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce is a sharp and witty exploration of language and human nature, presented in the form of a satirical…
Gulliver's Travels
First published in 1726, Jonathan Swift's "Gulliver's Travels" presents, as a mock travel tale, a series of thought experiments mi…
The Inspector-General
The Governor and Officials of a small provincial town in Russia are worried. They have received word that a Government Inspector is on his w…
Vanity Fair
Vanity Fair: A Novel without a Hero is a novel by William Makepeace Thackeray that satirizes society in early 19th-century England. Like man…
The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson
In one of his later novels, the master storyteller spins a tale of two children switched at infancy. A slave takes on the identity of master…
The Flying Inn
The Flying Inn is a novel first published in 1914 by G.K. Chesterton. It is set in a future England where a bizarre form of "Progressiv…
A Modest Proposal
Jonathan Swift almost defines satire in this biting and brutal pamphlet in which he suggests that poor (Catholic) Irish families should fatt…
Castle Rackrent
"One of the most inspired chronicles written in English" was the verdict of William Butler Yeats on the novel Castle Rackrent by M…
Gorgias
This dialogue brings Socrates face to face with the famous sophist Gorgias and his followers. It is a work likely completed around the time …
Alice in Blunderland
From Alice in Blunderland: "Certain of our members claim that they have a right to sell their votes for $500 apiece--" "Mercy…
Anti-imperialist Writings
Anti-imperialist Writings presents a thought-provoking collection of Mark Twain's reflections on imperialism, drawn from his diverse body of…
The Gentle Grafter
If Jefferson "Parleyvoo" Pickens had appeared in print just a few years later, he might have been the "Gentle Grifter" i…
The Autobiography of Methuselah
The Autobiography of Methuselah offers a unique and humorous perspective on biblical history through the eyes of its most ancient figure. Me…
Still Untouched by Human Hands
Long before Douglas Adams, Robert Sheckley pioneered the sub-genre of satirical science fiction. When space operas ruled, Robert Sheckley sa…
Oblomov
Oblomov is the best known novel by Russian writer Ivan Goncharov, first published in 1859. Oblomov is also the central character of the nove…
Zadig or the Book of Fate
Zadig, ou La Destinée, ("Zadig, or The Book of Fate") (1747) is a famous novel written by the French Enlightenment philosop…
The Unbearable Bassington
The Unbearable Bassington was the first novel written by Saki (H. H. Munro). It also contains much of the elegant wit found in his short sto…
Lucia in London
In the third book in the Mapp and Lucia series, provincial snob and social climber Mrs. Emmeline Lucas, known to her friends as Lucia, and h…
Hard Times
Hard Times, the shortest of Dickens's full-length novels, is set in the fictitious Victorian-England city of Coketown, where facts are the r…
The Relentless City
A satiric novel of manners written in Benson's classic style of gently poking fun at class structures and the people who fill them. This tim…