The Smart is a true drama of eighteenth-century life with a mercurial, mysterious heroine. Caroline is a young Irishwoman who runs off to London and slides into a glamorous life as a high-class prostitute. In the early 1770s, she becomes involved with the intriguing Perreau twins. They begin forging bonds, living in increasing luxury until everything collapses like a house of cards. A brilliantly researched and evocative history, The Smart is full of the life of London streets, and shot through with enduring themes—sex, money, death and fame.

The Smart: The True Story of Margaret Caroline Rudd and the Unfortunate Perreau Brothers

Biographies & Memoirs

Bakewell, Sarah

Historical

RANDOM HOUSE UK

Brilliant, original, funny and moving — a vivid portrait of Montaigne, showing how his ideas gave birth to our modern sense of our inner selves, from Shakespeare's plays to the dilemmas we face today. How to get on well with people, how to deal with violence, how to adjust to losing someone you love — such questions arise in most people's lives. They are all versions of a bigger question: how do you live? How do you do the good or honourable thing, while flourishing and feeling happy? This question obsessed Renaissance writers, none more than Michel Eyquem de Montaigne (1533-92), perhaps the first truly modern individual. A nobleman, public official and wine-grower, he wrote free-roaming explorations of his thought and experience, unlike anything written before. He called them 'essays', meaning 'attempts' or 'tries'. Into them he put whatever was in his head: his tastes in wine and food, his childhood memories, the way his dog's ears twitched when it was dreaming, as well as the appalling events of the religious civil wars raging around him. The Essays was an instant bestseller, and over four hundred years later, Montaigne's honesty and charm still draw people to him. Readers come to him in search of companionship, wisdom and entertainment — and in search of themselves. This book, a spirited and singular biography (and the first full life of Montaigne in English for nearly fifty years), relates the story of his life by way of the questions he posed and the answers he explored. It traces his bizarre upbringing (made to speak only Latin), youthful career and sexual adventures, his travels, and his friendships with the scholar and poet Etienne de La Boétie and with his adopted 'daughter', Marie de Gournay. And as we read, we also meet his readers — who for centuries have found in Montaigne an inexhaustible source of answers to the haunting question, 'how to live?' From the Hardcover edition.

How to Live: A Life of Montaigne in One Question and Twenty Attempts at an Answer

Arts & Literature

Vintage Books

AT THE EXISTENTIALIST CAF

Professionals & Academics

Vintage

At the Existentialist Café: Freedom, Being and Apricot Cocktails

Great philosophy meets powerful biography in this entertaining and immensely readable portrait of mid-20th century Paris and the fascinating characters of Sartre, de Beauvoir, Camus, and their circle, who loved and hated, drank and debated with each other--and forever changed the way we think about thinking. At the Existentialist Café is a thrilling look at the famous group of post-war thinkers who became known as the Existentialists: Sartre, de Beauvoir, Camus, Heidegger, and their circle. Starting with Paris after the devastation of the Second World War, Sarah Bakewell (winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for her previous book) takes us inside the passionate debates and equally passionate lives of these brilliant, if flawed, characters. Here is a wonderful, vibrant look at the social, artistic and political currents that shaped the existentialist movement--a mode of thinking and being that, as Bakewell vividly shows, deeply affects us today. Never has the story of this influential group, and especially that of the legendary relationship between Sartre and de Beauvoir, been told with such verve and sweep, weaving personal life with social upheaval and the universal quest for understanding.
 From the Hardcover edition.

Vintage Canada

Great philosophy meets powerful biography in this entertaining and immensely readable portrait of mid-20th century Paris and the fascinating characters of Sartre, de Beauvoir, Camus, and their circle, who loved and hated, drank and debated with each other--and forever changed the way we think about thinking. At the Existentialist Café is a thrilling look at the famous group of post-war thinkers who became known as the Existentialists: Sartre, de Beauvoir, Camus, Heidegger, and their circle. Starting with Paris after the devastation of the Second World War, Sarah Bakewell (winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for her previous book) takes us inside the passionate debates and equally passionate lives of these brilliant, if flawed, characters. Here is a wonderful, vibrant look at the social, artistic and political currents that shaped the existentialist movement--a mode of thinking and being that, as Bakewell vividly shows, deeply affects us today. Never has the story of this influential group, and especially that of the legendary relationship between Sartre and de Beauvoir, been told with such verve and sweep, weaving personal life with social upheaval and the universal quest for understanding.

Knopf Canada

The Smart is a true drama of eighteenth-century life with a mercurial, mysterious heroine. Caroline is a young Irishwoman who runs off to London and slides into a glamorous life as a high-class prostitute. In the early 1770s, she becomes involved with the intriguing Perreau twins. They begin forging bonds, living in increasing luxury until everything collapses like a house of cards. A brilliantly researched and evocative history, The Smart is full of the life of London streets, and shot through with enduring themes—sex, money, death and fame.

The Smart

Jorgen Jorgenson was a Dane who made Britain his adopted country, and became caught up in its story at opposite ends of the earth. The son of a Copenhagen clockmaker, inspired by his hero Captain Cook, he came to London. Here he became a sailor and at twenty-three was among the small party sent to establish a new colony - Tasmania. Twists of fortune found him captaining a ship for Napoleon against Britain: captured, his life was under threat. He escaped execution, but next a pile of London gambling debts drove him to sail with British traders to Iceland. Now comes his long-dreamed of moment of glory. When Danish officials in Iceland bar their trade, Jorgensen and his fellows (including the young botanist William Jackson Hooker) simply stage a coup. For seven summer months Jorgensen rules Iceland, proclaiming it free from Danish rule, its ancient rights restored and 'at peace with all the nations of the world'. A British warship arrives, and his rule is at an end, but on the voyage home, Jorgen is a hero once more, saving them all from a fire at sea. He was not yet thirty. Much lay ahead, from imprisonment in the hulks, patronage by the British establishment, and travels in Europe as a British spy. But Jorgensen was dogged by his own excesses, and spiralled downwards to prison again, until he was transported as a convict to Tasmania, the colony he helped to found. Here his second life began. He became a mighty explorer, cutting through the bush across icy mountains and flooded rivers. Despite his sympathy for the people, he was caught up in the 'Black Line' and the terrible Aboriginal clearances - movingly described here. Finally he won freedom and status and fame, before drink and a violent marriage dragged him down again. It's a great story - all the ripping yarns you need rolled into one, and a real eye-opener about the workings of power at the birth of the British empire.

The English Dane: A Life of Jorgen Jorgenson

History

World

Chatto Bodley Head & Cape

Brilliant, original, funny and moving — a vivid portrait of Montaigne, showing how his ideas gave birth to our modern sense of our inner selves, from Shakespeare's plays to the dilemmas we face today.How to get on well with people, how to deal with violence, how to adjust to losing someone you love — such questions arise in most people's lives. They are all versions of a bigger question: how do you live? How do you do the good or honourable thing, while flourishing and feeling happy?This question obsessed Renaissance writers, none more than Michel Eyquem de Montaigne (1533-92), perhaps the first truly modern individual. A nobleman, public official and wine-grower, he wrote free-roaming explorations of his thought and experience, unlike anything written before. He called them 'essays', meaning 'attempts' or 'tries'. Into them he put whatever was in his head: his tastes in wine and food, his childhood memories, the way his dog's ears twitched when it was dreaming, as well as the appalling events of the religious civil wars raging around him. The Essays was an instant bestseller, and over four hundred years later, Montaigne's honesty and charm still draw people to him. Readers come to him in search of companionship, wisdom and entertainment — and in search of themselves.This book, a spirited and singular biography (and the first full life of Montaigne in English for nearly fifty years), relates the story of his life by way of the questions he posed and the answers he explored. It traces his bizarre upbringing (made to speak only Latin), youthful career and sexual adventures, his travels, and his friendships with the scholar and poet Etienne de La Boétie and with his adopted 'daughter', Marie de Gournay. And as we read, we also meet his readers — who for centuries have found in Montaigne an inexhaustible source of answers to the haunting question, 'how to live?'

How to Live: A Life of Montaigne in One Question and Twenty Attempts at An Answer

Chatto&Windus

Humanly Possible: Seven Hundred Years of Humanist Freethinking, Inquiry, and Hope

The bestselling author of How to Live and At the Existentialist Café explores seven hundred years of writers, thinkers, scientists, and artists, all trying to understand what it means to be truly human Humanism is an expansive tradition of thought that places shared humanity, cultural vibrancy, and moral responsibility at the center of our lives. The humanistic worldview--as clear-eyed and enlightening as it is kaleidoscopic and richly ambiguous--has inspired people for centuries to make their choices by principles of freethinking, intellectual inquiry, fellow feeling, and optimism. In this sweeping new history, Sarah Bakewell, herself a lifelong humanist, illuminates the very personal, individual, and, well, human matter of humanism and takes readers on a grand intellectual adventure. Voyaging from the literary enthusiasts of the fourteenth century to the secular campaigners of our own time, from Erasmus to Esperanto, from anatomists to agnostics, from Christine de Pizan to Bertrand Russell, and from Voltaire to Zora Neale Hurston, Bakewell brings together extraordinary humanists across history. She explores their immense variety: some sought to promote scientific and rationalist ideas, others put more emphasis on moral living, and still others were concerned with the cultural and literary studies known as "the humanities." Humanly Possible asks not only what brings all these aspects of humanism together but why it has such enduring power, despite opposition from fanatics, mystics, and tyrants. A singular examination of this vital tradition as well as a dazzling contribution to its literature, this is an intoxicating, joyful celebration of the human spirit from one of our most beloved writers. And at a moment when we are all too conscious of the world's divisions, Humanly Possible--brimming with ideas, experiments in living, and respect for the deepest ethical values--serves as a recentering, a call to care for one another, and a reminder that we are all, together, only human.

Politics & Social Sciences

Philosophy

Penguin Press

The New York Times bestseller&nbsp;*&nbsp;One of Barack Obama's Favorite Books of 2023&nbsp;* A New York Times Notable Book "A book of big and bold ideas, Humanly Possible is humane in approach and, more important, readable and worth reading . . . Bakewell is wide-ranging, witty, and compassionate." --The Wall Street Journal An exploration of seven hundred years of writers, thinkers, scientists, and artists, all trying to understand what it means to be truly human Humanism is an expansive tradition of thought that places shared humanity, cultural vibrancy, and moral responsibility at the center of our lives. For centuries, this worldview has inspired people to make their choices by principles of freethinking, intellectual inquiry, fellow feeling, and optimism. In this sweeping new history, Sarah Bakewell, herself a lifelong humanist, illuminates the very personal, individual, and, well, human matter of humanism and takes readers on a grand intellectual adventure. Voyaging from the literary enthusiasts of the fourteenth century to the secular campaigners of our own time, from Voltaire to Zora Neale Hurston, Bakewell brings together extraordinary humanists across history. She explores their immense variety: some sought to promote scientific and rationalist ideas, others put more emphasis on moral living, and still others were concerned with the cultural and literary studies known as "the humanities." Humanly Possible asks not only what unites all these meanings of humanism but why it has such enduring power, despite opposition from fanatics, mystics, and tyrants. A singular examination of this vital tradition as well as a dazzling contribution to its literature, Humanly Possible serves as a recentering, a call to care for one another, and a reminder that we are all, together, only human.

Penguin??Books

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Bakewell, Sarah. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Bakewell, Sarah

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Bakewell, Sarah. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Smart: The True Story of Margaret Caroline Rudd and the Unfortunate Perreau Brothers

How to Live: A Life of Montaigne in One Question and Twenty Attempts at an Answer

AT THE EXISTENTIALIST CAF

At the Existentialist Café: Freedom, Being and Apricot Cocktails

At the Existentialist Café: Freedom, Being and Apricot Cocktails

The Smart

The English Dane: A Life of Jorgen Jorgenson

How to Live: A Life of Montaigne in One Question and Twenty Attempts at An Answer

Humanly Possible: Seven Hundred Years of Humanist Freethinking, Inquiry, and Hope

Humanly Possible: Seven Hundred Years of Humanist Freethinking, Inquiry, and Hope