<div>Theologian Richard L. Rubenstein writes of the Holocaust, why it happened, why it happened when it did, and why it may happen again and again."Few books possess the power to leave the reader with the feeling of awareness that we call a sense of revelation. The Cunning of History seems to me to be one of these . . . Rubenstein is forcing us to reinterpret the meaning of Auschwitz&#8212;especially, though not exclusively, from the standpoint of its existence as part of a continuum of slavery that has been engrafted for centuries onto the very body of Western civilization. Therefore, in the process of destroying the myth and the preconception, he is making us see that that encampment of death and suffering may have been more horrible than we had ever imagined. It was slavery in its ultimate embodiment. He is making us understand that the etiology of Auschwitz&#8212;to some, a diabolical, perhaps freakish excrescence, which vanished from the face of the earth with the destruction of the crematoria in 1945&#8212;is actually embedded deeply in a cultural tradition that stretches back to the Middle Passage from the coast of Africa, and beyond, to the enforced servitude in ancient Greece and Rome. Rubenstein is saying that we ignore this linkage, and the existence of the sleeping virus in the bloodstream of civilization, at risk of our future." &#8212; William Styron, from the Introduction. </div>

The Cunning of History

<div>This award-winning novel of love, survival, and agonizing regret in post&ndash;WWII Brooklyn &ldquo;belongs on that small shelf reserved for American masterpieces&rdquo; (The Washington Post Book World). Winner of the National Book Award and a modern classic, Sophie&rsquo;s Choice centers on three characters: Stingo, a sexually frustrated aspiring novelist; Nathan, his charismatic but violent Jewish neighbor; and Sophie, an Auschwitz survivor who is Nathan&rsquo;s lover. Their entanglement in one another&rsquo;s lives will build to a stirring revelation of agonizing secrets that will change them forever. Poetic in its execution, and epic in its emotional sweep, Sophie&rsquo;s Choice explores the good and evil of humanity through Stingo&rsquo;s burgeoning worldliness, Nathan&rsquo;s volatile personality, and Sophie&rsquo;s tragic past. Mixing elements from Styron&rsquo;s own experience with themes of the Holocaust and the history of slavery in the American South, the novel is a profound and haunting human drama, representing Styron at the pinnacle of his literary brilliance. This ebook features an illustrated biography of William Styron, including original letters, rare photos, and never-before-seen documents from the Styron family and the Duke University Archives.</div>

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Sophie's Choice

<div>The author of Sophie&rsquo;s Choice, &ldquo;the foremost writer of his generation,&rdquo; portrays a rebellion by two marines on a miles-long march in the Carolina heat (The Wall Street Journal).In the shadow of the Korean War, a series of misfired mortar shells kill six men in a marine camp during a training exercise, prompting the commanding officer to order a grueling punishment: a thirty-six mile march through the suffocating heat of the Carolina summer. Intended to beat discipline into the aging reservists, the march instead rankles marines Culver and Mannix, whose growing resentment of the brutal trek leads to an ultimate, powerful act of rebellion. Styron&rsquo;s The Long March is a withering critique of a military system that leaves no room for dignity or personal identity. Told in part through flashbacks and dream sequences, the story is immersed in vivid language and philosophical reflection&mdash;a poignant defense of the individual in the face of attempted dehumanization. This short novel marks another triumph by the New York Times&ndash;bestselling author of Sophie&#39;s Choice and Darkness Visible, who has been honored with both a Pulitzer Prize and a National Book Award, among other accolades. This ebook features a new illustrated biography of William Styron, including original letters, rare photos, and never-before-seen documents from the Styron family and the Duke University Archives.</div>

The Long March

<div>From the #1 New York Times&ndash;bestselling author of Sophie&rsquo;s Choice: three novellas of a young writer&rsquo;s journey to adulthood. In Love Day, twenty-year-old Paul Whitehurst is a Marine lieutenant during World War II, waiting to land on Okinawa, wrestling with anxiety and memories of his boyhood in Virginia. In Shadrach, ten-year-old Paul witnesses his neighbors as they welcome a guest: a ninety-nine-year-old former slave who has walked nine hundred miles from Alabama so that he may die on the land of his childhood owner. And in A Tidewater Morning, Paul is thirteen and struggling to deal with his mother&rsquo;s impending death from cancer. Together in one volume, each of these affecting semiautobiographical novellas from the author of such literary classics as the Pulitzer Prize&ndash;winning The Confessions of Nat Turner and the memoir Darkness Visible, weaves together the transformative experiences of Whitehurst&rsquo;s early life with William Styron&rsquo;s signature deep historical insight, underscoring how the significance of the past informs the present. As the Los Angeles Times notes, it is &ldquo;one of Styron&rsquo;s finest works. . . . The beauty and humanity of the Southern tradition are evoked vividly.&rdquo; This ebook features a new illustrated biography of William Styron, including original letters, rare photos, and never-before-seen documents from the Styron family and the Duke University Archives.</div>

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A Tidewater Morning

<div>A military hospital is the setting for this darkly humorous play by the #1 New York Times&ndash;bestselling author of Darkness Visible and Sophie&rsquo;s Choice. In the summer of 1943, a young Marine named Wally Magruder arrives at a Navy hospital in the American South, stricken with what doctors diagnose as a severe case of syphilis. Trapped in the stifling confines of the urology ward, Magruder and his fellow patients rebel against the authoritarian Dr. Glanz, a physician who delights in the power that sickness gives him. But as they seek to reclaim their identities against dehumanization, the ward becomes a hell more real than any of them could have imagined. Inspired by Styron&rsquo;s own experience, In the Clap Shack is a searing indictment of military brutalization and a brilliant defense of individualism and personal freedom from the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize&ndash;winning author of The Confessions of Nat Turner and other acclaimed works. This ebook features new manuscripts, rare photos, and never-before-seen documents from the William Styron archives at Duke University.</div>

In the Clap Shack

<div>This portrait of a Southern family&rsquo;s downfall was the literary debut of the #1 New York Times&ndash;bestselling author of Sophie&rsquo;s Choice. A finalist for the National Book Award, Lie Down in Darkness centers on the Loftis family&mdash;Milton and Helen and their daughters, Peyton and Maudie. The story, told through a series of flashbacks on the day of Peyton&rsquo;s funeral, is a powerful depiction of a family doomed by its failure to forget and its inability to love. Written in masterful prose that &ldquo;achieves real beauty&rdquo; (The Washington Post), William Styron&rsquo;s debut novel offers unflinching insight into the ineradicable bonds of place and family. The story of Milton, Helen, and their children reveals much about life&rsquo;s losses and disappointments. Lie Down in Darkness, poignant and compelling, is a classic of modern American literature from the author who went on to earn high critical acclaim&mdash;with a Pulitzer Prize for The Confessions of Nat Turner and a National Book Award for Sophie&rsquo;s Choice&mdash;and a place at the top of the New York Times bestseller list. This ebook features a new illustrated biography of William Styron, including original letters, rare photos, and never-before-seen documents from the Styron family and the Duke University Archives.</div>

Lie Down in Darkness

<div>&ldquo;Thoughtful, candid&rdquo; essays from the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Sophie&rsquo;s Choice (The Christian Science Monitor). This Quiet Dust is a compilation of William Styron&rsquo;s nonfiction writings that confront significant moral questions with precision and vigor. He examines topics as diverse as the Holocaust, the American Dream, and the controversy that raged around his Pulitzer Prize&ndash;winning novel, The Confessions of Nat Turner. In each entry, Styron expertly wields his powers of insight to slice through the most complex issues. This Quiet Dust offers a window into the philosophical underpinnings of Styron&rsquo;s greatest novels and is the ideal entry for readers seeking a greater understanding into the work of one of America&rsquo;s most celebrated authors. This ebook features a new illustrated biography of William Styron, including original letters, rare photos, and never-before-seen documents from the Styron family and the Duke University Archives.</div>

This Quiet Dust

<div>A New York Times bestseller by the author of Sophie&rsquo;s Choice: Two Americans search for the truth about a mysterious long-ago murder in Italy. Shortly after World War II, in the village of Sambuco, Italy, two men&mdash;Virginia attorney Peter Leverett and South Carolina artist Cass Kinsolving&mdash;crossed paths with Mason Flagg. They both had their own reactions to the gregarious and charismatic movie mogul&rsquo;s son. For the impressionable Peter, it was something close to awe. For the alcoholic Cass, it was unsettled rage. Then, after the rape and murder of a peasant girl, Mason&rsquo;s body was found at the base of a cliff&mdash;an apparent suicide. He&rsquo;d been distraught, the authorities said, over committing such a heinous crime. Peter and Cass went their separate ways, and never spoke of it again. Now, years later, Peter is still haunted by what he knows&mdash;and by what he doesn&rsquo;t. He&rsquo;s sought out Cass in Charleston for closure, and something close to the truth. Together both men will share their tales of that terrible season in Italy, each with their own ghosts&mdash;and their own reasons to exorcise them. But neither Peter nor Cass is prepared for where this path of revenge, complicity, and atonement will take them. A profound exploration of the evil that men do, and what the innocent must endure to accommodate it, Set This House on Fire is more than a byzantine murder mystery, it&rsquo;s &ldquo;one of the finest novels of our times&rdquo; from the Pulitzer Prize&ndash;winning author of The Confessions of Nat Turner, Darkness Visible, and other modern classics (San Francisco Chronicle). This ebook features a new illustrated biography of William Styron, including original letters, rare photos, and never-before-seen documents from the Styron family and the Duke University Archives.</div>

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Set This House on Fire

<div>The &ldquo;magnificent&rdquo; Pulitzer Prize&ndash;winning and #1 New York Times&ndash;bestselling novel about the preacher who led America&rsquo;s bloodiest slave revolt (The New York Times). The Confessions of Nat Turner is William Styron&rsquo;s complex and richly drawn imagining of Nat Turner, the leader of the 1831 slave rebellion in Virginia that led to the deaths of almost sixty men, women, and children. Published at the height of the civil rights movement, the novel draws upon the historical Nat Turner&rsquo;s confession to his attorney, made as he awaited execution in a Virginia jail. This powerful narrative, steeped in the brutal and tragic history of American slavery, reveals a Turner who is neither a hero nor a demon, but rather a man driven to exact vengeance for the centuries of injustice inflicted upon his people.Nat Turner is a galvanizing portrayal of the crushing institution of slavery, and Styron&rsquo;s deeply layered characterization is a stunning rendering of one man&rsquo;s violent struggle against oppression. This ebook features a new illustrated biography of William Styron, including original letters, rare photos, and never-before-seen documents from the Styron family and the Duke University Archives.</div>

The Confessions of Nat Turner

<div>The New York Times&ndash;bestselling memoir of crippling depression and the struggle for recovery by the Pulitzer Prize&ndash;winning author of Sophie&rsquo;s Choice.In the summer of 1985, William Styron became numbed by disaffection, apathy, and despair, unable to speak or walk while caught in the grip of advanced depression. His struggle with the disease culminated in a wave of obsession that nearly drove him to suicide, leading him to seek hospitalization before the dark tide engulfed him. Darkness Visible tells the story of Styron&rsquo;s recovery, laying bare the harrowing realities of clinical depression and chronicling his triumph over the disease that had claimed so many great writers before him. His final words are a call for hope to all who suffer from mental illness that it is possible to emerge from even the deepest abyss of despair and &ldquo;once again behold the stars.&rdquo; This ebook features a new illustrated biography of William Styron, including original letters, rare photos, and never-before-seen documents from the Styron family and the Duke University Archives.</div>

Darkness Visible

<div>Four novels&mdash;including a Pulitzer Prize winner and a National Book Award winner&mdash;by the #1 New York Times&ndash;bestselling master. Lie Down in Darkness is William Styron&rsquo;s stunning debut: a classic portrait of one Southern family&rsquo;s tragic spiral into destruction. Set This House on Fire is a story of evil and redemption involving three American men whose paths converge on a film shoot in Italy at the close of the 1940s, hailed as &ldquo;one of the finest novels of our time&rdquo; by the San Francisco Chronicle.Gripping and unforgettable, The Confessions of Nat Turner is the Pulitzer-winning portrait of the leader of America&rsquo;s bloodiest slave revolt. And Sophie&rsquo;s Choice is the National Book Award&ndash;winning novel of love, survival, and regret, set in Brooklyn in the wake of the Second World War. Taken together, these four novels&mdash;exploring themes of good and evil, sin and atonement, and the ineradicable bonds of place and family&mdash;represent Styron at the pinnacle of his literary brilliance.</div>

The Collected Novels

<div>A &ldquo;riveting&rdquo; true crime classic: The trial of Connecticut teen Peter Reilly, accused of killing his mother, and the community that defended him (People). In the sleepy hamlet of Canaan, Connecticut, Barbara Gibbons stood out. She and her eighteen-year-old son, Peter Reilly, lived in a drab one-bedroom house on a desolate stretch of road. An intelligent, lively woman with a wicked sense of humor, Barbara also had dark moods and drank too much. She fought loudly with neighbors and her son, and appeared to have a messy, complicated love life. When Peter came home from the Teen Center one night to discover his mother lying naked on the bedroom floor with her throat slashed, the police made him their prime suspect. After eight hours of interrogation and a polygraph test, Peter confessed. Investigators were convinced they had an open-and-shut case, but the townspeople disagreed. They couldn&rsquo;t believe that the na&iuml;ve teenager was capable of such a gruesome crime, and blamed detectives for taking advantage of the boy&rsquo;s trust. With the help of celebrities including Mike Nichols and William Styron, who contributes an eloquent and persuasive introduction to Joan Barthel&rsquo;s account of the case, the community of Canaan rallied to Peter&rsquo;s defense. A gripping murder mystery and an intimate portrait of the loyalties, resentments, and secrets lurking beneath the placid surface of quiet towns across America, A Death in Canaan is a masterpiece of &ldquo;first-class journalism&rdquo; (The New York Times). </div>

William Styron
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Books By William Styron (10 Books)