King Henry the Eighth, the second monarch of the Tudor dynasty, has been credited both by admirers and enemies with having brought to an end the old England of the late middle ages and ushering in the new England of early modern times. On November 17th, Thomas Banks will talk about King Henry's life, wars, marriages, innovations in church and state, and the…
The Taming of the Shrew may be Shakespeare’s most misunderstood play! Angelina Stanford will lead you through Elizabethan Cosmology, the form of the play, the tradition of the taming of the shrew stock plot, the sources of the play, and much more so that you too can read the play as the original audience understood it. Discover how this play…
(Note: This is a recording of a previously live webinar. To access the recorded video afterwards, log in to your House of Humane Letters account, click "Dashboard," then "Orders," then click the corresponding order. There will be a link that says "View Recording.") Evelyn Waugh was one of the comic masters of 20th century English literature. He was also…
Napoleon Bonaparte, whose ambitions, victories, and final defeat at Waterloo changed Europe permanently in the wake of the French Revolution, has inspired historians and students of history for many generations with admiration and hatred alike. On May 25th, Thomas Banks will describe his obscure origins, his rise to power in the aftermath of the Revolution, his triumphs in the field…
The writings of the great 19th century Russian masters are among the richest in the literature of the world. The personal and political dramas, the skepticisms and struggles, beliefs and fanaticisms that gave life to the Russian world of that era are all richly presented in the works of Dostoevsky, Turgenev, Gogol and their peers. This course will begin…
This is a recording of a previously live webinar. To view the recordings after the LIVE session, log in to your account on www.houseofhumaneletters.com, click on My Account and then Orders to view the recording Jonathan Swift was the last great defender of the Ancients in what was known as The Battle of the Ancients versus the Moderns. He was…
THE BATTLE OVER CHILDREN'S LITERATURE What books should children read, is a question that parents, teachers, and even clergymen have wrestled with for centuries. But this is a question that cannot be answered apart from larger questions about the nature of children and the purpose of stories. How do children learn? How is virtue cultivated? What is the moral imagination…
This purchase is for streaming access to the video of a previously live webinar. To access this video after purchase, (make sure you are logged in on a computer) click Dashboard, then Orders, click the order you want to view and then click the link that says View the Recording. America does not have any story form comparable to the…
This purchase is for streaming access to the video of a previously live webinar. "The French Revolution", an English historian once wrote, "was a like a bomb...which, when it exploded, destroyed its creators." Its explosion was of a magnitude felt not only within the borders of France, but throughout Europe as well. Neither were its effects limited to the arena…
In 1944, when Allied troops were jumping behind enemy lines and disembarking under heavy fire on Normandy’s beaches, a film unit from the British Ministry of Information, on orders from Prime Minister Churchill and led by Sir Lawrence Olivier, was producing a film which was meant to boost the soldiers’ morale. However, unlike many other propaganda films of the same…
Note: This purchase gives you lifetime access to the streaming video of a previously live webinar. The greatest result of the First World War was, unquestionably, the deaths of twenty million human beings. Other tragedies bred by that conflict included the disruptions of politics, religion, and society on every continent over the course of many decades. This was the first…
