Showing results by narrator "Seth Thompson" in All Categories

In one of the most well-known works of satire, Jonathan Swift puts forth a “modest proposal”. Swift begins by outlining the suffering that the starving beggars in Ireland experience daily. He paints a grim picture of the plight these people face to help the listener relate to the situation before turning the tables and suggesting that to alleviate the economic troubles of the poor, their children could be sold as food to the upper class. The shock from this sudden change is expounded by Swift’s continued explanation of the proposal.

In 1789, the people of France decided to overtake the monarchy of their country in favor of a republic. The French Revolution played out like an echo of the American Revolution of the decade prior, with people rising against their governing bodies. Like the American Revolution, the French Revolution had its dissidents and supporters. Thomas Paine was one such supporter, and Rights of Man was his manifesto in support of people fighting for liberty. 

People around you consider you a very nice person. Your colleagues know they can ask you for help, because they know you will get it done in time. But for important decisions your colleagues go to someone else. They skip asking for your take on the situation. Sometimes in meetings you wait for the right moment to give your opinion, after a while you grab you chance but almost nobody pays attention. You realize that your behavior is not going to bring you far. You want to do something about it. You have come to the right place.

In The Prince, it is asserted that a good ruler is one who works for the benefit of the state at all times, even when this requires acting immorally or unethically. Basically, the ends justify the means, even if the means are killing innocent people, blackmailing, and being deceitful. This idea was contentious then and now - many people believe that rulers should act with kindness and lawfulness above all, rather than bending ethics to achieve the ends they want. 

Borrowing its title from an old Anglican prayer, Ernest Hemingway’s In Our Time is a series of stories and vignettes that reflect on a world searching for peace after World War I. These stories span topics from passionate affairs between soldiers and nurses to the thrills and spectacle of bullfighting. Many of the stories in the collection are presenting as counterparts to one another, playing off of similar themes with different framing techniques. 

After an unencumbered 12-year career as an international jewel thief, Gregg Hadyn let his guard down—for love—and was caught. Expecting to spend the next 15 years in a federal penitentiary, Gregg is stunned when his nemesis, covert intelligence Director Denny Garret, makes him an offer too good to refuse: serve his sentence outside of prison in exchange for stealing for the US government.