Author: Henry Hazlitt

The Plain Speaker: Opinions on Books, Men, and Things is a posthumous collection of essays by William Hazlitt, organized by his grandson, William Carew Hazlitt. The book contains some of Hazlitt's more famous essays that couldn't be found in book format. (Summary by Leni)

2Liber Amoris

By William Hazlitt

Liber Amoris is unlike anything Hazlitt wrote and probably like nothing you've come across before. On the face of it it tells the story of Hazlitt's infatuation with his landlords daughter. Hazlitt was middle aged and she young and pretty, a bit of a coquette from the sound of it. It turned out badly for Hazlitt and the book tells the story of this doomed love. Critics have always been divided about the merit of the piece. Even those who see its merit often feel more comfortable with his polished literary works, and perhaps rightly so. This is not a work to make you feel comfortable. I'd like to propose though that there is more to this as a work of art. It was the beginning of the era of the auto-biography that was arguably started by Rousseau in his Confessions. Going beyond Rousseau's mild self criticism, Hazlitt gives a ruthless self portrait (as well as an unsparing portrait of the object of his affections) of the weakness and mental turmoil that he experienced during the love affair. In this it is much closer to the theatre of cruelty of Antonin Artaud in which a pure artistic truth is revealed through 'shattering a false reality that lies like a shroud over our perceptions'. Hazlitt had this in spades.<br /><br /> So if you are looking for a polished stroll through the romantic sensibility this is not for you. This is about a close as you'll get to participating in a romantic car crash. A work of great art. Notes: Nick Duncan

Written in a conversational style that will appeal to the younger person as well as seasoned professional, "Thinking as a Science" is timeless classic. Through eleven chapters, the last being a descriptive, annotated bibliography, Henry Hazlitt systematically takes the step-by-step on the process of introducing logic and context into the thinking process. The rather long chapter on "Reading and Thinking" clarifies several notions on where one needs to understand where mere knowledge acquisition ends and using reading the stimulate thinking begins.<br /><br /> For an individual who was largely self taught, Hazlitt's contribution to the process of thinking is a must-read.(Summary by Chiquito Crasto)

"The Way to Will-Power" is far from a standard self-help book. With ample wit and an occasionally sardonic tone, American journalist and free-market advocate Henry Hazlitt debunks popular concepts about the will, incorporates classical conceptions about human nature into a coherent whole, and imparts to readers everyday wisdom on how to best live life. - Summary by Loren Eaton

5Characters of Shakespeare's Plays

By William Hazlitt

This famous Shakespearean exploration illuminates its plays through the frame of character, while also weighing theme, mood, structure and poetics. In it, 19th-century critic William Hazlitt unveils Shakespeare's genius in creating and infusing characters with a life-likeness that often challenges, if not overshadows, more material human nature -- in both inner and outer worlds. As he writes: "The characters breathe, move, and live, ... think and speak and act just as they might do, if left entirely to themselves." The first printing sold out in weeks, and the second sold briskly, until a harsh and antagonistic appraisal in The Quarterly Review quelled sales altogether -- and unraveled Hazlitt's critical cachet in the eyes of the general public. Not until the mid-twentieth century were Hazlitt and his works re-evaluated, when he was finally recognized as one of Shakespeare's foremost critics of all time. In literary criticism, the renowned Harold Bloom ranks Hazlitt second only to Dr. Johnson. - Summary by Nemo

6Spirit of the Age; Or, Contemporary Portraits

By William Hazlitt

William Hazlitt was a keen observer of his time and the people populating the literary landscape. He presents short monographs on such illustrious persons as Jeremy Bentham, known for his philosophy of utility, William Godwin, who raised the standard of morality above the reach of humanity, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Edward Irving, who keeps the public in awe by insulting all their favourite idols, Horne Tooke, Sir Walter Scott, Lord Byron, Thomas Campbell, who wrote Pleasures of Hope,James Mackintosh, appointed Recorder (chief judge) of Bombay in 1804, William Wordsworth, Thomas Malthus, who wrote in answer to Mr. Godwin, William Gifford , who edited The Quarterly Review, Francis Jeffrey, who edited the Edinburgh Review, Henry Brougham, who founded the Edinburgh Review in 1802, Francis Burdett, one of the most pleasing speakers in the House, and is a prodigious favourite of the English people, William Wilberforce, whose first object and principle of action is to do what he thinks right, Robert Southey, the best and most natural prose-writer of any poet of the day, Thomas Moore, who wrote Fables for the Holy Alliance, and Leigh Hunt, we will venture to oppose his Third Canto of the Story of Rimini for classic elegance and natural feeling to any equal number of lines from Mr. Southey's Epics or from Mr. Moore's Lalla Rookh. Charles Lamb wrote Essays of Elia under his pseudonym Elia and Washington Irvine wrote under the pseudonym Geoffrey Crayon. Hazlitt compares the two in his final essay. - Summary by Craig Campbell