Perennial Classics

4 total works

The Bridge of San Luis Rey

by Thornton Wilder

Published 1 October 1967

An ancient bridge collapses over a gorge in Peru, hurling five people into the abyss. It seems a meaningless human tragedy. But one witness, a Franciscan monk, believes the deaths might not be as random as they appear. Convinced that the disaster is a punishment sent from Heaven, the monk sets out to discover all he can about the travellers. The five strangers were connected in some way, he thinks. There must be a purpose behind their deaths. But are their lost lives the result of sin? ... Or of love?

Our Town

by Thornton Wilder

Published 1 November 1960

Daniel Dennett is one of the most influential thinkers at the interface between philosophy and science. This book is a comprehensive examination of Dennett's ideas on the nature of thought, consciousness, free will and the significance of Darwinism.

Skin of Our Teeth

by Thornton Wilder

Published 15 April 2003

Characters: 4 or 5 male, 4 or 5 female, plus many small parts w/doubling Scenery: Interiors and Exteriors Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, this is the groundbreaking satiric fantasy follows the extraordinary Antrobus family down through the ages from the time of "The War" surviving flood, fire, pestilence, locusts, the ice age, the pox and the double feature, a dozen subsequent wars and as many depressions. Ultimately, they are the stuff of which heroes and buffoons are made. Their survival is a vividly theatrical testament of faith in humanity. "Wonderfully wise...A tremendously exciting and profound stage fable."-Herald Tribune

Three Plays

by Thornton Wilder

Published 1 October 1957

From celebrated Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Thornton Wilder, three of the greatest plays in American literature together in one volume.

This omnibus edition brings together Wilder's three best-known plays: Our Town, The Skin of Our Teeth, and The Matchmaker, and includes a preface by the author, as well as a foreword by playwright John Guare.

Our Town, Wilder's timeless Pulitzer Prize-winning classic about love, death, and destiny, opened on Broadway in 1938 and continues to be celebrated and performed on stages all around the world.

The Skin of our Teeth, Wilder's brilliant and enduring romp about human follies and human endurance starring the Antrobus family of Excelsior, New Jersey, earned Wilder his third Pulitzer Prize in 1943.

The Matchmaker, a dazzling farce about money and love, stars the irrepressible busybody Dolly Gallagher Levi, who leads young and old on an adventure that changes their lives. It was later adapted into the famed musical Hello, Dolly!