New Releases by E B White

A sparkling literary spoof first published in 1929, Is Sex Necessary? is a sly, subversive response to the surge of earnest psychoanalytic sex manuals that flooded the American market in the Jazz Age. With mock-scholarly flair and deadpan absurdity, James Thurber and E. B. White dismantle the anxieties, theories, and taboos of modern romance-one ridiculous diagram at a time. This comedic collaboration marked the literary debut of both men, launching Thurber's career as America's master of neurotic whimsy and showcasing White's quiet genius for prose. Accompanied by Thurber's charmingly awkward line drawings, the book is a pitch-perfect send-up of both high-minded intellectualism and the fraught terrain of love and sex. Wickedly smart and delightfully inappropriate, Is Sex Necessary? remains one of the great comic gems of American letters-an irreverent tonic for the overly serious and an affectionate jab at our deepest, silliest questions.

When young writers take up their pencils, they need two things: imagination and a copy of William Strunk, Jr's classic guide, The Elements of Style. First published by Strunk in 1920, his initial edition was later revised and added to by White in 1959, and the end result is a timeless go-to manual for writers both in their first composition course in college and penning their 20th bestseller. The tiny tome's gentle wit and straightforward, simple instructions provide the perfect foundation upon which to build literary works of dazzling complexity.

This classic collection of one of the greatest essayists of our time has been an inspiration to nonfiction writers since its publication, and continues to be used in both literature and writing courses as an example of superb writing. “S ome of the finest examples of contemporary, genuinely American prose. White’s style incorporates eloquence without affection, profundity without pomposity, and wit without frivolity or hostility. Like his predecessors Thoreau and Twain, White’s creative, humane, and graceful perceptions are an education for thesensibilities.”—Washington Post

With the sixth and final relic almost within his grasp, Luke learns something unexpected about the author who has been helping him in his quest to return with his terrified parents to his own world, presenting a dilemma that is not helped by the witc