Review
Optimized for the MobiPocket Reader, this is a very special edition of Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Our Old Home (A Series of English Sketches)." If you click on one of the words in the text, a convenient pop-up window appears with an English thesaurus for that word, which comes from Webster's Online Dictionary (www.websters-online-dictionary.org). Running throughout the text, uncommon English words are highlighted in blue that are likely to be found in examinations in English Language Programs (ELP), English as a Foreign Language (EFL) programs, or in English as a Second Language Programs (ESL). The highlighted vocabulary words are also likely to be found in Advanced Placement-(AP-), TOEFL-, TOEIC-, SAT-, PSAT- , GMAT-, LSAT-, GRE-, or similar examinations. TOEFL-, TOEIC-, GRE-, AP- and Advanced Placement- are trademarks of the Educational Testing Service; PSAT- is a registered trademark of the College Entrance Examination Board and the National Merit Scholarship Corporation; SAT- is a registered trademark of the College Board; GMAT- is a registered trademark of the Graduate Management Admissions Council; LSAT- is a registered trademark of the Law School Admissions Council. All rights reserved. These organizations neither sponsored nor are affiliated with this product.
About the Author
Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts. After graduating from university in 1825, he returned to Salem determined to become a writer and worked on short stories and historical sketches. In 1828 he published the novel Fanshawe at his own expense; it was a failure but led to a productive relationship with publisher Samuel Goodrich. He returned to writing short fiction, then worked for Goodrich as hack writer and editor. Hawthorne became a surveyor of the Boston Custom House in 1839, then left in 1841 to invest in a communal experiment, when he also married. Disappointed in communal life, he moved to Concord, Massachusetts and returned to serious writing in 1846 with Mosses from an Old Manse. After a further three years as a customs surveyor, he finally produced his first significant novel and masterwork, The Scarlet Letter, in 1850, followed by two more major novels and some of his best short stories. In 1853 a college friend became President and Hawthorne was appointed US consul at Liverpool, living in England and Italy for six years. He published a further novel and some essays on England on his return; four unfinished novels and passages from his notebooks were published on his death in 1864.
