Far from the Madding Crowd

"No matter how strong one’s desire may be to escape the sins of the city, seeking the happiness and social harmony that lies out in the fields, any attempt to regain Eden apart from grace is doomed to fail. Man is wicked, regardless if he walks on grass or cobblestone. After all, the first sin of our first parents occurred far from any madding crowd, in the cool and quiet calm of a pastoral landscape, not a single city in sight." ~From Matthew Huff's introduction

Look Inside the Book

“A resolution to avoid an evil is seldom framed till the evil is so far advanced as to make avoidance impossible.” -narrator

Often things are as crazy in the country as in the town. In this novel by Thomas Hardy, everything in Gabriel Oak's life is upended when a shepherd leads his sheep over the edge of a cliff. After losing his farm, Gabriel moves to another town where he puts his experience to use as a shepherd on Bathsheba Everdene's estate. His mistress Bathsheba loves independence and the values of the city, but Gabriel Oak's commonsense shepherding experience and thrift prove far more reliable and dependable in the long run.

Watch the madness of the city infect the English countryside in this classic. The Canon Classics series presents the most definitive works of Western literature in a colorful, well-crafted, and affordable way. Unlike many other thrift editions, our classics feature individualized designs that prioritize readability by means of proper margins, leading, characters per line, font, trim size, etc. Each book’s materials and layout combine to make the classics a simple and striking addition to classrooms and homes, ideal for introducing the best of literary culture and human experience to the next generation."

This Worldview Edition features an introduction divided into sections on The World Around, About the Author, What Other Notables Said, Setting, Characters, & Plot Summary, Worldview Analysis, and 21 Discussion Questions & Answers.