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All free summaries — page 155
8,211 public-domain books, summarised. Page 155 of 172.
Benjamin Franklin
Robin McKown
From a humble Boston household to the glittering courts of Versailles, the life of a printer turned statesman reveals how curiosity and industry shaped a new nation.
Economic Sophisms
Frédéric Bastiat
A world of plenty is often sabotaged by the belief that labor, rather than the goods labor produces, is the true measure of wealth. This collection of essays dismantles the protectionist fallacies that keep nations poor.
French Dishes for American Tables
Caron, Pierre, active 1886-1899
Cooking is an art, not a chore, and mastery of the kitchen is a fundamental component of a comfortable, civilized life. This guide serves as a bridge between the sophisticated traditions of French cuisine and the practical realities of the American home.
My Memoirs, Vol. V, 1831 to 1832
Alexandre Dumas
Paris in the early 1830s is a powder keg of political unrest and artistic revolution, where the lines between the stage and the street are constantly blurring. This account captures the feverish energy of a young man navigating the volatile transition from the Bourbon Restoration to the reign of Louis-Philippe.
Oxford and Its Story
Cecil Headlam
This historical survey documents the evolution of a city and its scholars, tracing the centuries-long interplay between the University’s walls and the shifting tides of English governance. It captures the transformation of a riverside trading town into a fortress of tradition, theology, and, occasionally, rebellion.
The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques and Discoveries of the English Nation
Richard Hakluyt
The world is vast, strange, and governed by customs that defy the expectations of the traveler. These accounts gather the experiences of those who ventured into the East to witness the unknown.
The Story of a Pioneer
Anna Howard Shaw
A rugged childhood in the Michigan wilderness forged a spirit that would later redefine the American pulpit and lead the national struggle for women’s right to vote.
The Story of the Great Fire in St. John, N.B., June 20th, 1877
George Stewart
A catastrophic inferno consumes a bustling nineteenth-century port city, leaving behind a scarred landscape and a vivid, detailed chronicle of civic loss and resilience.
The Story of the Great War, Volume 2: History of the European War from Official Sources
Unknown
This historical account details the early, chaotic months of the First World War, capturing the transition from traditional military maneuvers to the grim reality of industrialized, attritional warfare. It serves as an exhaustive chronicle of the rapid movements across the Western Front, the vast naval engagements…
Tik-Tok of Oz
L. Frank (Lyman Frank) Baum
A young girl and her faithful mule find themselves swept into a whirlwind of magic, where they must navigate the whims of kings and dragons to save a long-lost brother.
Useful Phrases in the Shanghai Dialect
Gilbert McIntosh
Effective communication demands specific tools for every social and professional interaction. This handbook provides a structured guide to navigating the complexities of the Shanghai dialect through practical, day-to-day conversation.
A Queen of Tears, vol. 1 of 2: Caroline Matilda, Queen of Denmark and Norway and Princess of Great Britain and Ireland
W. H. (William Henry) Wilkins
This account of a neglected English princess thrust into a volatile foreign court reveals the tragic intersection of personal vulnerability and the cold machinery of European power politics. It is a detailed, sympathetic examination of a life defined by its isolation and eventual ruin.
Eminent Victorians
Lytton Strachey
The Victorian Age is a sprawling, contradictory ocean of information that defies a single, unified history. Instead of attempting a futile, exhaustive account, this work offers a series of selective, piercing portraits that reveal the era’s hidden character.
Indian Boyhood
Charles A. Eastman
To live as an Indian boy is to possess the world, for every child of the wilderness is a student of nature, a hunter in training, and a witness to the profound freedom of the open plains.
Lists of Stories and Programs for Story Hours
Unknown
A practical guide for librarians and educators, this volume offers structured pathways for sharing literature with children through the art of the story hour.
Married Love: A New Contribution to the Solution of Sex Difficulties
Marie Carmichael Stopes
True marital harmony is not a matter of chance, but a science of mutual understanding, physiological awareness, and shared physical joy. This guide offers a path toward enduring intimacy by dismantling the ignorance that often ruins the lives of newlyweds.
Myths and Legends of the Sioux
Marie L. McLaughlin
Stories of the rabbit, the spider, and the spirit world define this foundational collection of Dakota lore. Passed down through generations, these tales blend the domestic, the supernatural, and the moral into an enduring portrait of Sioux life.
Options
O. Henry
Fate is rarely a straight line in the American landscape, but rather a series of unpredictable turns, small deceptions, and sudden, life-altering choices. These stories capture the fleeting moments where ordinary lives pivot toward the extraordinary.
Poems
Julia C. R. (Julia Caroline Ripley) Dorr
A collection of nineteenth-century verse that captures the quiet dignity of domestic life, the sharp ache of wartime loss, and the eternal, reaching hope for reunion beyond the veil of death.
Problems of Conduct: An Introductory Survey of Ethics
Durant Drake
This survey of ethical theory and social practice serves as a practical handbook for navigating the moral complexities of modern life. It bridges the gap between abstract philosophy and the daily responsibilities of the citizen.
Round the Fire Stories
Arthur Conan Doyle
These stories explore the uncanny, the grotesque, and the unexplained. They offer a masterclass in suspense, designed to chill the reader during a quiet, dark evening.
The American Gentleman's Guide to Politeness and Fashion
Margaret C. (Margaret Cockburn) Conkling
A guide to the virtues and vanities of the mid-nineteenth-century man, this volume outlines the delicate balance between the demands of high society and the preservation of personal character. It serves as both a practical manual for daily conduct and a meditation on the responsibilities of a gentleman in a…
The Art of War in the Middle Ages A.D. 378-1515
Charles Oman
The shifting balance between infantry and cavalry defines the evolution of European combat across the medieval era. This survey traces that transformation from the decline of the Roman legion to the rise of gunpowder-age professional armies.
The Poem-Book of the Gael: Translations from Irish Gaelic Poetry into English Prose and Verse
Unknown
This collection gathers the lyrical heartbeat of a civilization, presenting translations of Irish Gaelic poetry that range from ancient mythological cycles to the poignant songs of the dispossessed. It offers a window into a culture where the boundaries between the natural world, the fairy realm, and the divine…
The Treaty of Waitangi
Thomas Lindsay Buick
This historical account examines the foundational compact of a nation, tracing the complex diplomatic and social negotiations that transformed New Zealand into a British colony. It remains a vital record of the initial collision between indigenous sovereignty and imperial expansion.
The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. in Nine Volumes, Volume 08: The Lives of the Poets, Volume II
Samuel Johnson
These biographical portraits capture the rise and fall of literary giants, offering a sharp, unsentimental look at the lives behind the verses of the English Enlightenment.
Titan: A Romance. v. 1 (of 2)
Jean Paul
A sweeping, philosophical journey into the heart of the eighteenth-century soul, this work balances the gravity of moral duty against the intoxicating, often dangerous allure of romantic idealism and courtly vanity.
William Blake: A Study of His Life and Art Work
Irene Langridge
A portrait of a visionary artist, this volume traces the life and creative output of a man who lived apart from the conventions of his age to pursue the architecture of his own imagination.
Confederate Military History - Volume 5 (of 12): A Library of Confederate States History
Ellison Capers
This volume serves as a comprehensive, state-focused chronicle of the American Civil War, detailing the military contributions of South Carolina’s soldiers from the initial secession at Fort Sumter through the grueling final campaigns.
Fiue hundred pointes of good husbandrie
Thomas Tusser
A practical guide to the rhythms of the English countryside, this work offers a timeless, systematic blueprint for living in harmony with the land and the changing seasons.
Socialism, Utopian and Scientific
Friedrich Engels
The central argument here is that the historical development of society is not a series of accidents, but a process driven by economic forces that inevitably lead toward the collective ownership of production.
The boke of Saint Albans
Juliana Berners
This foundational fifteenth-century compendium codifies the rigorous social rituals, specialized vocabulary, and complex heraldic structures that defined the lives and identities of the late medieval gentry.
The Created Legend
Fyodor Sologub
HOOK This dreamlike narrative explores how a sensitive soul navigates the wreckage of a failed revolution by constructing a private, legendary reality against the encroaching chaos of a crumbling imperial order.
The Development of Rates of Postage: An Historical and Analytical Study
A. D. (Alfred Daniel) Smith
This study examines the intricate evolution of postal pricing, charting the shift from state-run revenue tools to the modern, standardized services that connect the global community.
The Fat and the Thin
Émile Zola
The fat and the thin exist in a perpetual, silent war within the bustling, iron-framed belly of Paris. This is a story of how a single, starved soul is slowly crushed by the heavy, contented prosperity of a world that prioritizes the appetites of the stomach over the yearnings of the conscience.
The journal, with other writings of John Woolman
John Woolman
This quiet, luminous volume records the inner life and travels of an eighteenth-century Quaker who sought to reconcile his daily existence with the radical demands of his faith. It is a work of profound, unflinching introspection.
The Lily of the Valley
Honoré de Balzac
A young man’s life is defined by a haunting, impossible devotion to an older, married woman in the French countryside. This is a profound exploration of how youthful longing shapes a soul for eternity.
American literary masters
Leon H. (Leon Henry) Vincent
This collection of literary portraits offers a measured, appreciative look at the nineteen pivotal figures who defined the first half-century of American letters. It serves as an essential, steady-handed survey of a formative era.
Belford's Magazine, Vol. II, No. 3, February 1889: Dec 1888-May 1889
Various
The nineteenth-century literary landscape was vast and varied, and this periodical collection offers a quintessential glimpse into the era’s eclectic preoccupations. From the harsh realities of working-class poverty to the intrigue of coastal murder mysteries, the writing captures the moral urgency and social…
Cyrano de Bergerac: An Heroic Comedy in Five Acts
Edmond Rostand
A brilliant, oversized nose and a silver-tongued wit define a man whose greatest courage is found in the shadows, where he offers his own soul to win a woman's love for another.
Figure piping
Russell, F., M.C.A.
This specialized guide introduces the intricate, decorative craft of "figure piping"—the art of using icing to create detailed, illustrative scenes on cakes and confectionery. It serves as a practical manual for ambitious bakers seeking to elevate their work through artistic representation.
Letters of Travel (1892-1913)
Rudyard Kipling
These collected dispatches capture the restless curiosity of a global observer documenting the rapid modernization and shifting borders of the British Empire at the turn of the twentieth century.
The Ancient Life History of the Earth: A Comprehensive Outline of the Principles and Leading Facts of Palæontological Science
Henry Alleyne Nicholson
This comprehensive survey reconstructs the vanished chapters of our world, tracing the emergence and transformation of life from the earliest fossiliferous strata to the dawn of the human age.
The Art of Living in Australia: Together with Three Hundred Australian Cookery Recipes and Accessory Kitchen Information by Mrs. H. Wicken
Philip E. Muskett
This volume acts as both a fierce critique of colonial dietary habits and a practical manual for adapting European domestic life to a sun-drenched, semi-tropical continent.
The Home Life of the Ancient Greeks
Hugo Blümner
A definitive guide to the rhythms of antiquity, this work reconstructs the lived experience of the Greeks with the careful eye of an archaeologist and the narrative clarity of a storyteller.
The life and times of Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt
Arthur E. P. Brome (Arthur Edward Pearse Brome) Weigall
A vivid portrait of a queen navigating the collapse of a Mediterranean empire, this historical study reexamines the final, decisive years of Egypt’s last pharaoh.
The Martial Adventures of Henry and Me
William Allen White
Two middle-aged, small-town newspaper editors embark on a sentimental journey through war-torn Europe, discovering both the grim realities of the front and the enduring idealism of the American spirit.
The Modes of Ancient Greek Music
D. B. (David Binning) Monro
A rigorous, clear-eyed examination of how ancient Greek music actually worked, sweeping away centuries of medieval misconception to restore the original meaning of keys, pitch, and vocal expression.