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All free summaries — page 185
9,354 public-domain books, summarised. Page 185 of 195.
How to know the wild flowers
Frances Theodora Parsons
The path to identifying the natural world begins with a simple observation of color, transforming a walk in the woods into a guided exploration of names and habits. This is a practical, gentle field companion designed to replace frustration with discovery.
Masters of Space: Morse and the Telegraph
Walter Kellogg Towers
Talking across vast distances once seemed a miracle beyond human reach, yet the persistent efforts of a few determined minds transformed the silence of space into a vibrant, interconnected web of speech and signal.
Rembrandt, With a Complete List of His Etchings
Arthur Mayger Hind
Through meticulous examination of copper plates and evolving artistic states, a portrait emerges of a master who transformed the art of etching into a profound vessel for human emotion and spiritual reality.
Secret Memoirs: The Story of Louise, Crown Princess
Henry W. (Henry William) Fischer
A princess exchanges her crown for the uncertain life of a fugitive, leaving behind the stifling, decaying opulence of a royal court to claim her own autonomy.
Taking Chances
Clarence Louis Cullen
These sketches capture the frantic, high-stakes world of turn-of-the-century gamblers, where fortune shifts on the turn of a card or the gallop of a horse.
The Emancipation of South America
Bartolomé Mitre
Thou shalt be that which thou oughtest to be; if not, thou shalt be nothing.” This stern mandate from José de San Martín serves as the moral compass for the seismic transformation of a continent.
The Library of Work and Play: Gardening and Farming
Ellen Eddy Shaw
A dedicated mentor guides a group of village children through the seasonal rhythms of cultivating soil, planting seeds, and beautifying their shared landscape. This practical manual captures the joy of laboring together in the earth.
The Life of Francis Thompson
Everard Meynell
The life of a brilliant, opium-addicted poet unfolds through the eyes of those who rescued him from the London streets, offering an intimate look at the collision of genius and profound human fragility.
The New York Times Current History: the European War, February, 1915
Various
This chronicle captures the chaotic, early industrial pulse of the Great War, documenting the swift transition from pre-war confidence to the grim, grinding reality of total conflict. It serves as an immediate, visceral record of a world fracturing in real-time.
The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898
Unknown
This expansive collection of primary sources documents the complex administrative, religious, and mercantile history of the Philippine Islands under Spanish rule. It offers a rare, granular look at the mechanics of colonial governance from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries.
The Shadow On The Dial, and Other Essays: 1909
Ambrose Bierce
These acerbic, sharply observed essays dismantle the pretenses of American public life, politics, and morality at the turn of the twentieth century. They remain a formidable masterclass in using precise, biting prose to challenge conventional wisdom.
The Spell of Flanders: An Outline of the History, Legends and Art of Belgium's Famous Northern Provinces
Edward Neville Vose
Standing on the eve of the First World War, an observant traveler journeys through the ancient towns of northern Belgium, capturing a landscape of medieval halls, quiet canals, and art that survived centuries of siege.
Women of Mediæval France: Woman: in all ages and in all countries Vol. 5 (of 10)
Pierce Butler
Through portraits of queens, abbesses, and poets, this history chronicles the evolving roles of women in medieval France, arguing that the era’s turbulence forged a unique, formidable brand of feminine strength.
A Yankee in Canada, with Anti-slavery and reform papers
Henry David Thoreau
This collection captures the restless, uncompromising spirit of a writer who found as much to challenge in a brief excursion across the Canadian border as he did in the political crises of his own country.
Dealings with the Dead, Volume 1 (of 2)
Lucius M. (Lucius Manlius) Sargent
This collection of sketches reflects on the somber, strange, and often grim history of death, funeral customs, and legal justice in early America and beyond. It serves as a meditation on how societies handle their deceased and the fallibility of those who sit in judgment.
In a Glass Darkly, v. 1/3
Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
A collection of chilling, supernatural case studies, these tales follow a physician’s investigation into the harrowing psychological and spiritual torments of the damned.
Legends of the Madonna as Represented in the Fine Arts
Mrs. (Anna) Jameson
Beyond the paint and gold of history’s greatest masterpieces lies a silent language of symbols, waiting to be read by the curious eye. This guide deciphers the visual vocabulary that defined centuries of Western art.
Motorcycle, Solo (Harley-Davidson Model WLA)
United States. War Department
Maintaining a piece of precision machinery in the field requires patience, technical clarity, and an unflinching attention to detail. This manual provides the definitive framework for the operation and mechanical care of the iconic Harley-Davidson WLA.
Paris and the Social Revolution: A Study of the Revolutionary Elements in the Various Classes of Parisian Society
Alvan F. (Alvan Francis) Sanborn
A window into the forgotten, radical heart of Belle Époque Paris, where dissent, poverty, and artistic fervor collide in the shadowed streets of the Latin Quarter.
Pictures Every Child Should Know: A Selection of the World's Art Masterpieces for Young People
Mary Schell Hoke Bacon
Art is a language of beauty and history, bridging the gap between ancient civilizations and the modern eye through the lives of those who mastered the brush. This collection invites young readers to look past the frame and discover the human stories behind the world’s most enduring paintings.
The Aswân Obelisk: With some remarks on the Ancient Engineering
Reginald Engelbach
This technical investigation examines the Unfinished Obelisk of Aswân, reconstructing the ancient engineering feats required to extract and erect such monumental stone shafts. It offers a grounded, pragmatic perspective on archaeological mysteries.
The Grand Old Man
Richard B. (Richard Briscoe) Cook
A portrait of a towering Victorian statesman, this account traces the evolution of a man whose moral convictions and political acumen shaped the British Empire for over half a century.
The Harlot's Progress (1733), The Rake's Progress (Ms., ca. 1778-1780)
Theophilus Cibber
These two eighteenth-century theatrical pieces transform iconic moralizing engravings into lively, song-filled spectacles that trace the rapid ruin of a young woman and a young man in London.
The Last Days of the Romanovs
N. (Nikolai) Sokolov
The final hours of the Romanov family in Yekaterinburg reveal a stark descent into tragedy, documented through the meticulous, often haunting, judicial investigation into the events of July 1918.
The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 17, No. 479, March 5, 1831
Various
This collection offers a vibrant, eclectic mosaic of early nineteenth-century life, blending historical antiquarianism, scientific inquiry, and emotive verse into a singular weekly digest.
The Three Voyages of William Barents to the Arctic Regions (1594, 1595, and 1596)
Gerrit de Veer
Stranded in the Arctic darkness of 1596, a Dutch crew builds a house of driftwood to survive the winter, marking a harrowing and singular chapter in the history of human endurance.
Three John Silence Stories
Algernon Blackwood
HOOK A physician of the occult investigates phenomena beyond the reach of conventional science, confronting ancient forces that linger in the shadows of the modern world.
Venetian Life
William Dean Howells
A sharp, observant account of life in mid-nineteenth-century Venice, this book serves as both a travelogue and a social study of a city caught between its fading imperial past and a quiet, domestic present.
A History of Sumer and Akkad: An account of the early races of Babylonia from prehistoric times to the foundation of the Babylonian monarchy
L. W. (Leonard William) King
The rise and fall of the earliest civilizations in Mesopotamia is a story of shifting city-states, enduring religious traditions, and the complex interplay between the Sumerian and Semitic peoples.
Among My Books. First Series
James Russell Lowell
A refined exploration of literary heritage, this collection invites readers to re-examine the giants of verse and thought through the lens of a critic who prizes genuine insight over academic convention.
China
Harry Alverson Franck
A seasoned traveler ventures into the heart of early twentieth-century China, documenting the daily lives, customs, and landscapes of a nation caught between ancient traditions and modern upheaval. Through direct observation and persistent curiosity, he offers an intimate portrait of a vast, complex society.
Collected Essays, Volume V: Science and Christian Tradition: Essays
Thomas Henry Huxley
A rigorous investigation into the limits of human knowledge, these essays challenge the permanence of dogma through the relentless application of scientific method to historical and religious tradition.
Life of Christ
Giovanni Papini
The story of Jesus is here retold with the urgent, unvarnished intensity of a man who has undergone a profound personal conversion and seeks to reclaim his subject from the detachment of modern scholarship.
Master Wace, His Chronicle of the Norman Conquest From the Roman De Rou
Wace
A panoramic account of the Norman Conquest, this chronicle breathes life into the medieval past with the immediacy of a witness. It remains a foundational text for its vivid, rhythmic capture of an era defined by iron, oath, and ambition.
Rhetoric and Poetry in the Renaissance: A Study of Rhetorical Terms in English Renaissance Literary Criticism
Donald Lemen Clark
The Renaissance was not merely a rebirth of art; it was a complex collision between the newfound precision of classical rhetoric and the deeply entrenched, inherited traditions of the medieval mind.
Rowlandson the Caricaturist
Joseph Grego
A master of visual satire, the artist Thomas Rowlandson turned the teeming, often absurd life of late eighteenth-century England into an exhaustless gallery of ink and watercolor.
Samoa, A Hundred Years Ago And Long Before
George Turner
This sweeping ethnography captures the traditional life, spiritual beliefs, and intricate oral history of the Samoan islands as they existed before sustained Western influence.
Stories and Pictures
Isaac Loeb Peretz
These sketches of Eastern European Jewish life capture the quiet, often agonizing struggle for dignity amidst poverty, tradition, and the gathering shadows of the nineteenth century.
The 42nd (East Lancashire) Division 1914-1918
Frederick P. Gibbon
This chronicle follows the 42nd (East Lancashire) Division through the crucible of the Great War, tracing its transformation from a home-grown Territorial unit into a seasoned force on the global stage.
The Annals of the Cakchiquels
Francisco Hernández Arana Xajilá
This foundational chronicle preserves the ancestral memory and tragic transition of a people, documenting their emergence from myth and their eventual confrontation with the forces of the Spanish Conquest.
The Great Events by Famous Historians, Volume 13
Unknown
The eighteenth century unfolds as a turbulent, transformative era where the seeds of modern industry, global conflict, and democratic revolution take root amidst the fading embers of absolute monarchy.
The History of the Reformation of Religion in Scotland: With Which Are Included Knox's Confession and The Book of Discipline
John Knox
This history documents the fiery, foundational struggle of the Scottish Reformation, capturing both the political upheaval of a nation and the intense, uncompromising spiritual convictions of its primary architect.
The Interpreter: A Tale of the War
G. J. (George John) Whyte-Melville
A quiet, introspective man recounts his lifelong devotion to a woman he cannot possess, navigating the hazards of the Crimean War and the complexities of his own guarded heart.
The Memoirs of Madame Vigée Lebrun
Louise-Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun
An artist of immense talent recounts her ascent within the French court, her perilous flight from the Revolution, and her life as an expatriate painter across the courts of Europe.
The Position of Woman in Primitive Society: A Study of the Matriarchy
C. Gasquoine (Catherine Gasquoine) Hartley
The twentieth century marks a turning point in history, where the long-suppressed will of woman begins to assert itself, demanding a life defined from within rather than dictated by external, patriarchal forces.
The Seats of the Mighty, Complete
Gilbert Parker
A British officer languishes in a Quebec dungeon, caught between the machinations of corrupt French officials and a love that defies the brutal collapse of New France.
The Spider's Web
Reginald Wright Kauffman
A young idealist arrives in New York seeking to save the nation, only to find himself trapped in the intricate, crushing machinery of political and corporate corruption.
The Witch of Prague: A Fantastic Tale
F. Marion (Francis Marion) Crawford
A woman of immense, occult power in old Prague trades her soul for the man she loves, only to find that manipulating reality cannot command the human heart.