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34,239 public-domain books, summarised. Page 27 of 714.

Cover of A Wayfarer in China: Impressions of a trip across West China and Mongolia

A Wayfarer in China: Impressions of a trip across West China and Mongolia

Elizabeth Kimball Kendall

A journey through the remote landscapes of early 20th-century West China and Mongolia reveals a world of rugged beauty, ancient traditions, and the quiet stirrings of change.

Travel Writing6 min read
Cover of The Trail of '98: A Northland Romance

The Trail of '98: A Northland Romance

Robert W. (Robert William) Service

HOOK In the savage grip of the Klondike Gold Rush, a young man battles the frozen fury of the North and the corruption of his own soul in a desperate quest for fortune and love.

Adventure8 min read
Cover of Myths of the Cherokee: Extract from the Nineteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology

Myths of the Cherokee: Extract from the Nineteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology

James Mooney

Ancient tales and sacred traditions reveal the soul of a people caught between worlds, their myths weaving the origins, struggles, and spirit of the Cherokee Nation.

Archaeology & Anthropology6 min read
Cover of The Huguenots in France

The Huguenots in France

Samuel Smiles

Religious conviction and persecution intertwine in a gripping tale of resilience and faith amid the harsh repression of the Huguenots in 17th- and 18th-century France.

History - European6 min read
Cover of The Mind and the Brain: Being the Authorised Translation of L'Âme et le Corps

The Mind and the Brain: Being the Authorised Translation of L'Âme et le Corps

Alfred Binet

HOOK Alfred Binet challenges the ancient divide between thought and matter, dismantling the illusion that the mind is a secret inner world. He argues that consciousness is not a place, but a relationship with reality.

Philosophy & Ethics8 min read
Cover of The Case of Wagner, Nietzsche Contra Wagner, and Selected Aphorisms

The Case of Wagner, Nietzsche Contra Wagner, and Selected Aphorisms

Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

A fierce critique of a towering musical figure, this work unravels the complex interplay of art, culture, and personal conviction in a time of profound aesthetic and moral upheaval.

Essays, Letters & Speeches8 min read
Cover of The Twelfth Hour

The Twelfth Hour

Ada Leverson

A delicate portrait of Edwardian London society unfolds through intertwined lives, where love, ambition, and social expectation collide beneath the polished surface of polite gatherings.

British Literature7 min read
Cover of The Wars of the Jews

The Wars of the Jews

Flavius Josephus

A gripping firsthand account of a devastating revolt, where faith, politics, and survival collide amid the ruins of a once-glorious city.

History - Ancient7 min read
Cover of Stories the Iroquois Tell Their Children

Stories the Iroquois Tell Their Children

Mabel Powers

HOOK Mabel Powers gathers the luminous oral traditions of the Haudenosaunee, revealing a world where animals, spirits, and humans converse to explain the profound mysteries of the natural world.

Children & Young Adult Reading5 min read
Cover of Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern

Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern

Unknown

HOOK A vast treasury of human thought and expression, this collection spans centuries and continents, revealing the evolution of literature and ideas that have shaped civilizations.

Classics of Literature7 min read
Cover of Story of the War in South Africa, 1899-1900

Story of the War in South Africa, 1899-1900

A. T. (Alfred Thayer) Mahan

A detailed account of a war fought on rugged terrain, where strategy, endurance, and the clash of empires shaped the fate of South Africa at the turn of the 20th century.

History - British7 min read
Cover of A Woman who went to Alaska

A Woman who went to Alaska

May Kellogg Sullivan

A determined woman ventures into the wilds of Alaska at the turn of the 20th century, navigating harsh landscapes, unpredictable weather, and the complex human tapestry of a gold rush frontier.

Adventure8 min read
Cover of Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States from Interviews with Former Slaves, Volume II, Arkansas Narratives, Part 4

Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States from Interviews with Former Slaves, Volume II, Arkansas Narratives, Part 4

United States. Work Projects Administration

Voices long silenced by history speak plainly of bondage, survival, and the complex legacies of slavery in Arkansas, revealing a world of hardship, resilience, and memory.

Biographies8 min read
Cover of The regent's daughter

The regent's daughter

Alexandre Dumas

A love affair begins in secrecy, then becomes a trap set by politics, family, and prison. By the end, private loyalty and public power have tangled so tightly that every rescue costs someone else dearly.

French Literature10 min read
Cover of Debts of Honor

Debts of Honor

Mór Jókai

A poignant exploration of ancestral legacies and tragic destinies, this narrative follows a Hungarian family navigating the rigid demands of 19th-century social codes, where youthful passion and political idealism often lead to an early grave.

Novels7 min read
Cover of The Bishop's Secret

The Bishop's Secret

Fergus Hume

HOOK When a mysterious vagabond is found murdered in a cathedral city, a respected bishop’s hidden past threatens to unravel his life and those around him in a tale of secrets, suspicion, and social intrigue.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of The Story of the Heavens

The Story of the Heavens

Robert S. (Robert Stawell) Ball

The vast cosmos unfolds through vivid descriptions of the sun, moon, planets, and stars, revealing their motions, mysteries, and the laws that govern them in a journey from Earth’s nearest neighbor to the farthest reaches of the heavens.

History - Other8 min read
Cover of Utilitarianism

Utilitarianism

John Stuart Mill

What if the foundation of all morality could be found in the pursuit of happiness? A profound exploration of how the greatest good for the greatest number shapes right and wrong.

Philosophy & Ethics10 min read
Cover of A harum-scarum schoolgirl

A harum-scarum schoolgirl

Angela Brazil

HOOK A spirited schoolgirl’s adventures unfold amid the upheaval of a beloved headmistress’s sudden departure, ancient family secrets, and the lively rhythms of school life in a remote English abbey.

British Literature7 min read
Cover of Two Years with the Natives in the Western Pacific

Two Years with the Natives in the Western Pacific

Felix Speiser

A traveler crosses a chain of islands where beauty and violence sit side by side. The sea is luminous, the forest closes in, and every shore reveals a new order of power, labor, belief, and loss.

Archaeology & Anthropology10 min read
Cover of Heimskringla

Heimskringla

Snorri Sturluson

Kings rise, swear, raid, convert, and fall while skalds turn bloodshed into memory. Norway’s early history here moves like a tide, carrying saints, traitors, lawmen, and boys into the same cold current.

History - European9 min read
Cover of The Book of Nature Myths

The Book of Nature Myths

Florence Holbrook

Discover the ancient stories behind nature’s wonders—how animals, plants, and natural phenomena came to be, told through the eyes of early peoples’ imagination and reverence for the world around them.

Children & Young Adult Reading8 min read
Cover of Old Ebenezer

Old Ebenezer

Opie Percival Read

In a town where reputation is a public spectacle, a writer-lawyer with a taste for irony keeps colliding with pride, courtship, and mob law until private feeling becomes a test of character.

American Literature10 min read
Cover of The Naval History of the United States. Volume 2

The Naval History of the United States. Volume 2

Willis J. (Willis John) Abbot

Naval warfare shapes a young nation’s destiny through fierce battles, daring voyages, and the evolution of American maritime power from the War of 1812 to the Spanish-American War.

History - American8 min read
Cover of The Green Rust

The Green Rust

Edgar Wallace

HOOK In this masterfully paced thriller, Edgar Wallace weaves a web of international intrigue where a devastating biological weapon threatens to topple the global economy and starve the world into submission.

British Literature7 min read
Cover of The red terror in Russia

The red terror in Russia

S. P. (Sergeĭ Petrovich) Melʹgunov

A revolution promises a new order, but these pages keep asking what happens when power decides that fear is a method and death a routine.

History - European9 min read
Cover of Mysticism and Logic and Other Essays

Mysticism and Logic and Other Essays

Bertrand Russell

Explore the tension between mystical intuition and rigorous logic, as reason and science confront the mysteries of existence and knowledge.

Essays, Letters & Speeches9 min read
Cover of Wood-Carving: Design and Workmanship

Wood-Carving: Design and Workmanship

George Jack

A craft manual can read like a quiet argument about seeing, choosing, and cutting with purpose. Here the lesson is not only how to carve wood, but how to make judgment and handwork answer to each other.

Art10 min read
Cover of Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern

Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern

Unknown

A vast treasury of human thought and imagination, this collection opens windows onto the world’s literary heritage, from ancient epics to modern reflections, revealing the enduring power of storytelling and ideas across cultures and centuries.

Classics of Literature7 min read
Cover of Manhood of Humanity

Manhood of Humanity

Alfred Korzybski

Humanity’s progress hinges on a unique capacity to bind time—an exponential power shaping ethics, economics, and civilization itself.

Philosophy & Ethics7 min read
Cover of A Little Princess: Being the whole story of Sara Crewe now told for the first time

A Little Princess: Being the whole story of Sara Crewe now told for the first time

Frances Hodgson Burnett

A young girl’s life shifts from luxury to hardship and back again, revealing the strength of kindness, imagination, and resilience amid the stark contrasts of Victorian London.

British Literature7 min read
Cover of Struwwelpeter: Merry Stories and Funny Pictures

Struwwelpeter: Merry Stories and Funny Pictures

Heinrich Hoffmann

Bright little rhymes, then sudden calamity: these stories turn childish misbehavior into spectacle, with each warning landing harder than the last.

Children & Young Adult Reading9 min read
Cover of The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete

The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete

Giacomo Casanova

A restless life runs from Venetian youth to a lonely death in Bohemia, with prisons, salons, convents, and courts in between. What holds it together is not scandal but a man forever trying to turn charm into fate.

Biographies9 min read
Cover of My Studio Neighbors

My Studio Neighbors

W. Hamilton (William Hamilton) Gibson

HOOK Discover the hidden dramas and delicate intricacies of nature’s smallest neighbors, revealed through vivid observation and gentle storytelling.

Essays, Letters & Speeches7 min read
Cover of The Reckoning

The Reckoning

Robert W. (Robert William) Chambers

HOOK: A spy moves through burning country and divided loyalties, but the hardest battle is not in the woods or forts. It is in the heart, where love and duty keep changing sides.

American Literature9 min read
Cover of The Jungle

The Jungle

Upton Sinclair

A wedding feast opens into a city of traps, wages, and vanished hope, where every promise of work costs more than it gives. What begins as an immigrant dream hardens into an account of how a family is ground down.

American Literature10 min read
Cover of The Trial of Charles Random de Berenger, Sir Thomas Cochrane, commonly called Lord Cochrane, the Hon. Andrew Cochrane Johnstone, Richard Gathorne Butt, Ralph Sandom, Alexander M'Rae, John Peter Holloway, and Henry Lyte for A Conspiracy: In the Court of King's Bench, Guildhall, on Wednesday the 8th, and Thursday the 9th of June, 1814

The Trial of Charles Random de Berenger, Sir Thomas Cochrane, commonly called Lord Cochrane, the Hon. Andrew Cochrane Johnstone, Richard Gathorne Butt, Ralph Sandom, Alexander M'Rae, John Peter Holloway, and Henry Lyte for A Conspiracy: In the Court of King's Bench, Guildhall, on Wednesday the 8th, and Thursday the 9th of June, 1814

Unknown

A high-stakes courtroom drama unfolds over a complex conspiracy involving false reports, stock manipulation, and questions of loyalty during wartime Britain.

History - British7 min read
Cover of That Affair Next Door

That Affair Next Door

Anna Katharine Green

A death next door looks simple until everyone’s story begins to split apart. What starts as a neighbor’s late-night curiosity turns into a trap of mistaken identity, hidden marriage, and a detective’s cold certainty.

American Literature9 min read
Cover of The Medicinal Plants of the Philippines

The Medicinal Plants of the Philippines

T. H. (Trinidad Hermenegildo) Pardo de Tavera

T. H. Pardo de Tavera’s seminal work serves as a foundational bridge between ancient indigenous wisdom and modern pharmacology, cataloging the lush, curative landscape of the Philippine Archipelago with rigorous botanical precision and deep cultural empathy.

Health & Medicine8 min read
Cover of Wit and Wisdom of Don Quixote

Wit and Wisdom of Don Quixote

Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

A mad knight’s chivalric quests collide with harsh reality, weaving a tapestry of humor, wisdom, and human folly that questions the nature of honor, illusion, and identity.

British Literature7 min read
Cover of The Life of Trust: Being a Narrative of the Lord's Dealings With George Müller

The Life of Trust: Being a Narrative of the Lord's Dealings With George Müller

George Müller

A life built on prayer becomes a record of daily dependence, tested in money, in illness, in work, and in the care of hundreds of children.

Biographies9 min read
Cover of At Good Old Siwash

At Good Old Siwash

George Fitch

HOOK George Fitch’s classic collection captures the riotous, high-spirited absurdity of early twentieth-century Midwestern college life, where football is a religion, Greek life is a battlefield, and logic is the first casualty of youth.

American Literature7 min read
Cover of North and South

North and South

Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell

A young woman from the English countryside confronts the harsh realities of industrial life in the North, navigating love, class conflict, and personal growth amid the smoke and steam of a changing world.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of The Letters of Cicero, Volume 1: The Whole Extant Correspodence in Chronological Order

The Letters of Cicero, Volume 1: The Whole Extant Correspodence in Chronological Order

Marcus Tullius Cicero

A vivid window into the final decades of the Roman Republic, these letters reveal the personal struggles, political intrigues, and human complexities behind one of history’s most turbulent eras.

Biographies7 min read
Cover of Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama, Vol. 3: A Revised American Edition of the Reader's Handbook

Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama, Vol. 3: A Revised American Edition of the Reader's Handbook

Ebenezer Cobham Brewer

Hook A monumental bridge across the literary landscape, this encyclopedic volume decodes the DNA of Western storytelling, cataloging the heroes, villains, and myths that have shaped the collective imagination of the English-speaking world.

Encyclopedias/Dictionaries/Reference8 min read
Cover of Red-Tape and Pigeon-Hole Generals: As Seen From the Ranks During a Campaign in the Army of the Potomac

Red-Tape and Pigeon-Hole Generals: As Seen From the Ranks During a Campaign in the Army of the Potomac

Henry Morford

A soldier who has seen the war from the ranks keeps running into the same enemy behind the enemy: delay, vanity, and men who confuse paperwork with command.

History - American10 min read
Cover of The Odyssey of Homer

The Odyssey of Homer

Homer

A king is absent, a household rots from within, and a son must grow into the shape of a father he barely knows. What begins as a search for news becomes a long homecoming earned through deception, patience, and blood.

Classics of Literature10 min read
Cover of Natural Law in the Spiritual World

Natural Law in the Spiritual World

Henry Drummond

What if the laws that govern the natural world also shape the spiritual realm? This exploration challenges the divide between science and religion, revealing a profound unity beneath both.

Philosophy & Ethics8 min read
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