The whole shelf
All free summaries — page 280
47,382 public-domain books, summarised. Page 280 of 988.
Radiant Motherhood: A Book for Those Who are Creating the Future
Marie Carmichael Stopes
This guide offers a vision for the future of the human race by advocating for the enlightened, informed, and physically healthy management of the earliest stages of parenthood.
Ragged Lady
William Dean Howells
The journey of a young woman from the quiet hills of New England to the refined, often hollow, circles of international society tests the integrity of her character against the allure of wealth and status.
Records of Steam Boiler Explosions
Edward Bindon Marten
Flawed design, hidden corrosion, and human error turn industrial steam boilers into deadly pressure vessels.
Reminiscences of a Canadian Pioneer for the last Fifty Years: An Autobiography
Samuel Thompson
A memoir of endurance and shifting loyalties, this narrative captures the physical labor of the Canadian wilderness and the intricate, often messy evolution of colonial politics during a transformative half-century.
Samuel Pepys and the World He Lived In
Henry B. (Henry Benjamin) Wheatley
The private meditations of a seventeenth-century civil servant offer an unparalleled, unvarnished window into the complex heart of London during an age of plague, fire, and political upheaval.
Scientific American Supplement, No. 586, March 26, 1887
Various
This weekly periodical captures the restless curiosity of the late Victorian era, documenting the rapid mechanical and chemical advancements that transformed industrial life across the globe.
Shakespeare and Precious Stones: Treating of the Known References of Precious Stones in Shakespeare's Works, with Comments as to the Origin of His Material, the Knowledge of the Poet Concerning Precious Stones, and References as to Where the Precious Stones of His Time Came from
George Frederick Kunz
Shakespearean drama holds up a mirror to the natural world, but the poet’s fascination with the mineral kingdom—diamonds, rubies, and pearls—reveals as much about his era’s global imagination as it does about his own metaphors. This volume meticulously catalogs those glimmering references, grounding the…
Shelley at Oxford
Thomas Jefferson Hogg
A brilliant, erratic youth navigates the stifling rigidity of 19th-century academia, finding both an intellectual soulmate and inevitable collision with institutional authority.
Specimens with Memoirs of the Less-known British Poets, Volume 3
Unknown
This third volume of a curated anthology preserves the voices of British poets who, while often overshadowed by the giants of the canon, offer a vivid, sprawling portrait of the literary spirit across several generations.
Stickeen
John Muir
A small, unassuming dog and a seasoned explorer find their bond forged in the crucible of a terrifying storm upon the Alaskan ice. This singular, true account captures a moment where the boundary between human and animal spirit dissolves.
The Ambassador
Merwin, Sam, Jr.
An alien diplomat arrives on a neurotic, computer-dependent Earth only to discover that the greatest threat to interplanetary peace is the humans' own involuntary, allergy-prone habit of sabotaging their own technology.
The Anti-Slavery Crusade: A Chronicle of the Gathering Storm
Jesse Macy
The history of the American anti-slavery movement reveals a century of mounting moral, political, and social friction that ultimately forced the nation into civil war. This account traces the transformation of an institution into a catalyst for catastrophe.
The Beautiful People
Charles Beaumont
The world is a place where perfection is mandatory, and to be yourself is the ultimate transgression. A young woman fights to keep the body she was born with, only to find that in a society of manufactured beauty, individuality is a fatal error.
The Boss and the Machine: A Chronicle of the Politicians and Party Organization
Samuel Peter Orth
Political parties serve as the essential, often turbulent, engines of American democracy, transforming the collective will of a diverse population into the practical machinery of government.
The Fixed Period
Anthony Trollope
A zealous colonial leader faces the collapse of his utopian plan to end old age through mandated, state-sanctioned retirement.
The Growth of the English House: A short history of its architectural development from 1100 to 1800
J. Alfred (John Alfred) Gotch
The English domestic landscape shifts from the stark, defensive stone keeps of the Norman era to the symmetrical, classically inspired manor houses of the eighteenth century. This study traces that transformation through seven centuries of structural evolution.
The Islands of Magic: Legends, Folk and Fairy Tales from the Azores
Elsie Spicer Eells
Born from the volcanic fury of the Atlantic, these legends capture the fading echoes of a mystical archipelago where islands vanish, fairies haunt rocky crags, and faith governs the passage of life and death.
The Journal of Submarine Commander von Forstner
Forstner, Georg-Günther, Freiherr von
A submarine commander recounts the clinical, often detached reality of early underwater warfare, blending the technical demands of U-boat operation with the chilling detachment of a sailor hunting merchant vessels in the North Sea.
The Knickerbocker, Vol. 22, No. 5, November 1843
Various
This volume captures the intellectual and cultural pulse of mid-19th-century America, weaving together philosophical essays, maritime lore, and the quiet, observant spirit of a bygone era.
The Man from the Bitter Roots
Caroline Lockhart
A quiet, determined man stakes his future on a rugged mountain claim, only to find his life tangled with an unscrupulous engineer and the sister of his late, wayward partner.
The Modern Scottish Minstrel, Volume 1.: The Songs of Scotland of the Past Half Century
Unknown
HOOK This collection gathers the spirited, enduring voices of Scottish song, capturing the melodies of the mountains and the rhythmic heart of a nation’s history.
The Naturalist on the Thames
C. J. (Charles John) Cornish
The Thames is not merely a river flowing toward the sea; it is a living, breathing landscape of ancient history, shifting tides, and resilient wildlife that reveals its secrets only to the patient observer.
The oriental story book
Wilhelm Hauff
A traveler joins a caravan and proposes a storytelling contest to pass the time, launching a nested collection of imaginative, often eerie, tales of magic, transformation, and moral reckoning.
The Rosary
Florence L. (Florence Louisa) Barclay
A grand, emotionally heightened romance set in the Edwardian era, this narrative explores the profound bond between a gifted artist and a steadfast woman as they navigate the devastating challenges of sudden blindness and long-held secrets.
The Seventh Manchesters: July 1916 to March 1919
S. J. Wilson
This record of the 7th Battalion, Manchester Regiment, traces a grueling journey from the sands of Egypt to the mud of Northern France, capturing the quiet endurance of citizen-soldiers caught in the machinery of total war. It stands as a testament to the tactical evolution and personal resilience of a Territorial…
The Submarine Hunters: A Story of the Naval Patrol Work in the Great War
Percy F. (Percy Francis) Westerman
The ocean is the stage for a high-stakes duel, where two teenage boys must outmaneuver a ruthless enemy hidden beneath the waves. This gripping tale of maritime courage captures the relentless tension of naval warfare in the Bristol Channel.
The treatises of Benvenuto Cellini on goldsmithing and sculpture
Benvenuto Cellini
The master goldsmith and sculptor leaves behind a manual that is at once a technical encyclopaedia for metalworkers and a vivid, personal testament to the unrelenting demands of artistic perfection.
Weather proverbs
H. H. C. (Henry Harrison Chase) Dunwoody
This collection gathers the traditional lore of the skies, cataloging centuries of folk observations alongside the rigorous, early meteorological data of the United States Signal Service. It preserves the poetic, sometimes superstitious, ways humanity has long attempted to read the weather through the behavior of…
Why Joan?
Eleanor Mercein Kelly
A young woman maneuvers through the rigid social expectations of Kentucky, eventually discovering that her own independence is a more reliable companion than any marriage or romantic ideal.
Woman and the Republic: A Survey of the Woman-Suffrage Movement in the United States and a Discussion of the Claims and Arguments of Its Foremost Advocates
Helen Kendrick Johnson
A conservative critique of the nineteenth-century suffrage movement, this work argues that the preservation of the American Republic depends upon maintaining distinct, non-overlapping roles for men and women within the home and the state.
365 Foreign Dishes: A Foreign Dish for Every Day in the Year
Unknown
This culinary compendium offers a daily guide to international home cooking, providing a distinct, globally inspired dish for every day of the year.
A brief course in the teaching process
George D. (George Drayton) Strayer
Teaching is an art form rooted in the careful observation of human development, where the educator’s primary task is to cultivate the child's natural instincts into socially conscious habits. This practical manual offers a bridge between educational psychology and the daily realities of the classroom.
A Fearful Responsibility and Other Stories
William Dean Howells
These stories capture the quiet, often agonizing friction of Americans living abroad in the mid-nineteenth century, where small social blunders carry the weight of moral crises.
A New Orchard And Garden
Lawson, William, active 1618
This 17th-century manual offers a practical and poetic guide to creating a flourishing orchard, proving that the patience required for gardening is a virtue rewarded by both fruit and peace of mind.
A Prince of Swindlers
Guy Boothby
A charming socialite maneuvers through the highest echelons of London society, hiding a secret life as a master thief who treats crime as an elegant, high-stakes game.
A Secret Service: Being Strange Tales of a Nihilist
William Le Queux
A collection of breathless, interconnected vignettes, this work dramatizes the shadow war between Russian revolutionaries and the brutal Tsarist police. It serves as a vivid relic of fin-de-siècle anxieties regarding espionage and political upheaval.
Aesop Dress'd
Bernard Mandeville
A collection of fables rendered into verse, this work adapts the timeless observations of human folly from classic sources into the sharp, colloquial English of the early eighteenth century.
Birds, Illustrated by Color Photography, Vol. 1, No. 6: June, 1897
Various
A collection of turn-of-the-century nature lore, this volume captures the Victorian fascination with natural history by marrying pioneering color photography with intimate, descriptive essays on bird behavior. It serves as a time capsule, reflecting both the era’s burgeoning scientific curiosity and its commercial,…
Border, Breed Nor Birth
Mack Reynolds
Homer Crawford, a brilliant sociologist and visionary, sheds his identity to become "El Hassan," a mythic revolutionary leader determined to unify a fractured, post-colonial North Africa through sheer force of will and intellect.
Brothers: The True History of a Fight Against Odds
Horace Annesley Vachell
The bond between two siblings is tested by the crushing weight of expectation and the secret sacrifice of individual identity. This chronicle follows the divergence of two paths: one of public glory and one of private truth.
Chapters on Jewish literature
Israel Abrahams
Jewish literature serves as a continuous, profound testament to a people’s intellectual and moral survival across eighteen centuries of shifting landscapes. This concise history traces the evolution of that tradition from the fall of Jerusalem to the dawning of modern thought.
Country Walks of a Naturalist with His Children
W. (William) Houghton
Nature is a classroom without walls, where a curious father guides his children through the seasonal mysteries of the English countryside. Every stroll serves as an open-air laboratory for observing the wonders of the natural world.
Daughters of the Revolution and Their Times: 1769 - 1776 A Historical Romance
Charles Carleton Coffin
A courageous young woman navigates a divided Boston, using her influence to safeguard the cause of liberty while her heart remains tethered to a soldier presumed lost to the brutal tides of war.
Denry the Audacious
Arnold Bennett
An extraordinary, irrepressible young man from the industrial heart of England rises from clerk to local legend through audacity, humor, and a series of increasingly elaborate schemes that defy conventional social expectations.
Familiar dialogues
Jacques Bellot
These practical conversations bridge the divide for sixteenth-century travelers, offering a rare glimpse into the daily life and linguistic struggles of refugees navigating a foreign tongue.
From Workhouse to Westminster: The Life Story of Will Crooks, M.P
George Haw
The story of a man who rose from the crushing poverty of a Victorian workhouse to the halls of Westminster, remaining a champion of the poor without ever losing his common touch.
Great Possessions
David Grayson
The scent of pine needles, the taste of spring air, and the quiet dignity of a well-tended garden define the riches of a life lived in harmony with the earth.
Griselda: a society novel in rhymed verse
Wilfrid Scawen Blunt
The story of a woman trapped between a stifling marriage and a reckless impulse, this verse novel explores the friction between social duty and personal longing. It is a cautionary tale of a soul seeking meaning in the rigid, unfeeling landscape of high society.