The whole shelf
All free summaries — page 352
47,382 public-domain books, summarised. Page 352 of 988.
From a Swedish homestead
Selma Lagerlöf
This collection of stories weaves together the folklore of the Swedish countryside with the psychological struggles of those trapped by grief, madness, or the weight of the past. It offers a poignant look at how humanity finds its way back from the brink of despair.
Historic Ghosts and Ghost Hunters
H. Addington (Henry Addington) Bruce
Spanning centuries of reported hauntings and inexplicable phenomena, this investigation attempts to demystify the supernatural by grounding legendary ghost stories in the emerging psychological science of the early twentieth century.
History of the Catholic Church from the Renaissance to the French Revolution
James MacCaffrey
The religious landscape of the early modern era is a tapestry of shifting allegiances, state-sponsored upheaval, and the struggle for institutional survival. This detailed historical survey chronicles the Catholic Church’s confrontation with the Reformation and the subsequent political revolutions in Europe and the…
How to Read the Crystal
Sepharial
The art of peering into a crystal sphere remains a pursuit of patience and focus, bridging the gap between the material world and the unseen currents of the soul.
In the Flash Ranging Service: Observations of an American Soldier During His Service With the A.E.F. in France
Edward Alva Trueblood
A soldier’s candid account of his service in France, capturing the quiet efficiency of wartime logistics, the sensory shock of the front lines, and the enduring bond of those who served together.
In the Valley
Harold Frederic
A boy grows to manhood amidst the encroaching shadows of the American Revolution, caught between the vanishing world of his Dutch forebears and the violent upheaval of a new, fractured nation.
King Alfred of England: Makers of History
Jacob Abbott
A legendary monarch rises from the ashes of a war-torn kingdom, transforming from a reckless youth into a disciplined protector of his people. This classic biographical account explores the intersection of personal character, royal duty, and the foundations of a nation.
Little Foxes: Stories for Boys and Girls
E. A. Henry
These are practical, moral lessons framed for children, designed to turn everyday behavioral struggles into opportunities for developing lasting strength of character.
Lost in the Fog
James De Mille
The sea is vast, the fog is thick, and a young sailor’s mettle is tested when he is cast adrift from his ship. Adventure waits where the tide meets the shore in this classic tale of survival and perseverance.
Love Eternal
H. Rider (Henry Rider) Haggard
The story of two souls bound across lifetimes, this narrative explores the spiritual magnetism between a man and woman whose love persists through war, separation, and the veil of death.
Mark Mason's Victory: The Trials and Triumphs of a Telegraph Boy
Alger, Horatio, Jr.
A resourceful telegraph messenger navigates poverty and familial betrayal, proving that pluck and sharp business instincts can secure a future for himself and his widowed mother.
Marvels of Pond-life
Henry James Slack
The smallest drop of pond water holds a universe of complexity, where invisible architects and hunters play out the drama of existence. This guide reveals how a single afternoon at the water’s edge can unveil the sublime.
Mediaeval Lore from Bartholomew Anglicus
Bartholomaeus, Anglicus, active 13th century
Understanding the natural world was once a task of synthesis, where the habits of the leopard, the properties of the sapphire, and the structure of the eye were woven into a single, cohesive tapestry of divine order. This collection gathers the most enduring observations of a thirteenth-century mind, offering a…
Mother Earth, Vol. 1 No. 2, April 1906: Monthly Magazine Devoted to Social Science and Literature
Various
This early radical periodical challenges the foundational structures of family, law, and state, inviting a new generation to discard tradition and reclaim their own autonomy through the miracle of independent action.
Mr. Punch with Rod and Gun: The Humours of Fishing and Shooting
Unknown
A witty, illustrated collection of late-Victorian and Edwardian satire, this volume captures the perennial absurdity of the dedicated outdoorsman through a series of sharp, irreverent sketches and humorous verse.
Mrs. Tree
Laura Elizabeth Howe Richards
A ninety-one-year-old matriarch orchestrates the lives and loves of her New England village with a sharp tongue and a heart that defies her age. This story explores how the indomitable spirit of an older woman can steer the younger generation toward happiness.
Murder in Any Degree
Owen Johnson
This collection of stories captures the shifting anxieties of early 20th-century life, where social artifice, artistic obsession, and the haunting weight of secrets dictate the fates of the restless. It presents a world where the most profound tragedies often hide behind the mundane.
Notes on the Diplomatic History of the Jewish Question: With Texts of Protocols, Treaty Stipulations and Other Public Acts and Official Documents
Lucien Wolf
Diplomacy is a long-standing tool for securing the rights of the persecuted, and this collection serves as a vital record of how international law has been used to champion Jewish equality across centuries.
Nye and Riley's Wit and Humor (Poems and Yarns)
James Whitcomb Riley
A collection of droll sketches, doggerel, and rural observations, this assembly captures the specific, eccentric flavor of American frontier humor at the turn of the twentieth century. It balances the sharp wit of the newspaperman with the sentimental, rhythmic verse of the regional poet, serving as a time capsule…
Pickett's Gap
Homer Greene
This turn-of-the-century tale explores the friction between progress and heritage, centering on a stubborn grandfather and the grandson who bridges the gap between family pride and the changing world.
Pinafore Palace
Unknown
A collection of nursery classics and children’s verse, this volume gathers the foundational rhymes and gentle songs that have populated the collective imagination of childhood for generations.
Popular Technology
Edward Hazen
This encyclopedic guide offers a detailed survey of 19th-century livelihoods, mapping the intersection of human industry, mechanical innovation, and social necessity.
Prue and I
George William Curtis
A quiet life is not an empty one, for the imagination can travel where the body cannot. This gentle meditation finds the grandeur of the world within the humblest of domestic routines.
Pubs: A Collection of Hotel, Inn, and Tavern Signs in Great Britain and Ireland: to Which Are Added a Few Foreign Café Signs
Unknown
A landscape of local history hides in plain sight upon the tavern walls of the British Isles, where centuries of folklore, heraldry, and industry are captured in painted wood and iron.
Queen Lucia
E. F. (Edward Frederic) Benson
In a self-important English village, a woman of relentless ambition orchestrates the lives of her neighbors, only to find her own carefully curated world besieged by new arrivals and her own absurd pretensions.
Queen Victoria
Lytton Strachey
This elegant biography transforms a rigid icon into a living, breathing woman, tracing her transformation from a sheltered, strong-willed girl into the formidable matriarch of a global empire.
Ringan Gilhaize, or, The Covenanters
John Galt
A man’s lifelong quest to avenge his family’s honor culminates in a final, fateful act of justice against the oppressor who destroyed his peace. This sweeping historical chronicle traces the generations of a Scottish family caught in the bloody struggle for religious liberty.
Rosalind at Red Gate
Meredith Nicholson
A summer romance entangles a sequestered lake community in a web of family secrets, daring deceptions, and the arrival of a mysterious woman who challenges everything the protagonist knows about truth and identity.
Russia on the Black Sea and Sea of Azof : Being a narrative of travels in the Crimea and bordering provinces
Henry Seymour
The Black Sea region serves as a bridge between the imperial ambitions of the West and the deep, often misunderstood history of the Russian frontier. These accounts capture a landscape where ancient ruins meet the harsh realities of mid-nineteenth-century geopolitical tension.
Russian Prisons: St. Peter and St. Paul
Arthur Griffiths
The shadow of the Czar’s absolute authority falls long and dark across the nineteenth-century Russian landscape, where the machinery of state serves primarily to silence dissent. This examination of the penal system reveals a crumbling empire desperate to contain its own people through the calculated use of fear,…
Scientific American Supplement, No. 647, May 26, 1888
Various
This issue captures the late nineteenth-century appetite for industrial progress, offering a wide-ranging survey of the engineering, architectural, and scientific innovations that defined the era. It serves as a static snapshot of human ingenuity at work in 1888.
Seven Icelandic Short Stories
Unknown
The endurance of a culture is etched into these pages, where the quiet, unyielding rhythms of island life meet the sudden, sharp disruptions of fate and migration.
St. George for England
G. A. (George Alfred) Henty
A young apprentice rises through the ranks of the Hundred Years' War, proving that courage and integrity are the true hallmarks of nobility in a changing medieval world.
Supreme Personality: Fun in Living. A Doubt, Fear, and Worry Cure
Delmer Eugene Croft
A guide to self-mastery through the power of positive thought, this manual promises to dissolve doubt, fear, and worry. It offers a structured approach to reclaiming vitality and mental clarity in an age of anxiety.
The adventures of Rob Roy
James Grant
This chronicle of a legendary Highland figure captures the turbulent life of a man caught between an eroding tribal past and an encroaching modern state. It is a portrait of a fiercely independent outlaw whose name became synonymous with the defiance of authority.
The Belle's Stratagem
Hannah Cowley
A spirited young woman crafts an elaborate ruse to win the heart of a traveler who finds her dull, proving that true connection requires more than a first impression.
The Big Fight (Gallipoli to the Somme)
David Fallon
This is an unvarnished, direct account of a soldier’s transformation from an eager recruit into a seasoned veteran of the Great War. It captures the visceral, often brutal reality of combat across the two most iconic theaters of the conflict: the desolate beaches of Gallipoli and the mud-choked trenches of the Somme.
The Bread-winners: A Social Study
John Hay
Labor unrest and social ambition collide in this sharp portrait of a nineteenth-century industrial town, where class lines are drawn as strictly as the borders of a private garden.
The British Army from Within
Evelyn Charles Vivian
The British Army stands as a vast, complex machine composed of individual men whose daily lives are defined by rigid discipline, technical mastery, and an enduring, often quiet, camaraderie.
The British Barbarians
Grant Allen
A man from a future society arrives in Victorian England, where he finds himself baffled and repelled by the rigid, hypocritical social codes he labels "barbarous." This bracing, polemical fiction challenges the sanctity of marriage, property, and class.
The Confessions of Jean Jacques Rousseau
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
This is the account of a man who bared his soul to history, believing that total transparency was the only way to defend his character against a world he felt was closing in on him. It is a work of immense psychological depth, written with the conviction that no other human being had ever dared to be so honest.
The Cricket on the Hearth
Charles Dickens
A hearth-bound spirit watches over the quiet joys of a simple home, reminding us that happiness is often found in the small, steadfast virtues of those we love. Beneath the chirping of the home-fire, a story unfolds about the enduring power of devotion and the wisdom of a trusting heart.
The Fat of the Land: The Story of an American Farm
John Williams Streeter
The "Headman" of Four Oaks proves that even an aging city dweller can transform a neglected tract of land into a thriving, profitable factory farm through sheer discipline, careful planning, and a deep respect for the soil.
The Founder of New France: A Chronicle of Champlain
Charles W. (Charles William) Colby
A life defined by the relentless pursuit of a New World, this chronicle traces the path of a man whose vision of a French empire in North America survived decades of indifference and hardship.
The Gracchi Marius and Sulla: Epochs of Ancient History
A. H. (Augustus Henry) Beesly
The Roman Republic did not collapse overnight; it withered through a century of political paralysis, class warfare, and the rise of generals who valued personal loyalty over the state.
The Heritage of Dedlow Marsh and Other Tales
Bret Harte
This collection of stories captures the shifting, often precarious landscape of the American West, where human character is tested by isolation, social upheaval, and the weight of one’s own impulsive choices.
The History of Antiquity, Vol. 3 (of 6)
Max Duncker
The relentless rise and fall of ancient empires find a rigorous, scholarly chronicler in this expansive survey of the Near East’s turbulent middle period.
The history of our Navy from its origin to the present day, 1775-1897, vol. 2 (of 4)
John Randolph Spears
This chronicle traces the rise of the American naval spirit through the crucible of the War of 1812 and beyond, capturing the raw intensity of age-of-sail combat.