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All free summaries — page 470
47,382 public-domain books, summarised. Page 470 of 988.

The book of the American Indian
Hamlin Garland
A collection of narratives that captures the fading traditions and deepening desperation of Native American tribes as they encounter the relentless expansion of the American frontier.

The Chinese Nightingale, and Other Poems
Vachel Lindsay
This collection of verse captures the rhythmic, visionary spirit of early twentieth-century American life, blending folk-inspired storytelling with an urgent, mystical plea for global peace.

The Collected Works of Ambrose Bierce, Volume 12: In Motley
Ambrose Bierce
The world is a stage of absurdities, and if you are willing to laugh at the farce of human vanity, you have arrived at the right collection of sketches.

The Crown of Thorns: A Token for the Sorrowing
E. H. (Edwin Hubbell) Chapin
Finding comfort in the face of life’s most difficult transitions requires a shift in perspective. This collection of discourses offers a framework for navigating loss and disappointment through the lens of Christian hope.

The Cruise of the Dry Dock
T. S. (Thomas Sigismund) Stribling
This high-seas adventure follows a ragtag crew trapped in the Sargasso Sea, where they must navigate a surreal, hostile landscape while caught in the dangerous crossfire of the First World War. It is a tale of personal transformation, pitting aristocratic privilege against raw, desperate survival.

The Divine Comedy by Dante, Illustrated, Hell, Volume 09
Dante Alighieri
A journey through the deepest circles of the afterlife reveals the horrific physical and moral consequences of human betrayal, guided by a poet’s unyielding pursuit of divine justice.

The Diwan of Abu'l-Ala
Abu al-Ala al-Maarri
The stars themselves bow to the inevitable cycle of growth and decay, leaving us to navigate the fleeting brilliance of existence with nothing but our own wits and a healthy dose of skepticism.

The Forest of Vazon: A Guernsey Legend of the Eighth Century
Anonymous
A sudden, cataclysmic tidal wave reshapes a Guernsey coastline in 709, burying a forest and a civilization under the sea to resolve a desperate conflict between pagan tradition and the rising tide of Christianity.

The Girl Aviators' Sky Cruise
Margaret Burnham
The early days of aviation bring together a pair of resourceful siblings, their mechanical expertise, and a series of high-stakes sky races against unscrupulous industrial rivals.

The Heroic Record of the British Navy: A Short History of the Naval War, 1914-1918
Bashford, H. H. (Henry Howarth), Sir
The British Navy emerges from the crucible of the Great War as the essential guardian of world progress, its resilience and evolving technology proving decisive in the preservation of the democratic order.

The high school course in English
Willard Grosvenor Bleyer
Effective secondary education relies upon a seamless integration of literary appreciation and the rigorous, logical development of a student’s own voice. This manual outlines a comprehensive four-year curriculum designed to transform high school English from a collection of rote exercises into a coherent study of…

The House of the Misty Star: A Romance of Youth and Hope and Love in Old Japan
Frances Little
Perched on a Japanese hillside, an aging, solitary teacher finds her quiet life upended when an eccentric missionary and a defiant, rebellious girl shatter her carefully ordered world.

The Life and Writings of Henry Fuseli, Volume 2 (of 3)
Henry Fuseli
This collection of lectures offers a rigorous, uncompromising masterclass on the theory of painting, written by an artist who viewed art history as a high-stakes battlefield of intellect, expression, and moral purpose.

The life of Poggio Bracciolini
William Shepherd
The life of a scholar who traversed the turbulent corridors of 15th-century Europe, this account unearths the intellectual rebirth of the Renaissance through the eyes of a central, if often combative, witness. It charts the intersection of private ambition and public upheaval.

The Little Review, June-July 1915 (Vol. 2, No. 4)
Various
This mid-1915 issue of a pioneering Chicago literary magazine captures the nervous, intellectual energy of the early twentieth century. It serves as a volatile snapshot of a world teetering on the edge of global conflict, where art, politics, and individual philosophy collide in a search for new expression.

The Lost Warship
Robert Moore Williams
The crew of a modern battleship finds itself stranded in a prehistoric era after a freak collision with a space-time fault, forcing them to wage a desperate war against a technologically advanced, alien civilization.

The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Volume 12: Return to Paris
Giacomo Casanova
A restless traveler navigates the shifting currents of 18th-century European high society, balancing grand financial schemes against the intimate, often precarious, entanglements of his own heart.

The Mysteries of Paris, illustrated with etchings, Vol. 4
Eugène Sue
Beneath the glittering surface of nineteenth-century Paris lies a dark, intricate labyrinth where the destitute and the powerful collide in a desperate struggle for justice.

The New McGuffey Fourth Reader
Unknown
This collection serves as a moral and literary compass, guiding young readers through the foundational virtues of character and the rich heritage of English prose and poetry. It stands as a bridge between childhood innocence and the responsibilities of the adult world.

The Old Soldier's Story: Poems and Prose Sketches
James Whitcomb Riley
HOOK This collection gathers the rhythmic vernacular of the American heartland and the poignant, polished verse of a poet who found profound dignity in the quiet lives of ordinary people.

The Pennycomequicks, Volume 1 (of 3)
S. (Sabine) Baring-Gould
The greedy heirs of a wealthy manufacturer wait for him to drop from the tree of life, only to find that his sudden, watery disappearance leaves them with a tangled inheritance of suspicion and ghosts.

The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898
Unknown
This collection of historical documents offers a raw, unvarnished look at the mechanics of colonial administration in the early seventeenth-century Philippines. It captures the frantic daily reality of an empire struggling to maintain order across vast, unforgiving distances.

The Place Beyond the Winds
Harriet T. (Harriet Theresa) Comstock
HOOK A young woman from a remote Canadian village ventures into the wider world, testing her ideals against the rigid social codes of the city and the weight of a hidden past.

The Port of Missing Men
Meredith Nicholson
A nameless stranger carries a dangerous secret across the Atlantic, pursued by conspirators who seek to restore a crumbling European throne. In the mountains of Virginia, an American woman finds herself drawn into his web of intrigue and the fight for his soul.

The Powers of Europe and Fall of Sebastopol
A British officer
A sweeping military history of the 19th century, this account traces the rise of Napoleon and the shifting alliances of Europe to explain the origins and brutal reality of the Crimean War.

The Real Gladstone: An Anecdotal Biography
J. Ewing (James Ewing) Ritchie
To understand the Victorian era’s most polarizing statesman, one must look past his monumental legacy and into the scattered, humanizing details of his long, restless career.

The Root of All Evil
J. S. (Joseph Smith) Fletcher
A woman of fierce, unyielding ambition rises from rural poverty to challenge a local monopoly, only to find that the pursuit of wealth demands a price no ledger can record.

The Sayings of Mrs. Solomon: being the confessions of the seven hundredth wife as revealed to Helen Rowland
Helen Rowland
Marriage is a game of patience, persuasion, and profound absurdity, where the only way to survive is to stop taking the players—especially the men—quite so seriously.

The Steel Flea
N. S. (Nikolai Semenovich) Leskov
A humble artisan rises to challenge the supremacy of foreign technology, only to be crushed by the indifference of his own countrymen. This biting, folk-inspired fable captures the tragic irony of a nation that celebrates genius while systematically discarding the geniuses themselves.

The Talleyrand Maxim
J. S. (Joseph Smith) Fletcher
A junior clerk’s illicit scheme to suppress a dead man’s will unravels as a web of greed, blackmail, and murder ensnares an aristocratic family.

The Transformation of Philip Jettan
Georgette Heyer
A young man leaves his quiet life to master the art of being a rake, hoping to win the heart of the girl who discarded him. This elegant, spirited comedy of manners follows his return from Paris, where he is now the most fashionable and dangerous man in London.

The Unspeakable Gentleman
John P. (John Phillips) Marquand
The improbable turns true often enough to be unsettling, especially when a father plays at being a villain to protect his son from the dangerous realities of a world in flux.

The Visionary: Pictures From Nordland
Jonas Lie
A man haunted by visions of the Arctic North searches for grace while his mind slowly unspools. This atmospheric, melancholic tale explores the thin, trembling line between reality and the supernatural.

The Warfare of the Soul: Practical Studies in the Life of Temptation
Shirley Carter Hughson
To be human is to be under siege, and this steady, ancient guide offers a map for navigating the interior battles that everyone, regardless of their convictions, must eventually face.

The Wire Devils
Frank L. (Frank Lucius) Packard
A master thief, known only as "The Hawk," plays a high-stakes game of cat-and-mouse with a sophisticated criminal syndicate and the frustrated lawmen who cannot tell whose side he is really on.

The Yellow Holly
Fergus Hume
A young man tracks down his family’s hidden history, only to find himself entangled in a boardinghouse murder and a web of long-buried secrets.

The Young Enchanted: A Romantic Story
Hugh Walpole
Life in post-war London offers a young man and his sister a dizzying, bittersweet education in the fragility of human connections. Everything is changing, and for those ready to witness it, the world is nothing short of miraculous.

The Young Yagers: A Narrative of Hunting Adventures in Southern Africa
Mayne Reid
A band of six spirited youths ventures into the untamed Southern African wilderness, pitting their wits and courage against the formidable beasts of the veldt.

The Yser and the Belgian Coast: An Illustrated History and Guide
Pneu Michelin (Firm)
This historical volume maps the harrowing landscape of the Great War’s Belgian front, blending evocative battlefield accounts with the practical, turn-by-turn guidance of a dedicated touring manual.

Time and Clocks: A Description of Ancient and Modern Methods of Measuring Time
Cunynghame, Henry H. (Henry Hardinge), Sir
The quest to measure the passage of seconds, hours, and celestial cycles serves as a gateway into the bedrock of physical science. This work explores the intricate mechanics of timekeeping through the lens of history, logic, and engineering.

Tom, Dick and Harry
Talbot Baines Reed
This story of a young boy navigating the treacherous social currents of an English boarding school proves that a single well-meaning, clumsy student can inadvertently trigger a series of events that test the loyalty and character of an entire house.

Torrey's Narrative
William Torrey
This account chronicles a fourteen-year odyssey across the globe, detailing a shipwreck, captivity in the Marquesas, and a grueling life at sea. It serves as both a harrowing personal record and a mid-19th-century traveler's survey of world geography and local custom.

Wolfville
Alfred Henry Lewis
A grizzled cattleman recounts the rough-hewn legends of a frontier Arizona hamlet, where life is lived by the code of the gun, the turn of a card, and the dry, sharp wit of the desert.

Woman's Endurance
A. D. (August D.) Luckhoff
Through the daily, relentless toll of the Bethulie concentration camp, a young chaplain bears witness to the fractured lives of Boer families, finding fragments of grace amidst the overwhelming sorrow of war.

A Book of Distinctive Interiors
Unknown
A guide to early twentieth-century domestic refinement, this collection of essays offers practical blueprints for crafting homes that balance aesthetic poise with the burgeoning demands of modern efficiency. It serves as a time capsule of professional architectural and design standards from 1912, detailing how the…

A Comedy of Masks: A Novel
Ernest Christopher Dowson
A comedy of errors played out in the drawing rooms of London, this novel reveals the heavy, often hidden price of maintaining a perfect social facade. Beneath the polished veneer of Victorian life, characters struggle with long-buried secrets, unrequited devotion, and the crushing weight of their own expectations.

A Houseful of Girls
Sarah Tytler
The departure of children from the family nest is a universal ache, yet when financial ruin forces a household of sisters to abandon their sheltered life, the transition from girlhood to adulthood becomes an urgent, bittersweet adventure.

A Knyght Ther Was
Robert F. Young
A time-thief’s desperate heist in the sixth century unravels into a collision between cynical futurism and the enduring, untouchable power of legend.