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All free summaries — page 848
44,127 public-domain books, summarised. Page 848 of 920.
Other Fools and Their Doings, or, Life among the Freedmen
H. N. K. (Harriet Newell Kneeland) Goff
This account of post-Civil War South Carolina illuminates the violent struggle for power during the Reconstruction era. It examines the clashing interests of freedmen, Northern transplants, and embittered former slaveholders with unsparing, sober clarity.
Pariah
Stephen Marlowe
A man returns from deep space to find his world has moved on without him. He must decide if his longing for home is a genuine desire or a ghost of a life he can no longer inhabit.
Paula the Waldensian
Eva Lecomte
A young girl’s unwavering faith transforms a cold, secular household, proving that even the most stubborn hearts can be softened by quiet, persistent kindness.
Pollony Undiverted
Sydney J. Van Scyoc
The future is a suffocating web of instant travel and constant, empty social connection. A young woman realizes her life has become a tedious collection of trivialities and seeks an escape into the unknown.
Postmark Ganymede
Robert Silverberg
Demoted to a routine outer-system mail run, a bitter space patrol officer proves that delivering letters to dangerous alien frontiers requires the same grit and daring as combat duty.
Poultry for profit
R. A. (Richard Anderson) Power
This practical guide demystifies the poultry industry, transforming the humble backyard chicken coop into a reliable source of income and nutrition. It serves as a comprehensive manual for turning a small investment of space and feed into a productive, organized business enterprise.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 102, June 11, 1892
Various
This collection captures the frantic, witty, and deeply parochial pulse of late-Victorian England, filtering the era’s political anxieties and social pretensions through a lens of relentless satire.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 102, June 25, 1892
Various
A spirited, satirical time capsule of late-Victorian London, this collection captures the political maneuvering, social scandals, and theatrical whims of 1892 through wit that remains sharp and irreverent.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 104, January 21, 1893
Various
This collection of 1893 weekly satire offers a sharp, witty snapshot of Victorian society, capturing the anxieties and trivialities of the era through sketches, mock-examinations, and theatrical commentary. It serves as a humorous record of a world balancing between rigid social decorum and the encroaching…
Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 153, September 19, 1917
Various
This collection of wit, satire, and commentary captures the distinct, embattled atmosphere of London during the autumn of 1917. It serves as a sharp-edged mirror to a society grappling with the fatigue of a prolonged, global conflict.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 159, December 29, 1920
Various
This collection captures the sharp, cynical, and weary wit of post-war London, where the end of 1920 is met not with grand idealism, but with dry humor and a longing for normalcy.
Radio razz
Jack Woodford
A wily merchant’s attempt to play matchmaker in his cluttered radio shop backfires when he discovers he has been outmaneuvered by a pair of clever, coordinated customers.
Rank and Talent
William Pitt Scargill
The tangled lives of an aging aristocrat and his spendthrift heir reveal the fragile boundary where ancestral pride meets the stark necessity of the marketplace.
Reputation
W. C. (Wilbur C.) Tuttle
The legend of a man’s reputation often carries more weight than the man himself, until the shadow of that reputation finally walks through the door. In this tense Western tale, a small village of fearful men learns that the most terrifying villains are those who have never truly faced a reckoning.
Riven Bonds. Vol. I.: A Novel, in Two Volumes
E. Werner
The path to artistic genius often demands a brutal cost, severing the ties that bind a man to his home, his family, and his own moral center.
Scrambled eggs
Lawton Mackall
A dedicated drake strives to bring chivalry and moral reform to a bustling, indifferent barnyard, only to find that his quest for purity leads to unexpected personal heartache and ultimate sacrifice.
Season's best dishes for 2 or 4 or 6
Mary Lee Taylor
This collection offers a practical, mid-century approach to holiday entertaining, utilizing the versatility of evaporated milk to create everything from festive candies to complete family dinners.
Ships that pass in the night
Beatrice Harraden
The world is filled with individuals who, like passing ships, briefly illuminate one another’s shadows before drifting back into the dark. Two such souls, isolated by illness and temperament, find an unexpected, fragile tether in their shared solitude.
Snow-flakes
Israel P. (Israel Perkins) Warren
The silent descent of the snowflake serves as a mirror for the soul, revealing through nature the quiet, persistent, and loving order of the Divine.
The American Missionary
Various
This archival record captures a pivotal moment in American religious history, documenting the fiftieth-anniversary efforts of an organization dedicated to post-Civil War education and mission work.
The Angel of Death
Johan Olof Wallin
This profound meditation on mortality adopts the persona of the Angel of Death, reminding humanity that our earthly lives are mere fleeting interludes before a final, inevitable transition. It is a work of solemn, enduring grace that balances the weight of death with the promise of divine restoration.
The Autobiography of a Play: Papers on Play-Making, II
Bronson Howard
This account of a seasoned playwright’s craft reveals how one story can be reshaped across different cultures and decades. It serves as a candid masterclass in the technical demands of the stage.
The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Book 14: 2 Paralipomenon: The Challoner Revision
Unknown
A sweeping historical chronicle of the ancient kings of Israel, this text traces the rise of a magnificent temple and the subsequent moral and political unraveling of a nation.
The Boy Allies with Uncle Sam's Cruisers
Clair W. (Clair Wallace) Hayes
This fast-paced adventure follows two young, inseparable protagonists as they navigate the volatile, high-stakes waters of the First World War. Through naval skirmishes and perilous encounters with German raiders, the narrative celebrates resourcefulness, duty, and the unwavering bond of friendship.
The Boy Scouts' Victory
George Durston
A nineteen-year-old student leaves an American military school to join the fray of the Great War, discovering that the true front line is a crucible of moral choices and tragic sacrifice.
The Brighton Boys in the Submarine Treasure Ship
James R. Driscoll
The high-seas adventures of two young naval veterans turn toward the ocean floor, where they hunt for sunken gold and battle dangerous spies to secure their academic future.
The British Association's Visit to Montreal, 1884
Rayleigh, Clara, Lady
The British Association for the Advancement of Science travels to North America, crossing the Atlantic to bridge continents with the weight of Victorian intellect and curiosity.
The Brochure Series of Architectural Illustration, Vol. 01, No. 03, March 1895: The Cloister at Monreale, Near Palermo, Sicily
Various
The Brochure Series of Architectural Illustration, Vol. 01, No. 03, offers a meticulous examination of the Romanesque and Byzantine influences that shaped the historic architecture of Sicily and Ravenna. It serves as both a scholarly study of ancient stonework and a vibrant, era-specific snapshot of the late…
The Cobbler In The Devil's Kitchen: From "Mackinac And Lake Stories", 1899
Mary Hartwell Catherwood
Hook A solitary cobbler living in a cave on Mackinac Island navigates the chaotic social world of the nineteenth-century fur trade through a singular, mysterious act of intervention.
The Convict Ship, Volume 2 (of 3)
William Clark Russell
A young woman disguised as a boy stows away on a convict ship to reach her wrongfully imprisoned sweetheart, only to find herself trapped in a brutal, volatile floating prison. This gripping maritime drama explores the thin line between justice and vengeance at the mercy of the sea.
The field of amber gold
William Bigelow Neal
The relentless forces of nature test the mettle of a pioneer couple, as one man’s struggle against the Dakota winter becomes a defiant stand against ruin.
The Flying Boys to the Rescue
Edward Sylvester Ellis
High in the air, a young aviator pursues a brilliant but unstable inventor to save a friend from a perilous, globe-spanning flight. Adventure waits in the clouds and the wilderness.
The forerunners
Norman Arkawy
HOOK A young cybernetics expert discovers he is a telepath, only to find himself trapped in a high-tech prison run by the government to suppress his kind.
The Gently Orbiting Blonde
John Victor Peterson
A distracted scientist’s wedding night is interrupted when his experimental anti-gravity device turns his living room into a zero-gravity chamber, trapping him, his new bride, and a surprise visitor in a chaotic, floating farce.
The Girl's Own Paper, Vol. XX. No. 1003, March 18, 1899
Various
This issue of a Victorian periodical offers a curated window into the intellectual and domestic life of a young woman at the close of the nineteenth century. It is a mosaic of instruction, moral guidance, and serialized storytelling.
The Happy Homicide
Frank Banta
Being on trial for murder is rarely a pleasant experience, but it becomes a uniquely peculiar affair when the prosecution ignores the defendant entirely to consult the recorded memories of the victim.
The holiday round
A. A. (Alan Alexander) Milne
This collection of sketches and short stories captures the lighthearted, often exasperating, and always witty rhythm of early 20th-century English leisure. It is a portrait of a social set that values clever conversation, the absurdity of small-town rules, and the cheerful avoidance of anything approaching real labor.
The Immortal Lure
Cale Young Rice
These four verse dramas explore the volatile intersection of intense human passion and the spiritual ideals that men construct to contain it.
The Irish Penny Journal, Vol. 1 No. 31, January 30, 1841
Various
This early Victorian periodical offers a window into the curiosity, industry, and anxieties of 1840s Ireland. It blends antiquarian research, natural history, and moral instruction into a singular, earnest reflection on the state of the nation.
The Iron Boys in the Mines
James R. Mears
A young boy descends into the perilous world of deep-earth mining, determined to rise from the lowest shaft to the heights of industrial leadership through grit, courage, and a sharp, observant mind.
The Judgment of Eve
May Sinclair
The choices we make in our youth often construct the very cages we must inhabit in middle age. This story traces the quiet, relentless erosion of a romantic ideal under the weight of domestic reality.
The Last Trespasser
Jim Harmon
A man who lacks the pervasive, alien symbionts that have transformed the human race finds his attempts to navigate a world of "supermen" thwarted by his own stubborn individuality. In a society defined by total mental connection, he is the ultimate, unwanted outsider.
The lighting of the Christmas tree
Selma Lagerlöf
The Christmas season arrives at the Swedish manor of Lofdala, where a family’s desire for a perfect holiday leads to an unexpected confrontation with the spirit of charity. This play explores the thin line between protecting one’s home and hardening one’s heart.
The Man from Time
Frank Belknap Long
The terror of the infinite can paralyze even those who have mastered the mechanics of the universe. When history becomes a cold, detached spectacle, the only bridge back to humanity is the quiet persistence of love.
The Marrying Man
Joseph Farrell
A seasoned traveler of the stars finds that the cruelest paradox of time dilation isn't the distance he covers, but the people he inevitably leaves behind. He treats his life as a series of cold, calculated investments, only to discover that the cycle he perfected for years has finally claimed him as its victim.
The master hope
Phyllis Bottome
A young woman's journey of self-discovery and love amidst the social complexities of early 20th-century England.
The Minute Boys of Long Island
James Otis
Three teenage boys turn their small sloop into a vessel of war, risking capture and cannon fire to serve the American cause from the shadowed waters of Long Island.
The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 10, No. 284, November 24, 1827
Various
An engaging blend of historical reporting, popular verse, practical science, and theatrical fiction captures the vibrant pulse of early nineteenth-century British print culture.