Free summaries
American Literature — page 34
3,609 public-domain american literature books, summarised. Page 34 of 76.
A Captain in the Ranks: A Romance of Affairs
George Cary Eggleston
The aftermath of war demands a new kind of courage, as a former Confederate officer trades his sword for the tools of industry to conquer the rapidly expanding American West.
Caroling dusk
Unknown
A vibrant tapestry of voices from the Harlem Renaissance, this definitive anthology captures the urgent, evolving spirit of early twentieth-century African American poetry.
Children of loneliness
Anzia Yezierska
The immigrant’s struggle for a voice in a new land is a journey of painful shedding and radical self-discovery.
Class of '29
Milo Hastings
A generation of bright, educated young men struggles to find purpose in a world where the only available work is the labor of surviving another day.
![Cover of Definitions: Essays in Contemporary Criticism [First Series]](https://cdn.myebooksbuy.com/c/definitions-essays-in-contemporary-criticism-first-series-henry-seidel.webp)
Definitions: Essays in Contemporary Criticism [First Series]
Henry Seidel Canby
This collection of essays serves as a literary map of the early 1920s, offering a clear-eyed perspective on the tension between artistic integrity and the pressures of a democratic, mass-market culture.
Philip Winwood: A Sketch of the Domestic History of an American Captain in the War of Independence
Robert Neilson Stephens
A poignant examination of divided loyalties, this narrative follows a tender-hearted American captain whose devotion to his country is rivaled only by his complicated and unrequited love for a woman who chooses the enemy.
Satan Sanderson
Hallie Erminie Rives
A man suffering from amnesia must confront a dark, forgotten past and the weight of a stolen identity to win the woman he loves.
Steve P. Holcombe, the Converted Gambler: His Life and Work
Gross Alexander
The harrowing journey of a man who traded a life of gambling and ruin for a career of radical service, this work offers a sobering look at the transformative power of faith.
The Enchanted Typewriter
John Kendrick Bangs
A young man discovers an old typewriter in his attic, only to find it being used by the ghost of James Boswell to report on the daily affairs of the afterlife.
The Idyl of Twin Fires
Walter Prichard Eaton
A disillusioned academic trades his tedious life of grading college themes for the challenging, tactile reality of a derelict New England farm. He discovers that true fulfillment grows from the soil he learns to cultivate.
The Master of Appleby: A Novel Tale Concerning Itself in Part with the Great Struggle in the Two Carolinas
Francis Lynde
Two men bound by friendship and war find their loyalty tested when they fall in love with the same woman, amidst the volatile frontier of the American Revolution.
A Rill from the Town Pump
Nathaniel Hawthorne
This piece of writing transforms a mundane municipal fixture into a vibrant, outspoken commentator on human nature, temperance, and the history of a New England town. It offers a whimsical yet earnest look at the virtue of simplicity.
Big Timber: A Story of the Northwest
Bertrand W. Sinclair
The marriage of a refined city woman to a rugged, self-made logger in the Pacific Northwest turns into a complex test of character and emotional survival.
Elizabeth, Her Folks
Ethel M. (Ethel May) Kelley
HOOK A girl sent to spend a summer with her grandparents on Cape Cod learns that growing up is less about following rules and more about understanding the complex, sometimes painful lives of others.
Josh Billings' Farmer's Allminax, 1870-1879
Josh Billings
A cynical, homespun guide to the late nineteenth century, this collection serves as a humorous almanac that blends folk wisdom with the sharp, observational wit of a seasoned rural philosopher. It offers a unique window into the cadence and preoccupations of a bygone era, presenting life’s daily frustrations with a…
Joyce Kilmer
Joyce Kilmer
The life of a poet is a landscape of sacred trees, domestic joy, and the sudden, sobering call of the battlefield.
Labor and Freedom: The Voice and Pen of Eugene V. Debs
Eugene V. (Eugene Victor) Debs
To champion the laborer is to embrace a struggle that transcends mere economics, rooting itself in the fundamental human demand for dignity, equality, and the absolute end of exploitation.
Lavender and Old Lace
Myrtle Reed
A city woman seeking rest in a quiet coastal village discovers that a neighbor’s lonely life holds a long-hidden, bittersweet secret. This gentle, atmospheric narrative explores how the past shapes the present through the lives of three people connected by love and silence.
Northern Georgia Sketches
Will N. (Will Nathaniel) Harben
These sketches offer a quiet, evocative window into the red-clay hills of late 19th-century Georgia, capturing the tensions and quiet triumphs of lives bound to the soil and tradition.
That Printer of Udell's: A Story of the Middle West
Harold Bell Wright
A penniless wanderer finds his humanity in a town indifferent to his suffering, eventually transforming its social landscape through the radical, practical application of Christian charity.
The Golden Bird
Maria Thompson Daviess
A city girl faces sudden poverty and bets her future on a flock of chickens, only to find that the true harvest of the countryside is far more complicated than simple agriculture.
The Guardsman
Homer Greene
The Hallowe’en prank of a few local boys sets off a chain of events that forces a young man to choose between his personal ideals and the demands of his community.
The One Woman: A Story of Modern Utopia
Dixon, Thomas, Jr.
The collapse of a minister’s traditional life, driven by a radical vision of a new humanity, spirals into a desperate struggle for survival and redemption within the cold walls of a prison cell.
When 'Bear Cat' Went Dry
Charles Neville Buck
A young mountaineer struggles to leave behind a violent past to win the heart of a girl caught between two worlds. This drama pits the ancient, lawless traditions of the Kentucky hills against a dawning, modern sense of justice.
American War Ballads and Lyrics, Volume 1 (of 2): A Collection of the Songs and Ballads of the Colonial Wars, the Revolutions, the War of 1812-15, the War with Mexico and the Civil War
Unknown
This collection assembles the verses that echoed through American history, capturing the spirit, defiance, and heartbreak of a nation forged in the fires of conflict. It is a lyrical chronicle of American identity, preserved in the rhythms of the people.
John March, Southerner
George Washington Cable
A young man in the post-Civil War South struggles to reconcile his inheritance of a dilapidated estate with the shifting moral and economic tides of his changing home. This sprawling, deeply felt novel tracks a generation attempting to build a future amidst the haunting ruins of the past.
Katrine: A Novel
Elinor Macartney Lane
A young woman’s glorious voice and unwavering loyalty bridge the divide between two worlds, transforming the lives of the men who love her. This portrait of devotion explores the weight of inheritance and the redemptive power of self-surrender.
Madame De Mauves
Henry James
An American woman’s romantic idealism about French nobility collides with the cold, unfaithful reality of her marriage, trapping her in a stoic struggle between private agony and public duty.
Miscellanies
Ralph Waldo Emerson
These occasional writings offer a window into the evolution of a singular American mind, capturing the moral urgency and intellectual landscape of the nineteenth century through speeches, letters, and public addresses.
Pomona's Travels: A Series of Letters to the Mistress of Rudder Grange from her Former Handmaiden
Frank R. Stockton
A former handmaiden embarks on an exuberant, observational tour of Great Britain, chronicling her encounters with local customs, historical sites, and the eccentricities of travel through a series of spirited letters.
The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 11, No. 64, February, 1863: A Magazine of Literature, Art, and Politics
Various
The intellectual pulse of a fractured nation beats within these pages, capturing the urgency of a country struggling to define its soul during the height of the American Civil War.
The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 20, No. 119, September, 1867: A Magazine of Literature, Science, Art, and Politics
Various
This nineteenth-century periodical serves as a vibrant cultural snapshot, preserving the intellectual pulse, literary anxieties, and post-Civil War temperament of the American Republic in 1867.
The Fifth String
John Philip Sousa
This tale of Faustian ambition explores the high cost of artistic perfection and the volatile nature of love. It follows a gifted violinist who, desperate for transcendence, strikes a bargain that yields both supernatural acclaim and personal ruin.
The Girls of Friendly Terrace
Harriet L. (Harriet Lummis) Smith
The naming of the Terrace was a happy accident, for the street was soon filled with neighborly warmth and the constant, cheerful presence of girls like the vibrant, capable Peggy Raymond.
The Perfume of Eros: A Fifth Avenue Incident
Edgar Saltus
HOOK A sophisticated, cynical portrait of Gilded Age New York where the pursuit of beauty and pleasure leads inevitably to betrayal, courtroom drama, and a mysterious, lingering death.
The Trail of the Tramp: By A-No. 1, the Famous Tramp, Written by Himself from Actual Experiences of His Own Life
A-No. 1
A cautionary tale of two brothers who trade a stable rural life for the perils of the rails, this narrative serves as a stark warning against the siren call of city life. It documents the descent from youthful innocence into a criminal underworld, ultimately charting a difficult path toward redemption and familial…
Westerfelt
Will N. (Will Nathaniel) Harben
The ghosts of past mistakes haunt a man’s pursuit of a new life, turning the quiet valleys of rural Georgia into a landscape of suspicion, violence, and hard-won redemption.
Autres Temps...: 1916
Edith Wharton
A woman who has lived in quiet, long-term exile due to a past divorce returns to New York to find that while her daughter has navigated the city’s changing social codes successfully, the personal cost of her own reputation remains a heavy, inescapable weight.
Bruno
Byrd Spilman Dewey
HOOK A devoted companion bridges the gap between a couple's quiet domestic life and the vast, uncertain world. This story follows a loyal dog through years of shared migration, protection, and profound loss.
Gallegher and Other Stories
Richard Harding Davis
The streets of turn-of-the-century New York serve as both stage and crucible for a vibrant cast of newsboys, socialites, and struggling souls navigating the divide between ambition and despair.
John Inglefield's Thanksgiving: (From: "The Snow Image and Other Twice-Told Tales")
Nathaniel Hawthorne
The return of a lost daughter on a holiday night reveals how easily grief and memory can mask the stark realities of sin. This haunting narrative captures the brief, flickering illusion of redemption within a fractured New England home.
Lonesome Land
B. M. Bower
This is a stark, unvarnished portrait of a woman’s endurance in the unforgiving isolation of the Montana frontier. It captures the bruising intersection of romantic idealism and the harsh, often violent reality of a life lived on the fringes of civilization.
The Cup of Trembling, and Other Stories
Mary Hallock Foote
The frontier of the American West is a place where social conventions fray and personal integrity is tested against the harsh, indifferent landscape. In these tales, the rugged geography of the mountains and the arid plains mirrors the emotional isolation of those who seek to escape their pasts or invent new selves.
The Gorgeous Girl
Nalbro Bartley
A successful businessman marries a beautiful, pampered socialite, only to discover that his wealth cannot bridge the chasm between his workaday reality and her frivolous, aimless world. This study of shifting loyalties explores the hollow cost of keeping up appearances in a marriage built on status rather than…
The Mountain Girl
Payne Erskine
A gentleman from overseas finds an unexpected life in the mountains, where he encounters a woman whose grace challenges his definition of belonging.
The Secret Toll
Paul Thorne
HOOK A determined veteran returns home to find Chicago under siege by a ruthless extortion ring, leading him into a dangerous, amateur investigation where he discovers that the truth is buried beneath local superstition and personal desire.
Their Silver Wedding Journey
William Dean Howells
A middle-aged couple embarks on a European tour to celebrate their silver anniversary, only to find their planned respite from professional burdens repeatedly entangled in the romantic and moral complications of their fellow travelers.
A Life Unveiled, by a Child of the Drumlins
Anonymous
This intimate memoir traces the evolution of a young woman from her rural childhood among the rolling drumlins of New York to her career as a physician in Boston. It is a quiet, contemplative study of how the formative years shape the adult soul.