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American Literature — page 56
4,848 public-domain american literature books, summarised. Page 56 of 101.
The Efficiency Expert
Edgar Rice Burroughs
A star athlete leaves university to conquer the working world, only to find himself trapped in a web of urban poverty, false accusations, and a murder mystery that threatens his future.
The Life of Nancy
Sarah Orne Jewett
This collection of stories captures the quiet dignity of New England life, where the deepest emotional currents often run beneath the surface of routine. It is a portrait of resilience, finding beauty in the small, enduring connections that sustain people through the long winters of life.
The Train Boy
Alger, Horatio, Jr.
The train boy is a classic archetype of American self-reliance, charting the rise of a virtuous youth through industry, honesty, and a dash of good luck. This narrative follows a young man as he navigates the precarious social and economic landscape of the late 19th-century Midwest.
Zelda Dameron
Meredith Nicholson
A young woman returns home to a changing Midwestern city, navigating the stifling expectations of her father and the encroaching influence of a world shifting from tradition to commerce.
A Texas Blue Bonnet
Caroline Emilia Jacobs
A wild, spirited girl from a Texas ranch struggles to reconcile her love for the open prairie with the structured life of her formal New England relatives.
Devota
Augusta J. (Augusta Jane) Evans
A long-standing misunderstanding between two proud hearts finds its reckoning under the moonlight of a country estate. Thirteen years of silence dissolve as long-held secrets and private griefs finally come to light.
Kathie's Soldiers
Amanda M. Douglas
This story follows a young girl discovering that true courage is found in the quiet, daily commitment to duty, kindness, and faith, rather than in the grand gestures of war.
Michael O'Halloran
Gene Stratton-Porter
The life of a streetwise newsboy changes forever when he adopts an invalid girl, proving that goodness is a principle, not a purchase. This story captures the moral fervor of early 20th-century American optimism.
Running to Waste: The Story of a Tomboy
George M. (George Melville) Baker
A wild-spirited girl finds herself at a crossroads, where she must choose between the aimless freedom of her youth and the structured demands of a maturing life.
Starved Rock
Edgar Lee Masters
Humanity exists in a state of perpetual, restless flux, caught between the desire for eternal connection and the cold certainty that all things—even the most profound passions—must eventually dissolve into change.
The Great Valley
Edgar Lee Masters
A sprawling, ambitious portrait of the American landscape, this collection captures the restless energy of a young nation expanding toward its uncertain future.
The Lawton Girl
Harold Frederic
A sharp-eyed observation of social ambition in a changing American town, where the collision of inherited wealth and industrial strife leaves no life untouched.
The nameless man
Natalie Sumner Lincoln
A haunted man is forced to confront his past when he becomes the primary suspect in two brutal, seemingly impossible murders.
The Two Wives
T. S. (Timothy Shay) Arthur
The struggle between domestic harmony and the corrosive influence of secret habits defines the lives of two households. This narrative explores how the presence or absence of a supportive, self-forgetting partner determines whether a man survives his own worst impulses.
A Colored Man Round the World
David F. Dorr
This 1858 travelogue captures a world in transition through the eyes of a traveler who defies the rigid boundaries of his time. It is a candid, spirited, and often surprising chronicle of mid-19th-century Europe and the Middle East, written with a rare blend of intellectual curiosity and personal defiance.
A Singular Life
Elizabeth Stuart Phelps
The son of a saintly mother and a man of unyielding conviction, a young minister trades the comforts of academic life for the hard, salt-sprayed reality of a fishing town.
An Unofficial Patriot
Helen H. (Helen Hamilton) Gardener
A Southern clergyman faces the impossible moral cost of his conscience, navigating the deep divide of the American Civil War as he attempts to protect his family and his humanity.
Nelly's Silver Mine: A Story of Colorado Life
Helen Hunt Jackson
A resilient young girl finds more than just mineral wealth when her family moves west. This story captures the rugged hope and honest adjustments of frontier life in 19th-century Colorado.
Out of Mulberry Street: Stories of Tenement life in New York City
Jacob A. (Jacob August) Riis
These collected sketches offer a visceral, unvarnished look at the tenement districts of 19th-century New York, where the struggle for survival is punctuated by moments of unexpected grace.
Senator North
Gertrude Franklin Horn Atherton
The heavy, hidden machinery of the American Senate grinds against the personal desires of those who walk its halls, forcing a choice between public duty and private longing.
The Arm-Chair at the Inn
Francis Hopkinson Smith
The warmth of a crackling hearth and the company of seasoned travelers provide the backdrop for a collection of tales that celebrate the enduring power of human connection and the quiet dignity of a life well lived.
The cabin on the prairie
C. H. (Charles Henry) Pearson
A pioneer family seeks a new beginning on the untamed Minnesota frontier, only to find their desperate struggle for survival against nature and hostile forces tests the very limits of their faith and endurance.
The golden whales of California, and other rhymes in the American language
Vachel Lindsay
The American landscape transforms into a mythic stage where gold-crazed pioneers and biblical figures collide in a riotous, rhythmic spectacle. This collection captures the restless, booming energy of a nation finding its own jagged voice.
The Politician Out-Witted
Samuel Low
A young man returns from abroad to win his beloved, only to find his own father meddling in city affairs and attempting to secure a young bride for himself.
The Soldier of the Valley
Nelson Lloyd
A man returns to his secluded mountain home after the chaos of war, seeking peace in a quiet valley, only to find that life—and love—refuse to remain stagnant in his absence.
In League with Israel: A Tale of the Chattanooga Conference
Annie F. (Annie Fellows) Johnston
A young woman’s journey toward faith and reconciliation weaves through the lives of those she meets at a national religious gathering, where the boundaries between tradition, prejudice, and personal conviction begin to dissolve.
Josh Billings on Ice, and Other Things
Josh Billings
The world’s best education is often just the slow, painful process of forgetting what we have already learned. A man who jumps three hundred feet ahead will certainly make a good try, even if he falls short.
No. 13 Washington Square
Leroy Scott
A formidable New York socialite orchestrates an elaborate, secret disappearance from her own home, only to find her sanctuary invaded by an impish con artist who mistakes her for a fellow criminal.
Oliver October
George Barr McCutcheon
HOOK A child is born under a dark prophecy in a small town, and the weight of that predestined hanging shadows his entire life, even as he grows into a man and a soldier.
Peace in Friendship Village
Zona Gale
The quiet rhythms of a small town hold the seeds of a global transformation, revealing how neighborly kindness can reshape the wider world. These stories find the extraordinary tucked within the ordinary lives of villagers.
See America First
Orville O. Hiestand
A traveler’s call to abandon the allure of European landscapes in favor of the overlooked majesty found in the hills, forests, and historic reaches of the American countryside.
Sube Cane
Bellamy Partridge
A twelve-year-old boy attempts to grow a mustache with hair restorer, sparking a series of imaginative and increasingly chaotic schemes in his small town.
The Delafield Affair
Florence Finch Kelly
This is a story of a young man’s crusade for justice in the American West, where the pursuit of a long-buried secret tests the bonds of love, political power, and personal honor.
The Path to Home
Edgar A. (Edgar Albert) Guest
The simple, earnest joys of domestic life form a sanctuary against the world's sorrows. These poems celebrate the quiet heroism found in family devotion and the enduring bonds of a well-lived home.
Whispering Wires
Henry Leverage
A wealthy magnate lies dead in a sealed room, yet no killer can be found. A tenacious detective must untangle a web of malice woven through the city's telephone lines to reveal the impossible truth.
A Soldier's Trial: An Episode of the Canteen Crusade
Charles King
The fragile honor of a soldier is tested when a seductive stranger infiltrates a remote frontier post, threatening the integrity of a widower’s home and the reputation of his fellow officers.
An Everyday Girl: A Story
Amy Ella Blanchard
A young girl, orphaned and adrift, finds her footing in a quiet community where hard work, music, and the discovery of a family legacy reveal that an "everyday" life is anything but ordinary.
Baseball Joe of the Silver Stars
Lester Chadwick
A young boy finds his footing on the pitcher’s mound, balancing the pressures of a small-town baseball rivalry with a dangerous mystery threatening his father’s work.
Helen Ford
Alger, Horatio, Jr.
This story follows a young woman’s determined struggle to support her aging, visionary father while they live in obscurity, eventually uncovering a deep-seated betrayal that restores their rightful place in the world. It is a classic narrative of integrity prevailing over avarice, set against the backdrop of…
Joy in the Morning
Mary Raymond Shipman Andrews
The Great War casts a long, transformative shadow over these narratives, where the courage of ordinary people illuminates the darkness of global conflict. Through tales of sacrifice and spirit, the weight of the night finally gives way to the promise of morning.
Madeline
Mary Jane Holmes
The path to happiness is rarely straightforward, as a young woman discovers when her aspirations for a better life entangle her with a wealthy, complex benefactor and a series of profound family losses.
Mrs. Balfame: A Novel
Gertrude Franklin Horn Atherton
A woman’s long-simmering resentment toward her boorish husband crystallizes into a deadly resolve, leading to a trial that tests the loyalties and moral boundaries of an entire town.
Porgy
DuBose Heyward
In the shadow of a crumbling Charleston tenement, a disabled man finds a brief, transcendent love that defies the crushing weight of his surroundings.
Sheppard Lee, Written by Himself. Vol. 1 (of 2)
Robert Montgomery Bird
A man discovers he possesses the singular, supernatural ability to shed his own skin and inhabit the bodies of others, embarking on a turbulent odyssey through the varied lives of those around him.
The Bradys After a Chinese Princess
Francis Worcester Doughty
A fog-drenched San Francisco bay serves as the stage for a high-stakes hunt, where veteran detectives pursue a elusive criminal mastermind and the captive of a sinister oriental conspiracy.
The Cinder Buggy: A Fable in Iron and Steel
Garet Garrett
A sweeping chronicle of the American steel age, this fable traces the rise of industrial titans and the shifting, often ruinous, human costs of progress.
The Gilded Age, Part 2
Mark Twain
In a landscape defined by hollow promises and sudden, ruinous ambition, a cast of dreamers mistakes the illusions of wealth for the bedrock of destiny.
The Isle of Retribution
Edison Marshall
Hook A spoiled socialite is cast into the brutal wilds of the Arctic, where he must transform from a soft-handed idler into a man of iron to survive his captor and the elements.