Free summaries
American Literature — page 6
372 public-domain american literature books, summarised. Page 6 of 8.
A Beautiful Alien
Julia Magruder
This is a story of a woman trapped in an unhappy marriage who finds an unexpected soulmate. It explores the tension between duty and personal happiness in the rigid social landscape of the turn of the century.
Sonnie-Boy's People
James B. (James Brendan) Connolly
These tales of the sea and the men who navigate its moral and physical depths capture a vanishing era of rugged maritime adventure and quiet, desperate heroism.
Tales of a Wayside Inn
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
A gathering of friends at an old Massachusetts inn shares stories to pass the time, echoing the timeless tradition of oral storytelling. These varied narratives bridge the gap between history, legend, and the personal heart.
This Side of Paradise
F. Scott (Francis Scott) Fitzgerald
This portrait of a young man’s restless journey through the golden promise of the twentieth century captures the exquisite, aching transition from the innocence of youth to the stark realities of an adult world.
The Biography of a Grizzly
Ernest Thompson Seton
The life of a legendary grizzly bear unfolds in the rugged wilderness, where he transforms from a terrified cub into a lonely monarch of the mountains, only to face the inevitable decline of age and displacement.
The Loyalist: A Story of the American Revolution
James Francis Barrett
The American Revolution is not merely a clash of armies, but a crucible for the soul, where personal loyalties and religious conviction ultimately determine the fate of a fledgling nation.
Make or Break
Oliver Optic
The resolute spirit of a young mechanic defines this story of upward mobility, where mechanical ingenuity and unwavering moral integrity serve as the primary currency in a world of rigid class distinctions and shifting fortunes.
The Lion's Mouse
C. N. (Charles Norris) Williamson
A chance encounter on a train leads to a high-stakes web of jewel theft, political conspiracy, and hidden identities. This fast-moving story blurs the line between protector and criminal in a breathless race across New York.
2 B R 0 2 B
Kurt Vonnegut
The future is a perfect garden where death is a voluntary, administrative convenience. In a world with no poverty, war, or aging, the only way to make room for a new life is to offer up an old one.
It's like this, cat
Emily Neville
HOOK A boy in Manhattan navigates the quiet complexities of family and friendship, anchored by the unpredictable spirit of his cat.
Nights With Uncle Remus
Joel Chandler Harris
In these Georgia plantation tales, an elderly storyteller guides a young boy through a rich, mythic world where clever animals outwit their larger, more powerful neighbors.
Mosses from an old manse
Nathaniel Hawthorne
This collection of tales explores the hidden depths of the human heart, where the boundary between the material world and the realm of shadows frequently dissolves into moral uncertainty.
Before the Dawn: A Story of the Fall of Richmond
Joseph A. (Joseph Alexander) Altsheler
The crumbling Confederacy provides the backdrop for a story of shifting loyalties and quiet endurance, where the heavy weight of war forces individuals to choose between their personal convictions and the crumbling world around them.
Little Grandfather
Sophie May
HOOK A young boy’s impulsive decision to run away from home reveals the deep, invisible tether of family love that eventually brings him back to himself.
In Apple-Blossom Time: A Fairy-Tale to Date
Clara Louise Burnham
A young woman escapes a predatory guardian to find refuge with a shopkeeper, only to discover that her liberation requires the help of an unlikely pilot who descends from the sky to rescue her.
Six Girls: A Home Story
Fannie Belle Irving
This is a domestic chronicle of six sisters navigating the transition from comfortable middle-class security to the hard realities of sudden poverty. It is a portrait of a family weathering professional failure, illness, and the slow, often painful process of coming of age.
Stories of Authors, British and American
Edwin Watts Chubb
Great writers are often best understood not through their formal histories, but through the small, human habits that shaped their daily lives. This collection of biographical sketches invites readers to see the person behind the page.
The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 20, No. 122, December, 1867: A Magazine of Literature, Science, Art, and Politics
Various
Beyond the bustle of the nineteenth-century parlor, the silent depths of limestone caverns, and the precise mechanics of the telegraph, a world of intellectual ambition and quiet domesticity unfolds. This collection captures the pulse of a transformative era, weaving together the intimate complexities of human…
In Her Own Right
John Reed Scott
HOOK A gentleman inherits a mysterious estate, only to find himself entangled in a high-stakes search for buried pirate gold and the affections of a captivating heiress.
A Little Traitor to the South: A War Time Comedy with a Tragic Interlude
Cyrus Townsend Brady
The honor of the South and the unpredictable nature of the human heart collide in this tense, atmospheric story set within the besieged city of Charleston.
The Beautiful and Damned
F. Scott (Francis Scott) Fitzgerald
The victor belongs to the spoils, but the spoils are often hollow. This haunting portrait of aimlessness tracks the slow disintegration of a young couple who mistake their beauty and privilege for a life purpose.
Murder in the Gunroom
H. Beam Piper
A private detective, himself a connoisseur of antique firearms, is hired to appraise a collection, only to find himself untangling a cold-blooded murder hidden behind a facade of high-society respectability.
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin
This narrative serves as a quintessential guide to self-improvement, offering a candid, pragmatic look at the life of one of history’s most influential figures as he transforms from a runaway apprentice into a statesman.
The Complete Poetical Works of Edgar Allan Poe: Including Essays on Poetry
Edgar Allan Poe
A master of the macabre and the melancholic, this collection gathers the lyrical output of a singular American voice. It presents a haunting vision where beauty and loss are forever locked in a mournful embrace.
Talks To Teachers On Psychology
William James
Psychology is not a cold science of labels, but the study of the living, breathing stream of consciousness we all experience. Understanding how we learn, act, and find purpose is the teacher’s greatest tool.
The Wall Between
Sara Ware Bassett
A long-standing feud between two New Hampshire neighbors crumbles when an unexpected guest bridges the divide, proving that even the most stubborn traditions of hate cannot withstand the warmth of genuine connection.
Mary Jane's City Home
Clara Ingram Judson
The Merrill family trades the familiarity of their old home for the bustling, concrete expanse of Chicago. Through the eyes of young Mary Jane, the city becomes a landscape of endless discovery, from neighborhood backyards to expansive public parks.
The Madigans
Miriam Michelson
A household of motherless sisters navigates the trials of childhood in a rough-and-tumble Nevada mining town, perpetually at war with their own eccentricities and the rigid expectations of their social superiors.
The House of Mirth
Edith Wharton
A woman of extraordinary beauty discovers that her social grace is a currency that depreciates with time. She must navigate a ruthless elite that offers comfort only as long as she remains useful.
A Chosen Few: Short Stories
Frank R. Stockton
These tales explore the uncanny intersections of ordinary life and the absurd, where gravity can be switched off and a simple trip to a dry-goods store spirals into domestic catastrophe.
Flip's "Islands of Providence"
Annie F. (Annie Fellows) Johnston
The shifting tides of fortune are merely hidden stepping stones to those who trust in the unseen, a truth learned by a young man facing his first, most bitter trials.
On the Stairs
Henry Blake Fuller
The passage of time reveals everything. In a world shifting from the rigid hierarchies of the nineteenth century to the modern era, two men trace diverging paths of status, vitality, and influence.
The Cheerful Smugglers
Ellis Parker Butler
A domestic experiment in taxation turns a happy household into a den of petty spies, proving that even the most well-meaning rules can dismantle the peace they were intended to protect.
Rootabaga Stories
Carl Sandburg
Rootabaga Stories offers a sprawling, imaginative landscape where logic bends to the whims of the wind and nonsense serves as a map for the soul. These American fairy tales reclaim wonder from the mundane, transforming the ordinary into the extraordinary.
The American Credo: A Contribution Toward the Interpretation of the National Mind
H. L. (Henry Louis) Mencken
The national psyche is a repository of folklore, prejudice, and half-baked axioms that we accept as absolute truth without ever pausing to verify them.
Patty's Friends
Carolyn Wells
HOOK A young traveler’s sharp wit and penchant for puzzles transform a series of social calls into a high-stakes search for a hidden family inheritance.
Marcia Schuyler
Grace Livingston Hill
A young woman finds herself thrust into a sudden, unexpected marriage to a man grieving for her runaway sister. This narrative of quiet duty and eventual redemption explores the shifting boundaries between obligation and true affection.
A Man of Two Countries
Alice Harriman
In the raw, unsettled expanse of the American Northwest, one man’s quiet integrity battles a rising tide of political corruption and the ghosts of a vanishing frontier.
Essays
Ralph Waldo Emerson
The human spirit is a vast, unmapped territory waiting to be claimed by the individual. These observations serve as a map for anyone seeking to live with authenticity in an age of imitation.
Tabitha at Ivy Hall
Ruth Brown MacArthur
HOOK A headstrong girl with a flair for poetry and a heavy burden of family resentment finds her own strength when sent away to a boarding school that feels like a second home.
Pollyanna
Eleanor H. (Eleanor Hodgman) Porter
A young orphan arrives in a stern New England town and transforms the lives of its weary inhabitants by teaching them a simple, insistent game of finding reasons to be glad. This enduring story explores the power of perspective to heal deep-seated bitterness.
Chester Rand
Alger, Horatio, Jr.
A hardworking country youth pursues his dream of becoming a successful artist in New York, proving that talent and integrity can overcome both poverty and the schemes of dishonest men.
Otherwise Phyllis
Meredith Nicholson
Phyllis Kirkwood navigates small-town scandal, fractured families, and local financial schemes in turn-of-the-century Indiana with unflagging wit, resourcefulness, and independence.
Macaria
Augusta J. (Augusta Jane) Evans
A story of duty, heartbreak, and the quiet resilience of the human spirit amidst the crumbling foundations of a world at war.
The Story of Leather
Sara Ware Bassett
The industrial landscape of the early twentieth century serves as the crucible for a privileged, failing student who finds his character through the manual labor of a family tannery.
The Love Affairs of an Old Maid
Lilian Bell
A sharp-witted observer of social manners navigates the romantic entanglements and fragile illusions of her peers, finding that the status of an "old maid" provides the perfect vantage point for witnessing the truths of others.
Little Lost Sister
Virginia Brooks
HOOK Driven by the desperate need for companionship, young women are easily ensnared by those who profit from human misery. This story follows one woman's crusade to rescue the vulnerable from a predatory underworld.
An Anarchist Woman
Hutchins Hapgood
A young woman from the margins of Chicago society finds her life irrevocably altered by a charismatic, radical intellectual who introduces her to the dangerous, exhilarating world of anarchism.