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American Literature — page 65

3,373 public-domain american literature books, summarised. Page 65 of 71.

Cover of Laughing Last

Laughing Last

Jane Abbott

Fifteen-year-old Sidney Romley wants her fair turn at independence, but a summer on Cape Cod brings her far more than she bargained for, including old shipwrecks, local eccentricities, and real danger on the water.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of Mildred's Inheritance

Mildred's Inheritance

Annie F. (Annie Fellows) Johnston

A young girl’s desperate quest for independence leads to ruinous results, proving that self-will often carries a heavy, unexpected price.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of Miss Ludington's Sister

Miss Ludington's Sister

Edward Bellamy

HOOK A lonely, aging woman finds new purpose when a young man convinces her that her lost youth can be summoned back. This haunting tale explores the boundaries between memory, identity, and the desperate hunger for a second chance.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of Mrs. Cliff's Yacht

Mrs. Cliff's Yacht

Frank R. Stockton

A wealthy widow discovers that sudden, absolute independence is far more complicated and perilous than a life of modest means. She unexpectedly finds herself navigating the high seas to rescue friends from pirates and peril.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of Nobody's Rose

Nobody's Rose

Adele E. Thompson

She runs through the night with a bundle of memories, traded from one harsh world to a softer one, only to discover that her true home is something she must claim for herself.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of On Being Negro in America

On Being Negro in America

J. Saunders (Jay Saunders) Redding

Living as a Black person in America means enduring a constant, exhausting double-consciousness where every private action and public movement is shaped by the unyielding weight of caste and prejudice.

American Literature7 min read
Cover of Quite So

Quite So

Thomas Bailey Aldrich

A quiet schoolmaster from Maine, burdened by a broken heart, finds an unlikely home among soldiers in the American Civil War. His mysterious, stoic presence masks a deep, self-sacrificing devotion that ultimately defines his end.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 16, No. 94, August, 1865: A Magazine of Literature, Art, and Politics

The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 16, No. 94, August, 1865: A Magazine of Literature, Art, and Politics

Various

This issue of a venerable literary magazine captures the fractured spirit of 1865, weaving together the tranquil observations of nature with the visceral, lingering grief of a nation finally emerging from civil war.

American Literature7 min read
Cover of The bride's fate: The sequel to "The changed brides"

The bride's fate: The sequel to "The changed brides"

Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte Southworth

Left behind in America while her highborn husband pursues his inheritance in London, a devoted young mother guards her child and waits for a reconciliation that only heartbreak and scandal can delay.

American Literature7 min read
Cover of The Choice: 1916

The Choice: 1916

Edith Wharton

A stifling summer night becomes a stage for hidden desperation, where the suffocating weight of a loveless marriage leads to a moment of irrevocable, dark decision.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of The Cream of the Jest: A comedy of evasions

The Cream of the Jest: A comedy of evasions

James Branch Cabell

A middle-aged novelist escapes his dull existence by traveling through historic eras via a broken metal disc, only to discover that the magic he seeks was quietly beside him all along.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of The Hermit Of ——— Street: 1898

The Hermit Of ——— Street: 1898

Anna Katharine Green

This mystery of 1898 captures the unsettling intersection of domestic comfort and hidden, high-stakes malice. Through the eyes of an ingenue, a dark secret is slowly unspooled, revealing how a young woman’s romantic fascination with a brooding, mysterious neighbor leads her into a trap of her own making.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of The house with the silver door

The house with the silver door

Eva March Tappan

In the dark or deep in the forest, kindness and plain courage always light the path home.

American Literature7 min read
Cover of The Husbands of Edith

The Husbands of Edith

George Barr McCutcheon

The quiet charm of a European holiday takes an unexpected turn when a man agrees to pose as his best friend, only to find himself entangled in a web of impersonation and romance.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of The Key to Yesterday

The Key to Yesterday

Charles Neville Buck

A celebrated artist, haunted by a forgotten past and a hidden identity, must traverse a dangerous international web to reclaim the woman he loves and the memory of who he truly is.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of The story of Don Miff

The story of Don Miff

Virginius Dabney

Across the fractured landscape of nineteenth-century Virginia, a eccentric narrator weaves a rambling chronicle of music, aristocratic domesticity, and the catastrophic rupture of the Civil War.

American Literature7 min read
Cover of The Wit and Humor of America, Volume IX (of X)

The Wit and Humor of America, Volume IX (of X)

Unknown

These pages capture the idiosyncratic spirit of a bygone era, weaving together the absurd, the sentimental, and the vernacular voices that once defined the American literary landscape.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of An Accidental Honeymoon

An Accidental Honeymoon

Edward Barron

Summer on the Eastern Shore brings together a stranded New York writer and a spirited young woman hiding in plain sight.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of Cities in the air

Cities in the air

Edmond Hamilton

When colossal, anti-gravity metropolises take to the skies, global diplomacy gives way to total aerial devastation across the heavens.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of In and Out

In and Out

Edgar Franklin

A eccentric bachelor tries to force an opportunity onto a street youth, only to find himself trapped in a farce of secret identities, missing heirs, and wild accusations.

American Literature7 min read
Cover of Indian Legends and Other Poems

Indian Legends and Other Poems

Mary Gardiner Horsford

Tragic legends of loss and longing meet domestic quietude in a mid-nineteenth-century volume where mortal lives dissolve quickly into memory, spirit, and star.

American Literature7 min read
Cover of Last Days in a Dutch Hotel (from Literature and Life)

Last Days in a Dutch Hotel (from Literature and Life)

William Dean Howells

A chilly September wind blows across the North Sea as an American traveler lingers through the dying days of the tourist season at a grand resort in Scheveningen.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of Little Nobody

Little Nobody

Miller, Alex. McVeigh, Mrs.

A stolen bride, a shadowy prison, and a legacy of lies clash when a young woman escapes the South only to face heartbreak in the North.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of Maid Sally

Maid Sally

Harriet A. (Harriet Anna) Cheever

A poor, neglected girl hiding in a garden hedge hears a young gentleman reading stories, and that single spark kindles a lifelong determination to educate herself, claim her true heritage, and stand as his equal.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of Minerva's Manoeuvres: The Cheerful Facts of a "Return to Nature"

Minerva's Manoeuvres: The Cheerful Facts of a "Return to Nature"

Charles Battell Loomis

A city couple’s attempt at country living hinges entirely on keeping their terrified, city-loving cook from fleeing back to New York.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of Mr. Achilles

Mr. Achilles

Jennette Lee

A little girl in a bustling American city forms an unlikely bond with a humble Greek fruit-seller, setting off a quiet revolution of empathy that ultimately rescues her from danger.

American Literature7 min read
Cover of Roughing It, Part 2

Roughing It, Part 2

Mark Twain

A sweeping overland journey transforms from a romantic adventure into a dusty test of endurance across the rugged American West.

American Literature7 min read
Cover of Strange stories of the Civil War

Strange stories of the Civil War

John Habberton

A collection of eyewitness accounts reveals the human intensity of the American Civil War through the direct observations of those who lived it.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of Sybil Chase

Sybil Chase

Ann S. (Ann Sophia) Stephens

A ruthless woman manipulates her way back into high society, hiding a past tied to an outlaw husband in the wilds of California to secure the wealthy man she truly desires.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of Taboo: A Legend Retold from the Dirghic of Sævius Nicanor, with

Taboo: A Legend Retold from the Dirghic of Sævius Nicanor, with

James Branch Cabell

A writer facing sudden censorship turns his legal troubles into an intricate, thinly disguised allegory about a society where mentioning food is illegal.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of The Barton Experiment

The Barton Experiment

John Habberton

To change a town, moral speeches matter far less than opening wallets, creating jobs, and doing the messy, daily work of human companionship.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of The Bellamy trial

The Bellamy trial

Frances Noyes Hart

A small-town courtroom turns into an arena of public voyeurism as two respectable lovers stand trial for a brutal midnight murder on a Long Island estate.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of The Fascinating Stranger, and Other Stories

The Fascinating Stranger, and Other Stories

Booth Tarkington

Transient encounters and minor social indignities echo across mid-century America, where youth and vanity routinely collide.

American Literature8 min read
Cover of The Flower of the Chapdelaines

The Flower of the Chapdelaines

George Washington Cable

A sudden, captivating glimpse of a refined young Creole woman in the historic streets of New Orleans sparks a young lawyer's devotion and draws him into a world of vibrant memory, community, and romance.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of The Plague

The Plague

Teddy Keller

A sudden, invisible illness incapacitates the country, leaving a forgotten military office to trace a mystery that evades every standard epidemiological rule.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of The Rising Tide

The Rising Tide

Margaret Wade Campbell Deland

A headstrong young woman’s fierce fight for personal independence crashes into the quiet routines, rigid expectations, and unspoken heartbreaks of her traditional family.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of The Secret Play

The Secret Play

Ralph Henry Barbour

A sidelined teenager with a sharp mind and a quiet will takes the reins of his high school football team, transforming a disorganized squad through intellect, strategy, and sheer tactical patience.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of The Widow O'Callaghan's Boys

The Widow O'Callaghan's Boys

Gulielma Zollinger

Determined to keep her family together after her husband's death, an impoverished Irish widow guides her seven sons through the trials of hard work and self-reliance in a small Midwestern town.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of To the Highest Bidder

To the Highest Bidder

Florence Morse Kingsley

Desperate to clear her late father’s debts and keep her family farm, a proud young woman puts herself up at public auction, only to find the man who buys her contract wants far more than her labor.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of Trial and Triumph

Trial and Triumph

Frances Ellen Watkins Harper

A fiery, orphaned Black girl grows into a determined young woman, fighting racial prejudice and personal heartbreak to build a life of principle, intellect, and moral purpose.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of April twilights, and other poems

April twilights, and other poems

Willa Cather

Longing and memory pulse through these verses, where classical ruins, urban backstreets, and open western plains all mirror the quiet ache of human passage.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of Autumnal leaves: tales and sketches in prose and rhyme

Autumnal leaves: tales and sketches in prose and rhyme

Lydia Maria Child

Tender green shoots push through prairie soil, while human hearts struggle against social constraints, cruelty, and the quiet weight of memory.

American Literature7 min read
Cover of Balaam and His Master, and Other Sketches and Stories

Balaam and His Master, and Other Sketches and Stories

Joel Chandler Harris

A set of regional sketches reveals the Reconstruction South through its quiet acts of loyalty, deep personal rivalries, and tragic misunderstandings.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of Baseball Joe, Captain of the Team

Baseball Joe, Captain of the Team

Lester Chadwick

A veteran star pitcher faces fielding slumps, locker-room sabotage, and personal anxieties while attempting to lead the New York Giants to a National League pennant.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of Gettysburg: Stories of the Red Harvest and the Aftermath

Gettysburg: Stories of the Red Harvest and the Aftermath

Elsie Singmaster

War arrives not as a distant political abstraction, but as a sudden, physical shock that tears through kitchens, shatters quiet pastures, and echoes down through half a century of human memory.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of Ole Mammy's Torment

Ole Mammy's Torment

Annie F. (Annie Fellows) Johnston

A bright, energetic boy tests his grandmother's patience, until a dying mentor's quiet example gives his boundless spirit a lasting, noble purpose.

American Literature7 min read
Cover of On With Torchy

On With Torchy

Sewell Ford

A witty office boy navigates love, work, and mischief in early 20th-century New York.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of Ormond

Ormond

Charles Brockden Brown

An orphaned woman faces ruin, pestilence, and a seductive nihilist who believes his superior intellect exempts him from human morality.

American Literature6 min read
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