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American Literature — page 65
4,848 public-domain american literature books, summarised. Page 65 of 101.
Dick Merriwell's Heroic Players
Burt L. Standish
This installment of the enduring athletic series follows a legendary coach and his protégé as they battle corruption and internal sabotage to secure victory on the baseball diamond and the rowing course.
Gloria
George Frederic Turner
An American expatriate finds himself entangled in the volatile politics of a snowy, Ruritanian-style monarchy, where he must choose between the stability of a weary king and the reckless charisma of a revolutionary princess.
Hazel
Mary White Ovington
A young girl travels from the bustle of Boston to the pine forests of Alabama, discovering a vibrant heritage and a resilient, chosen family along the way.
Hermia Suydam
Gertrude Franklin Horn Atherton
A young woman inherits a fortune and navigates the rigid, suffocating social circles of Gilded Age New York while grappling with her own intense, often destructive, inner life.
Little Foxes
Harriet Beecher Stowe
Small, overlooked habits can quietly dismantle the happiness of even the most loving households.
Mr. Waddy's Return
Theodore Winthrop
Ira Waddy, a man tempered by years of distant travel, returns to the familiar landscapes of New England only to find that his past remains a restless, unquiet companion. He discovers that the quietude of home is merely a surface masking deep-seated secrets and moral conflicts that threaten the peace of those he…
The Ancestral Footstep (fragment): Outlines of an English Romance
Nathaniel Hawthorne
A traveler journeys from the New World to England to reclaim a forgotten inheritance, only to find himself entangled in a web of ancestral obsession, blood-stained secrets, and the clashing identities of two nations.
The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 02, No. 12, October, 1858: A Magazine of Literature, Art, and Politics
Various
This collection of essays, reviews, and narratives captures the intellectual pulse of mid-nineteenth-century America, exploring the intersection of technological progress, human psychology, and the enduring weight of history.
The Beautiful Lady
Booth Tarkington
A man forced by poverty to become a human billboard on the streets of Paris encounters an exquisite woman who offers him the only thing he has left: pity. Bound by shame and social station, he finds that romance and reality are rarely the same.
The circuit rider
Edward Eggleston
This story captures the rigorous, untamed spirit of the American frontier, where the moral landscape is as challenging to navigate as the physical wilderness. It follows a young man’s journey from worldly indecision to a life of committed, self-sacrificing ministry.
The Desired Woman
Will N. (Will Nathaniel) Harben
HOOK A successful banker risks his professional status and personal peace when he becomes infatuated with a young schoolteacher whose rural simplicity clashes with his sophisticated, cynical world.
The Doomswoman: An Historical Romance of Old California
Gertrude Franklin Horn Atherton
A proud, tradition-bound woman finds her world upended when she falls for the man her family considers their sworn enemy. This tale of old California captures a fading culture on the brink of profound change.
The leading lady
Geraldine Bonner
A young actress seeks refuge on a secluded Maine island to escape a notorious scandal, only to find that the past—and a new threat—have followed her into the dark.
The Sorrows of a Show Girl: A Story of the Great "White Way"
Kenneth McGaffey
A breezy, slang-drenched Monologue of New York’s theater district, this episodic novella follows a street-wise chorus girl navigating stage doors, champagne suppers, and erratic suitors. Through her breathless chatter, the book offers a comedic, unvarnished portrait of turn-of-the-century Broadway life.
The Story of a Play: A Novel
William Dean Howells
The creative friction between an idealistic playwright and a vain, mercurial star reveals how artistic integrity often survives only through the compromises of the theater.
Toppleton's Client
John Kendrick Bangs
A wealthy, aimless young lawyer discovers his new office is occupied by a displaced spirit, leading to a comedic, high-stakes negotiation involving stolen bodies, social climbing, and the burden of aristocratic secrets.
Trolley Folly
Henry Wallace Phillips
This collection of American short fiction captures the rough-and-tumble spirit of the frontier through a series of tall tales, humorous misadventures, and sardonic observations on life in the early 1900s.
When Sarah Saved the Day
Elsie Singmaster
Sarah Wenner is a fifteen-year-old girl shouldering the responsibility of a household after the deaths of her parents. When her unscrupulous uncle moves to seize the family farm and separate her from her siblings, Sarah fights to keep their home intact.
Wild Wings: A Romance of Youth
Margaret Piper Chalmers
The transition from late adolescence to early adulthood is rarely a straight line, marked instead by impulsive choices, hidden identities, and the bittersweet realization that the people we love are not who we imagined.
Zina: the Slave Girl
A. (Augustin) Thompson
This drama unfolds in the volatile landscape of the American Civil War, where the paths of soldiers, slave traders, and captives collide in a desperate struggle for liberation and vengeance. It captures the raw, often jarring shift between the grim realities of the battlefield and the personal, high-stakes…
A Modern Madonna
Caroline Abbot Stanley
A young widow finds her life’s purpose in the fierce protection of her son, only to be drawn into a high-stakes legal battle against her late husband's brother for custody of the child.
Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue at Aunt Lu's City Home
Laura Lee Hope
Join Bunny Brown and his sister Sue on their adventures in the city, where they explore, make friends, and learn valuable lessons.
Graham's Magazine, Vol. XXXVI, No. 4, April 1850
Various
This nineteenth-century periodical offers a fascinating, multifaceted window into the cultural landscape of 1850. It serves as a curated collection of contemporary fiction, historical biography, poetry, and social commentary.
Lemorne Versus Huell
Elizabeth Stoddard
A suppressed music teacher is drawn into an unsettling romance with her formidable aunt’s opposing legal counsel during a tense summer resort stay.
Nick Carter Stories No. 131, March 13, 1915: A fatal message
Nicholas (House name) Carter
A sharp-eyed detective intercepts a coded message, pulling a loose thread that unravels a dangerous conspiracy of train robbers and cutthroats. Through wits and clever disguises, he maneuvers his adversaries into a trap of their own making.
Poem Outlines
Sidney Lanier
The artist is one who walks lonesome among a thousand friends, capturing flashes of unearthly brilliance in the nets of thought before they vanish into the common prose of daily survival.
The Amateur
Richard Harding Davis
This story follows a self-styled detective who prides himself on his keen observation but finds his expertise challenged when he attempts to play matchmaker for a mysterious, beautiful stranger. It is a sharp, ironic look at the thin line between confidence and gullibility.
The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 07, No. 42, April, 1861: A Magazine of Literature, Art, and Politics
Various
This collection captures the American pulse in April 1861, standing at the precipice of the Civil War with a blend of literary reflection, political urgency, and observation of a fractured landscape.
The Indian queen
Ann S. (Ann Sophia) Stephens
A woman of fierce, unyielding ambition asserts herself as a prophet and queen among the Iroquois, manipulating tribal loyalties to satisfy a deep-seated, vengeful thirst for power.
The Memoirs of a Failure: with an Account of the Man and His Manuscript
Daniel Wright Kittredge
The life of William Wirt Dunlevy is a quiet, agonizing riddle, presented through the eyes of an acquaintance who tries to piece together the fractured soul of a man the world dismissed as a failure.
The official chaperon
Natalie Sumner Lincoln
When a series of petty thefts plagues Washington’s elite, a young woman finds her reputation held hostage by a web of social pretension and criminal suspicion.
The Staircase At The Heart's Delight: 1894
Anna Katharine Green
A nameless young detective confronts a lethal urban conspiracy, risking his life to navigate a hidden mechanism of death. He survives a plunge into the icy river to expose a criminal enterprise operating in the shadows of 1840s New York.
The Tragedy of Wild River Valley
Martha Finley
A veteran’s return to his childhood cabin ignites a cycle of violence and greed in a quiet valley, challenging the moral resolve of a family struggling to preserve their farm and their future.
The Young Pitcher
Zane Grey
A young freshman endures relentless hazing and loneliness at a vast university, discovering his identity and purpose when he earns a spot on the school's struggling baseball team.
Vistas of New York
Brander Matthews
This collection of stories captures the shifting, restless energy of late nineteenth-century Manhattan, offering a series of intimate vignettes that serve as a social history of a city in transition. These tales function as literary snapshots, preserving the vanished rhythms of a metropolis that was rapidly…
Winona
Pauline E. (Pauline Elizabeth) Hopkins
A young woman and her brother are suddenly plunged into the brutal violence of the American slave system, setting off a desperate struggle for justice and identity that spans continents.
Yellow Star: A Story of East and West
Elaine Goodale Eastman
A young woman caught between two worlds searches for her place, ultimately discovering that the true nature of home is found not in geography, but in the steadfast kindness she offers to others.
Across the Fruited Plain
Florence Crannell Means
Roughly one million farm workers follow the harvest up and down the country, but for one displaced family, survival rests on keeping their jalopy running and finding a place to call home.
Alamo Ranch: A Story of New Mexico
Sarah Warner Brooks
In a remote New Mexico sanitarium, a group of ailing strangers forms a club to combat despair with intellectual curiosity and camaraderie. This gentle narrative weaves together personal recovery and local history under the vast desert sky.
Beadle's Dime National Speaker, Embodying Gems of Oratory and Wit, Particularly Adapted to American Schools and Firesides: Speaker Series Number 2, Revised and Enlarged Edition
Unknown
This collection of oratory and verse serves as a historical vessel for mid-nineteenth-century American values, designed to sharpen the public speaking skills of students and citizens alike.
Beautiful Joe: An Autobiography
Marshall Saunders
This narrative invites you to experience the world through the eyes of a dog who learns that kindness is the strongest force in nature. It is a gentle, earnest call for compassion toward all living beings.
Five Little Peppers Grown Up
Margaret Sidney
Childhood friends navigate the complexities of adulthood, balancing the demands of their wealthy benefactors against the enduring, humble values of their past.
Flood Tide
Sara Ware Bassett
Hook A small Cape Cod fishing village finds its quiet rhythm disrupted by a gentle inventor and a city-bred newcomer, setting the stage for a tender, unfolding romance.
Grandmother: The Story of a Life That Never Was Lived
Laura Elizabeth Howe Richards
A young, ethereal woman arrives in a quiet village as the bride of an elderly man, finding her true purpose only through a life of selfless devotion and quiet resilience.
Heart's Kindred
Zona Gale
A solitary, restless man of the wilderness finds his life transformed when he encounters a woman fleeing a violent past, leading them both to the heart of a world at war.
In the Clutch of the War-God
Milo Hastings
After a Japanese invasion exposes the physical and moral decay of a stagnant America, a young woman caught between two worlds helps usher in a radical transformation of her nation’s future.
Mrs. Red Pepper
Grace S. (Grace Smith) Richmond
A devoted physician and his vibrant wife navigate the complexities of professional dedication and personal intimacy in the quiet, atmospheric charm of early twentieth-century village life.
Old Mission Stories of California
Charles Franklin Carter
This collection of seven short stories captures the twilight of the Spanish mission era in California, reflecting on a landscape and a culture caught in the inexorable grip of change. Through a series of vignettes featuring both historical figures and fictional archetypes, the prose recreates a vanished world of…