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American Literature — page 72
3,593 public-domain american literature books, summarised. Page 72 of 75.
Abijah's Bubble
Francis Hopkinson Smith
HOOK A small-town postmistress pins her hopes on a speculative copper scheme, only to learn the cruel cost of chasing a dream built on borrowed money.
Clark's Field
Robert Herrick
A young girl is plucked from obscurity when a forgotten, derelict plot of land in her family’s name unexpectedly becomes a fortune. What follows is a quiet, piercing examination of wealth, agency, and the moral vacuum of privilege.
Indian Summer
Emily Grant Hutchings
The late-blooming of a woman’s spirit, long suppressed by the expectations of duty and the rigid conventions of a Midwestern college town, finally finds its season. This story captures the ache of a life half-lived and the transformative power of a quiet, unexpected connection.
Mrs. Farrell
William Dean Howells
A young widow’s restless search for meaning entangles two devoted friends in a psychological web, forcing them to confront the fragile boundaries of loyalty, desire, and self-deception in a quiet summer retreat.
Patty Blossom
Carolyn Wells
Patty Fairfield, a spirited young socialite with a penchant for high-spirited mischief, navigates the complexities of courtship and the demands of high society. As she finds herself caught between the persistent, earnest attentions of two very different men, she must determine where her own heart truly lies.
The Crime of the French Café and Other Stories
Nicholas (House name) Carter
The mystery of a waiter fleeing a quiet restaurant sets a master detective on a trail through the dark streets and shadowed gardens of old New York. Nothing is as it appears when death, diamonds, and double-crosses converge.
'way down in Lonesome Cove: 1895
Charles Egbert Craddock
The rugged, isolated life of a mountain ranger and his family is shattered when a long-simmering grudge over a missing horse turns a quiet community into a powder keg of suspicion and impending violence.
Aunt Jane's Nieces at Work
L. Frank (Lyman Frank) Baum
A spirited cast of city dwellers descends upon a rural district to disrupt a corrupt political machine and solve a haunting family mystery.
Baseball Joe at Yale
Lester Chadwick
A young pitcher trades his small-town diamond for the prestige of an Ivy League campus, only to find that the hardest battles aren't always played on the mound.
Bear Brownie: The Life of a Bear
Harry Perry Robinson
This narrative offers a poignant, firsthand perspective on the natural world, capturing the transition from the innocence of cubhood to the solitary, hard-won wisdom of a mountain bear. It is an intimate study of survival, family, and the encroaching shadow of human civilization.
Bressant: A Novel
Julian Hawthorne
A cold, brilliant intellectual experiment collides with the messy, inconvenient realities of the human heart. This story tracks the dangerous results of a social and emotional upbringing conducted in a vacuum.
Chicago, Satan's Sanctum
L. O. Curon
Chicago at the dawn of the twentieth century was a city defined by an unholy alliance between its municipal government and a sprawling, protected underworld. This investigation chronicles how the levers of law and order were systematically dismantled for profit.
Down at Caxton's
William A. McDermott
A collection of literary portraits and social commentary, this volume captures a specific moment in late 19th-century American intellectual life through the eyes of a devout and observant physician.
Frank Merriwell's Diamond Foes
Burt L. Standish
The quintessential American sports hero, Frank "Chip" Merriwell, Jr., faces down corrupt rivals and personal peril to prove that character is the ultimate winning strategy on and off the baseball diamond.
Harper's Young People, January 18, 1881: An Illustrated Monthly
Various
This illustrated monthly periodical served as a vital community hub for nineteenth-century American youth, blending moral instruction, historical sketches, and whimsical fiction into a singular, cohesive experience of late-Victorian childhood.
Hubert's Wife: A Story for You
Minnie Mary Lee
The path that seems right to a man may lead to death, but for those who wander, the journey back toward grace often begins in the quiet wreckage of worldly expectation. This narrative traces the lives of a Southern family navigating the shifting landscapes of faith, marriage, and personal transformation.
In the swim
Richard Savage
This is a sharp-edged, cynical portrait of Gilded Age New York, where social climbing and financial speculation are blood sports played in the boardrooms and ballrooms of the elite. It serves as a grim cautionary tale about the volatility of wealth and the hollowness of high society.
Life on the Mississippi, Part 9
Mark Twain
The Mississippi River is a living, treacherous, and ever-changing character, viewed through the eyes of a man who once navigated its pulse and later returned to measure its transformation.
Lippincott's Magazine, October 1885
Various
This collection captures the restless, observational spirit of the late nineteenth century through a mosaic of travel, social commentary, and fiction. It offers a candid glimpse into an era defined by expansion and shifting cultural boundaries.
Loveliness: A Story
Elizabeth Stuart Phelps
A silver-haired terrier and a frail, beloved child are bound by an unbreakable devotion, until a dark, hidden threat from the world of science tears them apart. This poignant story explores the profound, unspoken language of love between a small girl and her devoted protector.
Making the House a Home
Edgar A. (Edgar Albert) Guest
A house is merely a building of brick and mortar, but a home is a sanctuary forged through the crucible of shared joy, persistent struggle, and the indelible marks left by those we love.
My Terminal Moraine: 1892
Frank R. Stockton
A young man turns his fortunes around by discovering a hidden relic of the Ice Age beneath his family estate. What begins as a search for prosperity ends as an unlikely tale of survival and romance.
Punchinello, Volume 1, No. 12, June 18, 1870
Various
This weekly periodical captures the sharp, satirical pulse of Gilded Age New York through a kaleidoscopic blend of burlesque serials, political lampoons, and relentless advertisements.
Recollections of Europe
James Fenimore Cooper
A traveler’s candid observations on the social customs and landscapes of Europe, reflecting the shifting perceptions of an American abroad in the early nineteenth century.
Retrospective exhibition of important works of John Singer Sargent, February 23rd to March 22nd, 1924
Grand Central Art Galleries
This archival record captures a pivotal moment in American art history, documenting a landmark 1924 exhibition that celebrated the definitive master of his era. It serves as both a historical catalog and a testament to the prestige surrounding one of the most significant portraitists of the twentieth century.
Snow-Blind
Katharine Newlin Burt
In a landscape of blinding, eternal snow, a fugitive hiding from his past finds his fragile, isolated world shattered by the arrival of a woman who forces him to confront his own deception.
Stories by American Authors, Volume 9
Various
This anthology captures the distinct, often melancholic atmosphere of late 19th-century American life, tracing the quiet tensions of rural communities, the lingering echoes of the Civil War, and the solitude of those living on the fringes of society. It is a collection that prizes character study and emotional…
The Associate Hermits
Frank R. Stockton
A party of suburban vacationers ventures into the deep woods to find peace, only to discover that their notions of independence and romantic solitude are far more complicated than the wilderness itself.
The green bay tree
Louis Bromfield
Caught between the dying traditions of the American frontier and the allure of a sophisticated European life, two sisters navigate the crushing indifference of a world reshaped by industrial greed.
The Sleeping-Car: A Farce
William Dean Howells
A comedy of errors unfolding within the cramped, curtained confines of a moving train, this brief play captures the mounting frustrations of a sleepless night. It relies on the absurdity of mistaken identities and the inevitable friction that arises when exhausted strangers are forced into close quarters.
The White Flag
Gene Stratton-Porter
The pride and greed of a small town’s most powerful man unravel in a slow, inevitable reckoning, leaving his victims to build new lives from the ruins of his legacy.
Under the Skylights
Henry Blake Fuller
This collection of three interconnected stories captures the frantic, often farcical collision between high-minded artistic aspiration and the cold, unyielding realities of turn-of-the-century urban commerce. It is a sharp, witty observation of how integrity, vanity, and money dance in the shadow of big-city ambition.
A Belated Guest (from Literary Friends and Acquaintance)
William Dean Howells
The privilege of recording the past is a heavy burden, as the historian risks turning sweet, private memories into a public duty that may wear out its welcome with an increasingly hurried world.
A Melody in Silver
Keene Abbott
A tender, atmospheric portrait of a young boy’s growing independence and the quiet, complex dance of love between him and the devoted woman who raised him.
Calumet "K"
Samuel Merwin
The rush to complete a massive grain elevator against a brutal deadline pushes men to their physical and psychological limits. This intense, industrial drama captures the raw collision of engineering ambition, labor strife, and human connection.
Doom of the House of Duryea
Earl Peirce
A long-estranged father and son attempt to reconcile in the Maine woods, only to find themselves trapped by a centuries-old, blood-drinking family curse that defies rational explanation.
Father Brighthopes
J. T. (John Townsend) Trowbridge
A gentle, wandering clergyman brings sunlight into a bustling farmhouse, teaching a young family that the true spirit of religion is found in kindness, contentment, and a deep appreciation for the natural world.
Get Next!
George V. (George Vere) Hobart
Getting swept up in the frenetic, slang-heavy rhythms of early twentieth-century New York is a dizzying experience. This collection of humorous sketches offers a satirical look at a city obsessed with status, fads, and the relentless pursuit of the next big thing.
How Deacon Tubman and Parson Whitney Kept New Year's: And Other Stories
W. H. H. (William Henry Harrison) Murray
The shifting moods of the human heart find their truest reflection in the wild, whether on a bustling village street or deep within the silent, pine-shadowed woods. These tales navigate the intersections of joy, justice, and the quiet dignity of a life well-lived.
Hugh Worthington
Mary Jane Holmes
The shifting fortunes of a Kentucky household and the quiet, enduring strength of the people caught in its orbit reveal that true character is often found far from the comforts of wealth.
Nick Carter Stories No. 146, June 26, 1915: Paying the Price
Nicholas (House name) Carter
The city of Washington finds itself under the shadow of a dark intrigue, where a priest’s murder and a government conspiracy converge. A legendary investigator must peel back the layers of a deception that threatens the very heart of the capital.
Plane and Plank
Oliver Optic
A young man seeks his fortune as a carpenter in St. Louis, only to discover that the wreckage of his own family’s past lies hidden within the city's dark, gambling-filled underbelly.
Provença
Ezra Pound
A young man wanders the landscape of history, his voice shifting between the weary wisdom of an ancient exile and the sharp, defiant blade of a medieval troubadour. This is a collection of voices—a mask-play where the past is not a museum piece but a living, breathing fire.
Roughing It, Part 3
Mark Twain
The American West is a vast, unforgiving stage where fortune is a phantom and reality is often stranger than the myths built to contain it. This account chronicles the misadventures of a tenderfoot lured by the promise of silver, capturing the transition from wide-eyed optimism to the sobering, often absurd, grind…
The Big Blue Soldier
Grace Livingston Hill
A weary veteran of the Great War finds unexpected sanctuary in a stranger’s home, where a quiet act of kindness bridges the divide between his cynical past and a hopeful, unforeseen future.
The Cost
David Graham Phillips
A woman’s choice between two radically different men becomes a quiet, decades-long battle for her selfhood.
The Day of the Beast
Zane Grey
This story of a shell-shocked veteran struggling to reconcile his wartime sacrifices with a rapidly changing home front offers a sobering look at post-1918 American disillusionment. It is a portrait of a man searching for meaning in a society he no longer recognizes as his own.
The Glebe 1914/03 (Vol. 1, No. 6): Erna Vitek
Alfred Kreymborg
A young waitress finds herself the subject of an intellectual experiment by three men who seek to categorize her moral character, only to discover that her true nature defies their narrow definitions. This brisk, provocative narrative captures the tensions of early 20th-century urban life through the lens of a…