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American Literature — page 73
3,593 public-domain american literature books, summarised. Page 73 of 75.
The Great Pearl Secret
C. N. (Charles Norris) Williamson
A newlywed Duchess discovers her husband’s legendary Tsarina pearls are counterfeit, sparking a desperate, high-stakes hunt through the elite social circles and shadowy underworlds of 1920s New York.
The New Boys at Oakdale
Morgan Scott
A high-stakes baseball rivalry at Oakdale Academy turns into a harrowing test of character when a secret poker game leads to a student’s disappearance and a desperate, guilt-ridden search.
The Sheriffs Bluff: 1908
Thomas Nelson Page
A lighthearted Southern politician meets his match in a stern, principled woman, proving that even a master of the bluff can be outplayed when his past antics finally come due.
The Third Alarm: A Story of the New York Fire Department
James L. (James Lauren) Ford
A young boy finds his purpose among the clanging bells and thundering engines of the New York Fire Department, only to discover his own mysterious past hidden within the city’s shadows.
The Transgressors. Story of a Great Sin. A Political Novel of the Twentieth Century
Francis A. (Francis Alexandre) Adams
Political upheaval and moral reckoning collide in this urgent, turn-of-the-century drama of class conflict and systemic corruption. A principled lawyer rises to challenge the entrenched power of industrial monopolies, leading a nation toward a new era.
The West from a car window
Richard Harding Davis
The West is a vast, unfinished, and rugged expanse that offers grand scenery and endless hope to the dreamer, but it remains a place best visited rather than permanently inhabited.
Two Prisoners
Thomas Nelson Page
The story of two lonely souls separated by class but united by suffering, this tale explores how a single act of compassion can bridge the widest divides.
Clemence
Retta B. Babcock
A young woman of refinement is thrust into poverty and tasked with the difficult life of a governess, only to find that her true challenges lie in the cold judgment of a small-minded community.
Deserted: 1898
Edward Bellamy
A cross-country train journey across the Nevada desert turns into a high-stakes survival ordeal when two companions are accidentally left behind in the wilderness. Their struggle against the elements and a band of onlookers becomes an unlikely test of their budding romance.
Friendship and Folly: A Novel
Maria Louise Pool
The volatile intersection of love, duty, and social expectation reveals how easily the heart’s most reckless impulses can dismantle the lives of those caught in their path.
From the Easy Chair, Volume 2
George William Curtis
With a gentle wit and a moral compass set firmly to the nineteenth century, these observations capture the vanishing pulse of an evolving America. They offer a window into a world where public character was still a subject for serious, if conversational, inquiry.
John L. Stoddard's Lectures, Vol. 10 (of 10): Southern California
John L. (John Lawson) Stoddard
This travelogue captures the awe of the American West at the turn of the twentieth century, guiding readers through the stark deserts, volcanic wonders, and majestic canyons of a landscape still finding its place in the national imagination.
Life on the Mississippi, Part 11
Mark Twain
The river remains, but the people who once defined its banks have drifted into memory, leaving behind a world transformed by the passage of time and the erosion of innocence.
Marjorie in Command
Carolyn Wells
A temporary family upheaval tests the resourcefulness of four siblings left to manage their household. Their spirited attempts to balance duty, play, and unconventional charity define this tale of childhood independence.
Pitcher Pollock
Christy Mathewson
A young boy finds his footing in a new town through the combined rigors of a hardware store apprenticeship and the high-stakes world of high school baseball.
Red Head and Whistle Breeches
Ellis Parker Butler
The story follows a man named Mike Murphy, who travels to the state capital to plead for his son’s pardon. He is shocked to discover that the Governor is a childhood rival from his own school days.
Rena's experiment
Mary Jane Holmes
Two young cousins orchestrate a masquerade to win a wealthy inheritance, only to find that their elaborate deception unravels under the weight of genuine feeling and an eccentric, life-altering will.
The Confessions of Artemas Quibble: Being the Ingenuous and Unvarnished History of Artemas Quibble, Esquire, One-Time Practitioner in the New York Criminal Courts, Together with an Account of the Divers Wiles, Tricks, Sophistries, Technicalities, and Sundry Artifices of Himself and Others of the Fraternity, Commonly Yclept "Shysters" or "Shyster Lawyers"
Arthur Cheney Train
A young man abandons his aspirations for an honorable legal career to become a "shyster," discovering that in the New York criminal courts, success relies more on artifice than on the law.
The Draw
Jerome Bixby
The small-town sheriff faces an impossible gunslinger, a boy whose weapon appears in his hand before he can physically reach for it. This tale explores the intersection of human ego and the dormant, terrifying power of the mind.
The Fortune Hunter
David Graham Phillips
A master of pretense meets his match in the quiet, earnest virtues of a community that values labor over performance. This story chronicles the collision between a hollow, self-dramatizing charlatan and the people whose lives he temporarily unravels.
The happiest time of their lives
Alice Duer Miller
The search for authentic connection in a world of social artifice drives this insightful exploration of love, marriage, and the shifting power dynamics between generations in high-society New York.
The Knickerbocker, Vol. 22, No. 1, July 1843
Various
This issue of a prominent nineteenth-century literary magazine captures the intellectual pulse of 1843, blending serialized fiction, poetry, and social commentary into a vibrant portrait of the American Victorian sensibility.
The Preliminaries, and Other Stories
Cornelia A. P. (Cornelia Atwood Pratt) Comer
Choosing between personal freedom and the enduring obligations of family is a delicate, often painful business. These stories explore the weight of inheritance, the cost of individual desire, and the quiet, heavy necessity of staying true to one's own.
The Vision of Elijah Berl
Frank Lewis Nason
A visionary irrigation pioneer struggles to transform the California desert, finding himself trapped between his obsession for progress, a complex romantic entanglement, and the crushing weight of his own illicit financial decisions.
We Didn't Do Anything Wrong, Hardly
Roger Kuykendall
This story captures the quintessential suburban daydream of the mid-century, where two boys accidentally stumble into an international incident by building a functional spacecraft in their backyard. It is a whimsical, conversational piece of science fiction that leans heavily into the absurdity of cold-war tensions…
Young Captain Jack
Alger, Horatio, Jr.
An orphaned boy finds his place in a Southern home during the Civil War, only to face a dangerous conspiracy threatening his identity and his future.
Deficient Saints: A Tale of Maine
Marshall Saunders
In the quiet, rigid stone houses of a Maine town, long-held secrets and the rigid piety of the "elect" collide with the messy, redemptive power of human connection.
Elsie Yachting with the Raymonds
Martha Finley
A chronicle of family unity and patriotic instruction, this volume follows a devoted father as he guides his children through the historical landmarks and moral lessons that define their American identity.
His Dog
Albert Payson Terhune
The bond between a solitary, struggling farmer and the high-bred dog who rescues him from his own failings defines this story of loyalty and hard-won redemption.
Home Lights and Shadows
T. S. (Timothy Shay) Arthur
HOME! How at the word, a crowd of pleasant thoughts awaken. Yet, there is no home without its shadows as well as sunshine, and it is rarely that we confess our faults without a resolution to overcome the evil.
Hope Hathaway: A Story of Western Ranch Life
Frances Parker
This tale of the Montana frontier captures the fading era of the open range, where the old guard of cattle ranchers clashes with the encroaching tide of civilization, sheep-herding, and homesteading.
Marie
Laura Elizabeth Howe Richards
A wandering young musician finds refuge in a rigid New England village, where her vibrant spirit clashes with the austere convictions of a man bound by his ancestors' stern faith. Their unlikely union becomes a crucible of silence, misunderstanding, and the painful search for common ground.
Ormond
Charles Brockden Brown
A resilient young woman navigates a world of deceit and moral complexity, forced to defend her autonomy against the erratic machinations of a brilliant, power-hungry man.
Plain Mary Smith: A Romance of Red Saunders
Henry Wallace Phillips
A rambunctious, red-headed youth finds his footing in a foreign land, trading his restless upbringing for a life of adventure and the high-stakes task of reconciling two stubborn lovers.
Quintus Oakes: A Detective Story
Charles Ross Jackson
A detective arrives in a quiet town to untangle a series of violent, inexplicable assaults, only to find himself in a race against a murderer whose motive is as fractured as his mind.
Summerfield
Day Kellogg Lee
HOOK A testament to the quiet dignity of rural labor, this narrative follows a pioneer family whose deep connection to their land serves as a fortress against both natural dangers and the deceptive lures of urban ambition.
The Crisis
Winston Churchill
The fires of the American Civil War ignite within the intimate, divided lives of a St. Louis household. This sprawling historical drama captures the agony of a nation and a city tearing themselves apart.
The Fifth String
John Philip Sousa
A brilliant violinist stakes his soul on a cursed instrument to win the woman he loves, only to find that the price of god-like artistry is the very humanity he sought to express.
The Manager of the B. & A.: A Novel
Vaughan Kester
The manager of a failing railroad must battle local political corruption, labor unrest, and the crushing weight of his own family history to save a town from ruin.
The Miller Of Old Church
Ellen Anderson Gholson Glasgow
The path of love in a quiet Virginia community is seldom straight, often colliding with the rigid, unforgiving architecture of social class and the heavy, haunting weight of family secrets.
The Monster Maker
Ray Bradbury
A photographer and a lawman find themselves stranded on a hostile asteroid, armed only with a camera and a pistol. They must outwit a telepathic pirate who weaponizes his victims' own fears against them.
The Unseen Hand
Elijah Kellogg
The life of an orphan is transformed by the quiet, persistent influence of a kind family and the belief that a divine hand shapes the course of every individual.
With Force and Arms: A Tale of Love and Salem Witchcraft
Howard Roger Garis
HOOK This historical romance pits a courageous soldier against the fanatical paranoia of Salem’s witch trials and a shadowy rival for his beloved’s hand.
With Mask and Mitt
Albertus T. (Albertus True) Dudley
The pursuit of excellence on the diamond and the classroom is rarely a straight line, but for a dedicated athlete, the path to leadership is paved with hard-won experience and quiet integrity.
A Counterfeit Presentment
William Dean Howells
An artist finds his life upended when he discovers he bears an uncanny, haunting resemblance to the man who once broke a young woman’s heart.
Dickens in Camp
Bret Harte
Dickens in Camp acts as a bridge between the rugged, gold-rush reality of the American West and the Victorian sentimentality of England’s most celebrated novelist. It is a brief, evocative poetic tribute that captures how literature can momentarily tame even the wildest spirits.
Elsie's New Relations: What They Did and How They Fared at Ion
Martha Finley
This domestic drama explores the heavy weight of expectations placed upon young women in the nineteenth century, as they navigate the transition from girlhood to the structured life of marriage and motherhood. It remains a poignant portrait of a family that measures its success by the internal peace and moral…
In the Quarter
Robert W. (Robert William) Chambers
An expatriate artist struggles to reconcile his bohemian life in Paris with the crushing weight of inheritance, love, and a dangerous past. The city of light acts as both a sanctuary and a trap for a young man finding his footing in an unforgiving world.