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American Literature — page 92

4,619 public-domain american literature books, summarised. Page 92 of 97.

Cover of The Yale Literary Magazine (Vol. I, No. 4, June 1836)

The Yale Literary Magazine (Vol. I, No. 4, June 1836)

Various

This collection of student writing captures the intellectual anxieties, literary ambitions, and romantic sensibilities of mid-19th-century Yale, offering an unfiltered look at a vanished collegiate world.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of An episode in the doings of the dualized

An episode in the doings of the dualized

Eveleen Laura Mason

This narrative centers on a woman with an extraordinary, almost supernatural, sense of purpose who works to mend the fractured spirits of those around her. It is a contemplative study of human consciousness, spiritual evolution, and the rejection of social convention in favor of a higher, "dualized" existence.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of Armazindy: The Poems and Prose Sketches of James Whitcomb Riley

Armazindy: The Poems and Prose Sketches of James Whitcomb Riley

James Whitcomb Riley

A collection of verse and prose that captures the rustic charm, poignant loss, and fleeting joys of nineteenth-century Midwestern life.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of Bad and mad

Bad and mad

W. C. (Wilbur C.) Tuttle

The desert sun reveals a grim irony when a drifter attempts to steal a lawman’s identity, only to discover that the lawman he left for dead was already a fugitive from his own reality.

American Literature5 min read
Cover of Christmas Eve at Swamp's End

Christmas Eve at Swamp's End

Norman Duncan

A lonely girl finds her deepest wish granted by a rough-hewn minister in the heart of a frozen, unforgiving wilderness.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of Dorothy Harcourt's secret

Dorothy Harcourt's secret

Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte Southworth

A woman of independent means opens her heart to a lost child, only to find herself embroiled in a dangerous game of abduction orchestrated by a relentless, manipulative suitor from her past.

American Literature7 min read
Cover of First Base Faulkner

First Base Faulkner

Christy Mathewson

The story of a young man finding his place in a new city through grit, baseball, and honest enterprise. A classic tale of coming-of-age that captures the spirit of small-town athletics and ambition.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of Frank Merriwell's Marriage

Frank Merriwell's Marriage

Burt L. Standish

The quintessential American hero navigates a gauntlet of jealous rivals and physical trials, proving his mettle in sport and character before finally claiming his bride at the altar.

American Literature5 min read
Cover of Gloria and Treeless Street

Gloria and Treeless Street

Annie Hamilton Donnell

A sheltered young heiress discovers a decrepit tenement street and resolves to fix it, only to learn that her own inherited wealth is the source of the misery she seeks to cure.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of Marie

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.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of Sketches New and Old, Part 3

Sketches New and Old, Part 3

Mark Twain

This collection captures the sharp, irreverent wit of a writer navigating the absurdity of American life, from the moral contradictions of the frontier to the hollow pretensions of bureaucrats and self-styled intellectuals.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of The Camp Fire Girls in the Outside World

The Camp Fire Girls in the Outside World

Margaret Vandercook

A young woman carrying three unlit silver candles down a cold hallway must decide whether to give up her family home on Thanksgiving Day.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of The Children of Cupa

The Children of Cupa

Mary Ellen Mannix

An American family’s summer camping trip in the California mountains becomes a poignant witness to the forced displacement of the Cupeño people from their ancestral hot springs.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of The Consul

The Consul

Richard Harding Davis

The long, loyal career of an aging diplomat comes to a quiet end—or a dramatic beginning—in a fever-ridden port. This story of principle, political patronage, and the weight of one’s own conscience remains a poignant reflection on public service.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of The Daughter of a Republican

The Daughter of a Republican

Bernie Babcock

A young woman awakens to the moral rot of her era, turning against her father’s political allegiances to battle the liquor industry and the human misery it fosters.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of "The Fotygraft Album": Shown to the New Neighbor by Rebecca Sparks Peters Aged Eleven

"The Fotygraft Album": Shown to the New Neighbor by Rebecca Sparks Peters Aged Eleven

Francis Marion Wing

A young girl’s earnest tour through a family photo album reveals the absurdities of small-town life, filtered through the irreverent, biting commentary of her father.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of The Henchman

The Henchman

Mark Lee Luther

Ambition and moral compromise collide in the cutthroat world of New York politics, where a rising star must decide if the price of power is worth the loss of his own integrity.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of The Man Higher Up

The Man Higher Up

William MacHarg

A brilliant psychologist employs cutting-edge physiological testing to dismantle a corrupt shipping empire, proving that the human body cannot lie even when the mind is masterfully deceptive.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of The Philistine: a periodical of protest (Vol. III, No. 2, July 1896)

The Philistine: a periodical of protest (Vol. III, No. 2, July 1896)

Various

This is a bracing, iconoclastic dispatches from the margins of late 19th-century American letters, where the spirit of the age is tested by wit, irony, and a fierce, restless independence.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of The quare women

The quare women

Lucy S. Furman

Outsiders arrive in a remote Kentucky mountain community with nothing but tents and a desire to teach, sparking a transformation that ripples through generations of feuding families.

American Literature7 min read
Cover of The Trimming of Goosie

The Trimming of Goosie

James Hopper

An athletic young husband inexplicably sprouts a pair of magnificent wings, forcing his practical wife to trim them so he can remain a respectable suburban commuter.

American Literature7 min read
Cover of The Two Elsies: A Sequel to Elsie at Nantucket

The Two Elsies: A Sequel to Elsie at Nantucket

Martha Finley

In a world of rigid expectations and deep familial bonds, two young girls navigate the turbulent waters of grief, disobedience, and the challenging path toward self-control.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of What Might Have Been Expected

What Might Have Been Expected

Frank R. Stockton

A brother and sister embark on a series of industrious, homegrown ventures in rural Virginia to secure the well-being of a beloved elderly neighbor.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of What Outfit, Buddy?

What Outfit, Buddy?

T. Howard (Thomas Howard) Kelly

A weary infantryman recounts the grueling, mud-caked reality of the Great War, finding brotherhood and tragedy in the shadow of the front lines.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of And So They Were Married

And So They Were Married

Florence Morse Kingsley

A young bride learns that building a life together requires navigating social pretension and discovering what truly matters beneath the surface of urban sophistication.

American Literature5 min read
Cover of Book of brief narratives

Book of brief narratives

Unknown

An unnamed detective navigates a series of bizarre criminal cases, where mistaken identities and strange, localized customs often cloud the truth.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of Brknk's Bounty

Brknk's Bounty

Jerry Sohl

Larry Weaver is a down-on-his-luck journalist who loses his job after a run-in with a peculiar, invisible nuisance. His life takes a bizarre turn when he discovers he has become the target of an otherworldly gift that changes his fate forever.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of How Doth the Simple Spelling Bee

How Doth the Simple Spelling Bee

Owen Wister

A man of letters finds his orderly life besieged by a relentless campaign to modernize English spelling. What begins as a nuisance quickly spirals into a absurd, cross-country crusade led by a manipulative industrialist.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of "Same old Bill, eh Mable!"

"Same old Bill, eh Mable!"

Edward Streeter

Through a series of breezy, ungrammatical letters, a young soldier navigates the absurdities of the Great War, finding that the bureaucracy of the army is often more baffling than the enemy lines.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of The schoolmaster's trunk, containing papers on home-life in Tweenit

The schoolmaster's trunk, containing papers on home-life in Tweenit

Abby Morton Diaz

A schoolmaster observes the crushing domestic labor of a nineteenth-century village, arguing that women deserve more time for intellectual pursuits and child-rearing than the relentless preparation of elaborate food allows.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of The town down the river

The town down the river

Edwin Arlington Robinson

A collection of precise, melancholic portraits, this work captures the quiet tragedy of lives spent chasing ghosts and the heavy wisdom of those who witness the inevitable decay of all things.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of The Trysting Place: A Farce in One Act

The Trysting Place: A Farce in One Act

Booth Tarkington

A secluded hotel lounge becomes the unwilling stage for overlapping secret romances, as a series of well-meaning but oblivious guests hide in the furniture to conduct private affairs.

American Literature5 min read
Cover of Two Prisoners

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.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of Feathers left around

Feathers left around

Carolyn Wells

The quiet of a country house is shattered when a guest is found murdered, leaving a trail of cryptic clues for a master detective to unravel.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of Mam' Lyddy's Recognition: 1908

Mam' Lyddy's Recognition: 1908

Thomas Nelson Page

A fiercely loyal, aristocratic domestic servant discovers that the "recognition" promised to her by a smooth-talking urban preacher is a trap designed to steal her life’s savings.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of Princess

Princess

M. G. (Mary Greenway) McClelland

A quiet study of the clash between long-held social codes and the fierce demands of individual desire, this narrative follows a young woman’s struggle to reconcile her conscience with a forbidden love.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of Stephen H. Branch's Alligator, Vol. 1 no. 07, June 5, 1858

Stephen H. Branch's Alligator, Vol. 1 no. 07, June 5, 1858

Unknown

This volatile periodical serves as both a blistering political manifesto and an eccentric, unvarnished autobiography from a self-proclaimed crusader operating on the fringes of mid-nineteenth-century New York journalism.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of The Heart of the Hills

The Heart of the Hills

Fox, John, Jr.

Two young men from the stark Cumberland mountains and the genteel Kentucky Bluegrass grow to manhood, their lives intertwined by love, social upheaval, and the encroaching industrial decay of their land.

American Literature7 min read
Cover of The Last American: A Fragment from the Journal of Khan-li, Prince of Dimph-yoo-chur and Admiral in the Persian Navy

The Last American: A Fragment from the Journal of Khan-li, Prince of Dimph-yoo-chur and Admiral in the Persian Navy

John Ames Mitchell

An expedition from a future Persia arrives in North America to study the ruins of a fallen, long-forgotten civilization, only to encounter the final, tragic remnants of the American people.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of The Young Bank Messenger

The Young Bank Messenger

Alger, Horatio, Jr.

The Young Bank Messenger follows a resilient, orphaned boy who discovers his true identity while navigating a treacherous landscape of outlaws, hidden inheritances, and the struggle for personal integrity. It is a classic tale of rags-to-riches morality that pits the simple virtues of a young hero against the greed…

American Literature5 min read
Cover of A Bad Town for Spacemen

A Bad Town for Spacemen

Robert Scott

A returning space traveler discovers that New York, once a welcoming haven, has turned bleak, hostile, and visibly decayed during his absence among the stars.

American Literature5 min read
Cover of An experiment in gyro-hats

An experiment in gyro-hats

Ellis Parker Butler

A meticulous hatter seeks to cure a young suitor's mysterious, perpetual staggering through the application of a high-tech gyroscope hat.

American Literature5 min read
Cover of An Old Sweetheart of Mine

An Old Sweetheart of Mine

James Whitcomb Riley

A quiet evening at home turns into a tender voyage through time as a man lights his pipe and lets memory summon his very first love.

American Literature5 min read
Cover of My Queen: A Weekly Journal for Young Women. Issue 3, October 13, 1900: Marion Marlowe's True Heart

My Queen: A Weekly Journal for Young Women. Issue 3, October 13, 1900: Marion Marlowe's True Heart

Lurana Sheldon

A young country woman rescues her family from financial ruin before pursuing a medical career and navigating romance and city perils in New York.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of New lives for old

New lives for old

Frederick Orin Bartlett

The city man who trades the desk for the plow finds a sleeping village and awakens it through sheer grit and cooperation.

American Literature5 min read
Cover of Patty and Azalea

Patty and Azalea

Carolyn Wells

A young woman from the West arrives at a refined East Coast estate, bringing with her a trail of secrets, impulsive behavior, and a dramatic flair that tests the patience and kindness of her newfound family.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of Six little Bunkers at Aunt Jo's

Six little Bunkers at Aunt Jo's

Laura Lee Hope

A bustling summer in Boston brings everyday magic to a big family, where missing dolls, stray animals, and misplaced pocketbooks turn routine afternoons into grand childhood adventures.

American Literature8 min read
Cover of Tales and Sketches: Part 3 from Volume V of The Works of John Greenleaf Whittier

Tales and Sketches: Part 3 from Volume V of The Works of John Greenleaf Whittier

John Greenleaf Whittier

A collection of nineteenth-century observations, this work captures the flickering shadows and enduring light of a changing American landscape through the eyes of a deeply thoughtful observer.

American Literature6 min read