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American Literature — page 94

4,619 public-domain american literature books, summarised. Page 94 of 97.

Cover of Plantation echoes

Plantation echoes

Elliott Blaine Henderson

This collection of turn-of-the-century dialect poetry offers a raw, unfiltered window into the daily life, anxieties, and resilient humor of an era defined by struggle and transition.

American Literature5 min read
Cover of Scott Burton in the Blue Ridge

Scott Burton in the Blue Ridge

Edward G. (Edward Gheen) Cheyney

A young forester arrives in the Blue Ridge Mountains to manage a timber contract, only to find himself trapped in the crosshairs of a generational blood feud. He must navigate local hostility and violence to bring professional order to a lawless landscape.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of Stephen H. Branch's Alligator, Vol. 1 no. 11, July 3, 1858

Stephen H. Branch's Alligator, Vol. 1 no. 11, July 3, 1858

Unknown

In a world of mid-nineteenth-century political theater and urban grit, one man documents the tragic decline of a local poet and the moral decay of his bustling city.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of The educated Negro and his mission

The educated Negro and his mission

W. S. (William Sanders) Scarborough

Higher learning is not a luxury for a developing people, but the essential compass that guides brawn with wisdom and secures a lasting future.

American Literature7 min read
Cover of The Good Neighbors

The Good Neighbors

Edgar Pangborn

The arrival of a gargantuan, drifting creature over American cities triggers a panicked military response, leading to a catastrophe that reveals the vast, chilling indifference of a far more advanced alien civilization.

American Literature5 min read
Cover of The spokesman's secretary

The spokesman's secretary

Upton Sinclair

A sharp-witted manicure girl from New Jersey finds herself at the center of Washington’s political machinery, secretly shaping the pronouncements of the nation’s highest office.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of The Transfiguration of Miss Philura

The Transfiguration of Miss Philura

Florence Morse Kingsley

A pinched spinster swaps resignation for radical metaphysical belief, spending her meager savings on plumes and a husband already guaranteed by the universe.

American Literature7 min read
Cover of The Treasure

The Treasure

Kathleen Thompson Norris

Finding reliable household help becomes an unexpected catalyst for shifting family dynamics and traditional gender roles in early-twentieth-century suburbia.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of The Up Grade

The Up Grade

Wilder Goodwin

A man adrift in the Arizona territory finds redemption through grueling labor and a hard-won sense of purpose, proving that inner strength is the only reliable cure for a fractured soul.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of A jar of jelly beans

A jar of jelly beans

Franklin Gregory

In a future crippled by overpopulation and resource collapse, one scientist proposes a radical, biological solution: shrinking the human race.

American Literature5 min read
Cover of A memoir of Miss Hannah Adams

A memoir of Miss Hannah Adams

Hannah Farnham Sawyer Lee

This account chronicles the life of a pioneering American scholar who overcame poverty, physical frailty, and profound social isolation to establish herself as a respected literary voice in the early nineteenth century.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of Bottoms Up: An Application of the Slapstick to Satire

Bottoms Up: An Application of the Slapstick to Satire

George Jean Nathan

The theater is a temple of illusions, but this collection of satires exposes the tawdry scaffolding behind the curtain. It is a witty, biting deconstruction of the clichés that governed the American stage in the early twentieth century.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of Bride Roses

Bride Roses

William Dean Howells

A cold winter day in a floral shop becomes the setting where life, romance, and sudden bereavement collide over a single batch of white blossoms.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of Harper's Round Table, July 23, 1895

Harper's Round Table, July 23, 1895

Various

This midsummer edition of a classic American weekly offers a vibrant, multifaceted snapshot of nineteenth-century life, blending earnest moral instruction with the spirited, restless curiosity of the Victorian youth.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of Proud Lady

Proud Lady

Neith Boyce

A young woman’s pride and emotional reserve collide with the turbulent, demanding nature of her husband as they attempt to build a life in a provincial Midwestern town.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of Religious Poems, Part 2.: Part 6 From Volume II of The Works of John Greenleaf Whittier

Religious Poems, Part 2.: Part 6 From Volume II of The Works of John Greenleaf Whittier

John Greenleaf Whittier

In these reflective verses, the search for spiritual meaning moves beyond rigid dogma, finding a quiet, enduring grace in the simple conduct of a life lived for others.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of Rubáiyát of Doc Sifers

Rubáiyát of Doc Sifers

James Whitcomb Riley

A humble country physician of the American frontier finds a quiet, profound greatness through his simple devotion to his neighbors, his patients, and the natural world.

American Literature7 min read
Cover of The Amethyst Box

The Amethyst Box

Anna Katharine Green

She knew the small vial contained a single drop of deadly poison, yet as she held it above her aunt’s bedside, a sudden cry shattered the midnight silence.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of The Death of the Scharnhorst, and Other Poems

The Death of the Scharnhorst, and Other Poems

Arch Alfred McKillen

A haunting collection of verse written in the aftermath of global conflict, these poems chart the desperate, intimate bonds formed between men facing the finality of war and the sea.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 6

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 6

Mark Twain

An American engineer finds himself transported to the court of King Arthur, where he attempts to overhaul a medieval society with the tools of nineteenth-century industry, science, and democratic idealism.

American Literature7 min read
Cover of Across the Chasm

Across the Chasm

Julia Magruder

HOOK A young Southerner visits Northern relatives, testing whether the deep divides of post-Civil War America can be bridged by personal connection or if some gaps are destined to remain.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of California

California

Ina D. (Ina Donna) Coolbrith

California stands as a vibrant testament to the promise of the American West, reimagining the region not merely as a frontier, but as a muse destined to inspire the next generation of great poets.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of Calumet "K"

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.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of Dirty Work for Doughgod

Dirty Work for Doughgod

W. C. (Wilbur C.) Tuttle

The quiet life of a frontier town turns into a frantic, slapstick disaster when a group of bumbling cowhands tries to manage an unexpected visitor. A series of misunderstandings spirals out of control, leaving everyone involved bruised, exhausted, and desperately trying to outrun their own mistakes.

American Literature5 min read
Cover of Life on the Mississippi, Part 8

Life on the Mississippi, Part 8

Mark Twain

The river is a stage for both the noble and the absurd, where a traveler’s sharp eye unmasks the truth hidden beneath a veneer of romantic pretense.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of The Battle of the Bells

The Battle of the Bells

Jerome Bixby

The Battle of the Bells is a whimsical, philosophical fantasy that explores the cosmic significance of human morality through the lens of a small-town prank.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of Ticknor and Company Book Catalog (1887)

Ticknor and Company Book Catalog (1887)

Ticknor and Company

A comprehensive window into the literary landscape of 1887, this catalog reveals the diverse tastes, intellectual ambitions, and artistic standards of late nineteenth-century American readers.

American Literature5 min read
Cover of A heroine of 1812

A heroine of 1812

Amy Ella Blanchard

A spirited young woman navigates the personal and political turbulence of the War of 1812, balancing familial loyalty with her own burgeoning independence in the face of conflict.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of Cold Ghost

Cold Ghost

Chester S. Geier

The relentless, subzero wilderness of Alaska provides the backdrop for a chilling study of guilt. A greedy trapper attempts to commit the perfect crime, only to find that some debts are paid in ice.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of Little Pilgrim at Aunt Lou's

Little Pilgrim at Aunt Lou's

Ella Rodman Church

A young girl trades the familiar comforts of her city home for the sprawling adventures of a summer on a bustling farm.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of Masterpieces of American Wit and Humor

Masterpieces of American Wit and Humor

Unknown

This collection gathers the voices of a nation finding its sense of humor, ranging from the gentle irony of the parlor to the sharp, frontier-hardened wit of the backwoods. It is a portrait of a developing cultural identity told through laughter.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of Solomon

Solomon

Constance Fenimore Woolson

The coal-dusted landscapes and remote, mist-shrouded waters of the nineteenth-century American frontier serve as the backdrop for these poignant, atmospheric tales of quiet devotion and fading idealism.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of Tattle-tales of Cupid

Tattle-tales of Cupid

Paul Leicester Ford

Love is a battlefield of misdirection, where the most earnest intentions are often undone by the very schemes designed to secure them.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of The Chameleon Man

The Chameleon Man

William P. McGivern

The world is full of people who leave no impression, but few possess the literal power to vanish into the background. For one man, this gift is a profound isolation, until a desperate talent scout sees the ultimate stage trick.

American Literature5 min read
Cover of The Hand

The Hand

Jerry Sohl

A rural housewife, a hostile husband, and a stray dog collide with the desperate crew of a crashed spacecraft. In this haunting encounter, the cost of human cruelty is measured in flesh and bone.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of The Old-Time Spelling School

The Old-Time Spelling School

John G. Ellenbecker

The past is a country we visit through memory, and here the border is a one-room schoolhouse filled with the sharp, competitive joy of a winter spelling bee. This narrative poem captures a forgotten frontier ritual, preserving the spirit of a community that found its greatest excitement in the precision of language…

American Literature6 min read
Cover of The Tree of Appomattox

The Tree of Appomattox

Joseph A. (Joseph Alexander) Altsheler

Two cousins, divided by the tragic rupture of a nation, navigate the brutal, closing chapters of the American Civil War with unwavering loyalty to their separate causes.

American Literature8 min read
Cover of Bruvver Jim's Baby

Bruvver Jim's Baby

Philip Verrill Mighels

The transformation of a rough, neglected mining camp through the arrival of a singular, fragile foundling proves that even the most hardened lives are capable of profound tenderness.

American Literature5 min read
Cover of Call Him Savage

Call Him Savage

Howard Browne

A time-traveling alien Indian tries to reconquer America for Native Americans, but modern life gets in his way.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of Oklahoma and Other Poems

Oklahoma and Other Poems

Freeman Edwin Miller

A wild frontier springs to life through ringing meter, where the thunder of a land run yields to quiet farmsteads and the ache of memory.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of The Angel of the Tenement

The Angel of the Tenement

George Madden Martin

A lost child dropped into a harsh city building transforms the lives of its weary working-class residents through sheer innocence, kindness, and quiet affection.

American Literature7 min read
Cover of Through unknown ways

Through unknown ways

Lucy Ellen Guernsey

A young woman navigates the social hierarchies and religious anxieties of Restoration England, finding her own path through life’s unexpected detours. This intimate, character-driven story maps a journey from servitude to personal autonomy and peace.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of Wolf's Head: 1911

Wolf's Head: 1911

Charles Egbert Craddock

In a remote wilderness where the law is often a death warrant, a young woman’s impulsive mercy becomes the only shield for a man branded as a beast. She risks everything to rewrite a narrative that was never hers to judge.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of A Select Party

A Select Party

Nathaniel Hawthorne

A wealthy visionary builds a glittering palace out of evening clouds and invites the world's most elusive, legendary, and hypothetical figures to a grand banquet.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of American ideas for English readers

American ideas for English readers

James Russell Lowell

These collected addresses document the diplomatic and literary life of a celebrated American thinker during his time in England. They serve as a bridge between the nineteenth-century transatlantic world and the enduring necessity of international friendship.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of Best laid schemes

Best laid schemes

Meredith Nicholson

The best-laid schemes of mice and men often go awry, and in these interconnected tales, the unintended consequences of human ambition provide a wry look at the social and moral fabric of early twentieth-century American life.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of Classified object

Classified object

John Victor Peterson

A stray, unpiloted vessel lands in a public park, concealing a weapon capable of extinguishing the world. Its arrival forces a brilliant, haunted physicist to confront a truth more terrifying than the ship itself.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of Dick Prescott's Third Year at West Point

Dick Prescott's Third Year at West Point

H. Irving (Harrie Irving) Hancock

At the dawn of the twentieth century, the American dream found a unique expression in the rigid, disciplined halls of the United States Military Academy. This narrative follows two inseparable friends as they navigate the rigorous transition from boyhood to the threshold of a commissioned officer’s life.

American Literature6 min read