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Essays, Letters & Speeches — page 30
1,906 public-domain essays, letters & speeches books, summarised. Page 30 of 40.
State of the Union Addresses
Martin Van Buren
These annual reports from the executive office offer a candid, granular look at a young nation navigating the precarious intersection of global finance, territorial expansion, and the fragile stability of a federal union.
A Florida Sketch-Book
Bradford Torrey
A seasoned observer wanders the Florida landscape, finding beauty in the overlooked corners of the pine barrens and the quiet dignity of the state’s abundant birdlife.
Notes and Queries, Vol. V, Number 128, April 10, 1852: A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc
Various
This Victorian-era periodical acts as a central clearinghouse for the curious, inviting readers to exchange obscure facts, literary minutiae, and antiquarian discoveries in a spirit of collective intellectual inquiry.
Sermons
J. B. (Joseph Barber) Lightfoot
The divine is not found in the grand or the exceptional, but in the most common, rugged corners of human experience, demanding a shift in perspective to be perceived.
An Open Letter to the Right Honorable David Lloyd George: Prime Minister of Great Britain
Lala Lajpat Rai
A poignant plea for liberty, this open letter exposes the staggering contrast between Britain’s stated democratic ideals and its colonial reality in India. It serves as a fervent argument for national self-determination.
Professor Royce's Libel: A Public Appeal for Redress to the Corporation and Overseers of Harvard University
Francis Ellingwood Abbot
A scholar’s fierce, formal, and deeply personal demand for justice, this work serves as an indignant public indictment of a professional rival and the institutional standards of a major American university.
State of the Union Addresses
Richard M. (Richard Milhous) Nixon
The arc of these addresses spans the defining years of a presidency, tracing the transition from global conflict to a sought-after domestic reform, ultimately confronted by the encroachment of political crisis.
The Spirit of Christmas
Henry Van Dyke
A heavenly debate over human suffering yields to a simple revelation, turning an ancient seasonal tradition into a quiet, lifelong practice of unselfish devotion.
This Then is Upland Pastures: Being some out-door essays dealing with the beautiful things that the spring and summer bring
Adeline Knapp
These reflective nature essays invite us to step out of our artificial lives and find, in the blooming upland pastures, a truer understanding of our own humanity.
A Williams Anthology: A Collection of the Verse and Prose of Williams College, 1798-1910
Unknown
A young man's thoughts, captured in poetry and prose, reflect the quiet beauty, solemn humor, and intellectual ambition of early college life.
Freedom! Equality!! Justice!!! These Three
Victoria C. (Victoria Claflin) Woodhull
Justice serves as the definitive cornerstone for a society that has long mistaken the mere illusion of liberty for genuine human equality. This urgent call for structural transformation demands a total reimagining of the American social contract.
In the Dozy Hours, and Other Papers
Agnes Repplier
A sharp-witted observer of manners and literature offers a collection of essays that defend the pleasures of a thoughtful, skeptical life against the encroaching pressures of modern fads and moralizing trends.
Letters from Australia
John Martineau
This collection of letters captures the raw, burgeoning energy of colonial Australia in 1867. Through an observant, skeptical eye, it documents a society caught between its British roots and the relentless demands of a new, untamed frontier.
London
G. K. (Gilbert Keith) Chesterton
London is a sprawling, eccentric mystery, a city that reveals its true heart only to those who peer through its many side streets and keyholes. It is a place where history hides in plain sight, buried beneath the modern rush of the Underground.
The negro workers
Eugene V. (Eugene Victor) Debs
This document captures a 1923 address delivered to an audience of African American workers in Harlem. It serves as an urgent, impassioned plea for class solidarity, arguing that racial liberation is inextricably linked to the dismantling of the capitalist system.
The Sin and Danger of Self-Love: Described by a Sermon Preached At Plymouth, in New-England, 1621
Robert Cushman
A bracing, plain-spoken sermon from 1621 serves as a timeless warning against the "bane of all societies"—the corrosive impulse to prioritize one's own comfort over the well-being of the community.
The southern literary messenger, Vol. II., No. 6, May, 1836
Various
A vibrant sampler of early nineteenth-century American thought, this periodical captures a young nation wrestling with its literary identity, social manners, and historical memory.
Ars Recte Vivendi
George William Curtis
The art of living well is less a matter of rigid rules than of cultivating a spirit of thoughtful consideration for others. This collection of essays serves as a timeless primer on character, courtesy, and the quiet weight of personal responsibility.
This Misery of Boots
H. G. (Herbert George) Wells
A childhood view of the street through a cellar grating reveals a world where most people walk in cheap, ill-fitting footwear that pinches, leaks, and distorts their feet.
An Estimate of the Value and Influence of Works of Fiction in Modern Times
Thomas Hill Green
Literature reveals its deepest power when it forces the reader to abandon trivial amusements and confront the fundamental laws governing human thought and spirit.
International Weekly Miscellany of Literature, Art and Science - Volume 1, No. 6, August 5, 1850
Various
A rich array of nineteenth-century thought unfolds across these pages, where literary criticism, biographical sketches, gothic romance, and reflective poetry converge to capture a world in rapid transition.
Joy and Power: Three Messages with One Meaning
Henry Van Dyke
Choosing the path of integrity and spiritual purpose over fleeting worldly ambition offers the only true foundation for happiness. These reflections urge a life of active, joyful devotion to the common good.
Letters written in France, to a friend in London, between the month of November 1794, and the month of May 1795
Watkin Tench
A captured British officer observes the daily life, political shifts, and naval realities of Revolutionary France from inside a prison ship.
Playwrights on playmaking
Brander Matthews
A play must win over its living audience, or it dies forever.
State of the Union Addresses
John Tyler
A nation's Chief Executive navigates volatile foreign disputes, severe domestic monetary panics, and territorial expansion while maintaining that constitutional limits and public credit form the true bedrock of American liberty.
The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 12, No. 332, September 20, 1828
Various
A rustic home in Shottery stands untouched by modern hands, holding the simple furnishings that once framed the quiet romantic life of a world-renowned playwright.
Chambers's Journal of Popular Literature, Science, and Art, No. 730: December 22, 1877
Various
Different minds hold radically opposing views on human life, turning even a joyful season like Christmas into either a painful battlefield of domestic vexations or a genuinely heartening celebration of goodwill.
Conflict of Northern and Southern Theories of Man and Society: Great Speech, Delivered in New York City
Henry Ward Beecher
Two conflicting worldviews are locked in a struggle over the true nature of humanity, determining whether society exists to foster individual spiritual potential or to maintain an oppressive, power-driven hierarchy.
England and the War
Raleigh, Walter Alexander, Sir
A wartime observer turns a scholar’s eye on the clash of national temperaments, measuring the strength of a nation not by its military machinery, but by the quiet endurance of its people.
The Bible, King James version, Book 50: Philippians
Anonymous
Written from a Roman prison cell, this brief letter turns confinement into an radiant manifesto on joy, humility, and unwavering spiritual resilience.
The Copyright Question: A Letter to the Toronto Board of Trade
George N. (George Nathaniel) Morang
This sharp, polemical open letter defends the integrity of international copyright, urging Canadian commerce to reject restrictive, isolationist policies that threaten the rights of authors and the standing of the nation’s publishing industry.
The Girl's Own Paper, Vol. XX, No. 1017, June 24, 1899
Various
A serene look into the habits and concerns of Victorian girlhood, this periodical offers a window into an era where nature, etiquette, and education were woven into the daily life of young women.
What Peace Means
Henry Van Dyke
Finding lasting tranquility in a world defined by conflict requires turning inward to faith and outward to the rigorous demands of justice.
A Residence in France During the Years 1792, 1793, 1794 and 1795, Part IV., 1795: Described in a Series of Letters from an English Lady: with General and Incidental Remarks on the French Character and Manners
Charlotte Biggs
An Englishwoman documents the fraying edges of the French Revolution, capturing the chilling instability and pervasive dread that defined the final days of the Reign of Terror and the uncertainty that followed.
A Short Essay Toward the Improvement of Psalmody
Isaac Watts
The act of singing in worship should be an expression of the heart, yet it is often stifled by the rigid insistence on singing ancient texts that no longer reflect the speaker's own faith.
Hypatia
Dora Russell
This polemic functions as a sharp, unapologetic manifesto for the modern woman, arguing that the true path to equality lies not in imitating men, but in reclaiming bodily autonomy and embracing the scientific realities of sex and motherhood. It remains a vital document for its fierce rejection of Victorian…
Notes and Queries, Number 24, April 13, 1850
Various
This mid-nineteenth-century repository of historical inquiry and literary debate serves as a collaborative archive for curious minds, bridging the gap between scholarly research and the shared knowledge of the reading public.
Parish Papers
Norman Macleod
A collection of thoughtful, earnest sermons and reflections, these writings bridge the gap between rigorous theological inquiry and the personal, everyday anxieties of the Victorian soul. They offer a quiet, steadfast guide for anyone grappling with the complexities of faith in a changing world.
The Morning of Spiritual Youth Improved, in the Prospect of Old Age and Its Infirmities: Being a Literal and Spiritual Paraphrase on the Twelfth Chapter of Ecclesiastes. In a Series of Letters
J. (John) Church
This is a series of pastoral letters examining the spiritual significance of the aging process through a detailed, verse-by-verse meditation on the final, allegorical chapter of Ecclesiastes.
A Book Without a Title
George Jean Nathan
A sharp edge cuts through human pretension in seventy-four brief fables, exposing the illusions people hold about love, art, fame, and vanity.
A rough sketch of modern Paris
J. G. (John Gustavus) Lemaistre
A curious English traveler captures the fragile, restless atmosphere of Paris during the brief, uneasy peace of 1801.
"Colony,"--or "Free State"? "Dependence,"--or "Just Connection"? "Empire,"--or "Union"?
Alpheus Henry Snow
This investigation provides a rigorous philosophical framework for the American government to interact with its newly acquired overseas territories, aiming to avoid the pitfalls of traditional imperialism.
Is the Morality of Jesus Sound?: A Lecture Delivered Before the Independent Religious Society
M. M. (Mangasar Mugurditch) Mangasarian
Is the moral teaching of Jesus sound? By examining the historical, social, and psychological foundations of the Gospel narratives, this analytical lecture argues that Christianity is a system of profound, systemic instability.
Lippincott's Magazine, September, 1885
Various
Lippincott’s Magazine offers a vibrant, eclectic window into the intellectual and social preoccupations of 1885, blending travelogue, social critique, and domestic narrative. It captures the distinct, often rigid, cultural sensibilities of the late nineteenth century.
Men in the Making
Ambrose Shepherd
The choice between passive drift and deliberate integrity determines the shape of a man's future.
Some Causes of the Prevailing Discontent
Charles Dudley Warner
A society that measures its success entirely by material accumulation creates the very unrest it fears, driving rich and poor alike to chase physical indulgence over the deeper cultivations of the human mind.
State of the Union Addresses
James Madison
These addresses chart the precarious evolution of a young republic, documenting the transition from fragile neutrality to the crucible of the War of 1812 and the subsequent pursuit of national stability.
"A Most Unholy Trade," Being Letters on the Drama by Henry James
Henry James
This collection of private correspondence offers an intimate, sharp-witted window into the mind of a master novelist grappling with the unforgiving mechanics of the professional stage.