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Essays, Letters & Speeches — page 7
319 public-domain essays, letters & speeches books, summarised. Page 7 of 7.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine - Volume 55, No. 344, June, 1844
Various
What are the enduring echoes of a century past? This collection captures the vibrant, sprawling intellect of the Victorian era through the diverse voices of its most influential monthly magazine.
Five Years of Theosophy
Unknown
The quest for ancient wisdom reveals a hidden architecture of the human soul, bridging the gap between scientific inquiry and the eternal mysteries of the spirit.
The Poet's Poet
Elizabeth Atkins
The poet’s own words serve as our best guide to understanding the mysterious, often contradictory identity of the creative soul throughout the last century and a half.
The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Vol. 01 (of 12): Dresden Edition—Lectures
Robert Green Ingersoll
This collection gathers the fiery, articulate arguments of a nineteenth-century orator who championed reason, science, and the absolute liberty of the human mind. It serves as a manifesto for the secular age.
Man in the Iron Mask (an Essay)
Alexandre Dumas
A captive whose features were never seen, but whose existence haunted the corridors of power, remains the ultimate symbol of arbitrary, unreachable tyranny. No single key unlocks this cell, yet the mystery itself endures.
The Art of Letters
Robert Lynd
Literature is a conversation that transcends the grave, and these reflections serve as a bridge between the reader and the giants of the English tradition. Here, the pursuit of letters is treated not as a dry academic exercise, but as a living, breathing, and often messy human endeavor.
The Invisible Censor
Francis Hackett
A collection of incisive, restless observations that cut through the polite veneers of early twentieth-century American life to expose the uncomfortable truths underneath.
The Hidden Power, and Other Papers upon Mental Science
T. (Thomas) Troward
The universe is not a collection of external forces to be feared, but a living, responsive intelligence waiting for the individual to recognize their own inherent capacity to direct it.
Mr. Bennett and Mrs. Brown
Virginia Woolf
Literature is not a fixed museum of rules, but a living pursuit of the human spirit. To read this essay is to stand on a crowded platform, watching the tools of one generation clash against the vision of the next.
The Symbolist Movement in Literature
Arthur Symons
This critical survey illuminates the emergence of a revolutionary literary aesthetic, tracing how a generation of French poets and novelists shifted focus from the outer world to the elusive, inward landscape of the soul.
Cicero's Brutus or History of Famous Orators
Marcus Tullius Cicero
A master of the Roman Forum reflects on the evolution of his craft, mapping the history of public speech from its Greek origins to the heights of his own career.
Genius in Sunshine and Shadow
Maturin M. (Maturin Murray) Ballou
The lives of history’s most brilliant minds often reveal a striking paradox: those who illuminate the world with their genius frequently dwell in the deepest shadows of personal suffering, poverty, or eccentricity.
A Collection of Essays and Fugitiv Writings: On Moral, Historical, Political, and Literary Subjects
Noah Webster
America’s young republic seeks a distinct identity, grappling with the tension between its newfound political sovereignty and an ingrained, lingering habit of imitating European manners, language, and social structures.
A Philosophical Dictionary, Volume 02
Voltaire
Human reason constantly battles the absurdity of superstition, bad philosophy, and institutional cruelty. Through an alphabetical treasury of biting commentary, ancient myths and medieval dogmas are systematically dismantled to expose the mechanics of human credulity.
Glimpses of Bengal: Selected from the letters of Sir Rabindranath Tagore, 1885 to 1895
Rabindranath Tagore
A young writer retreats to the rural waterways of late nineteenth-century Bengal, finding in the quiet rhythms of river life a vast mirror for human emotion and artistic awakening.
Essays and Dialogues
Giacomo Leopardi
Despair turns into quiet clear-sightedness in these classical dialogues, which dismantle every human consolation from glory to progress with unrelenting, polished wit.
The Three Devils: Luther's, Milton's, and Goethe's
David Masson
Three historical visions of evil reveal how humanity's moral imagination shifts from literal demons to majestic rebels and cold, modern cynics.
Dreams
Henri Bergson
Dreams are not merely random artifacts of the sleeping mind; they are the result of a precise, energetic mental relaxation. By understanding the mechanism behind them, we uncover the hidden architecture of our own consciousness.
Common Sense
Thomas Paine
A fiery, unsparing plea for immediate American separation from British rule that strips monarchy of its ancient majesty and treats independence as a simple, urgent necessity.
Critical, Historical, and Miscellaneous Essays
Macaulay, Thomas Babington Macaulay, Baron
A brilliant, sharp-eyed intelligence tears through centuries of European history and literature, measuring celebrated statesmen, flawed philosophers, and bloated books against the unyielding standards of practical reason and clear writing.
Model Speeches for Practise
Grenville Kleiser
A thoughtful study of public address reveals how spoken words shape national identity, rally fractured communities, and give voice to timeless human ideals.
The Ethics of George Eliot's Works
John Crombie Brown
Literature reveals its highest calling when it asks us to love something greater than our own immediate happiness.
More Letters of Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin
A vast epistolary archive reveals how world-changing scientific ideas are forged through rigorous empirical debate, meticulous observation, and deep personal alliances across decades of ceaseless inquiry.
The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. in Nine Volumes, Volume 05: Miscellaneous Pieces
Samuel Johnson
A giant of eighteenth-century letters turns his formidable mind to dictionaries, Shakespeare, political satire, and legal theory, demonstrating how rigorous critical thinking transforms everyday prose into enduring literature.
The Works of the Emperor Julian, Vol. 2
Emperor of Rome Julian
Stripped of imperial posturing, these writings reveal a ruler wrestling with the gap between philosophical ideals and the messy realities of governing a divided empire.
Materials and Methods of Fiction: With an Introduction by Brander Matthews
Clayton Meeker Hamilton
An inquiry into the foundational mechanics of narrative, this treatise dissects how storytellers transform actualities into lasting human truths. It offers a precise roadmap for analyzing plot, character, and setting across verse and prose.
Birds and Poets
John Burroughs
A deep love for the open air meets a rigorous critical mind, proving that listening closely to a bird’s song is not so different from reading a great poet.
African and European Addresses
Theodore Roosevelt
A former American president journeys across two continents, delivering rigorous public addresses that bind practical statecraft to unyielding personal morality.
A Commonplace Book of Thoughts, Memories, and Fancies.: 2nd ed
Mrs. (Anna) Jameson
An inquiring mind gathers the loose threads of a lifetime, weaving fragmented insights on art, ethics, and human nature into a quiet, enduring reflection.
Miscellaneous Writings and Speeches
Macaulay, Thomas Babington Macaulay, Baron
Macaulay’s speeches and essays trace the relentless march of human progress, arguing that political survival demands adapting ancient institutions to an ever-evolving society.
Anton Tchekhov, and Other Essays
Lev Shestov
Russian literature yields a philosophy far darker than formal dogma: when life confronts inescapable tragedy, reason crumbles and human hope quietly withers away.