Free summaries
History - American — page 14
1,087 public-domain history - american books, summarised. Page 14 of 23.
Washington's Birthday
Unknown
A nation’s memory of its founding leader shifts over time from a stiff, mythic bronze statue into a living portrait of a passionate, human commander and statesman.
Wright Brothers National Memorial, North Carolina
Omega G. East
Driven by methodical curiosity rather than fortune, two bicycle mechanics from Ohio isolate themselves on a windswept barrier island to unravel the engineering secrets of human flight.
Formation of the Union, 1750-1829
Albert Bushnell Hart
America’s transition from fragmented, squabbling colonies into a self-governing power was neither immediate nor inevitable, but a prolonged, structured evolution.
The Brothers' War
John C. (John Calvin) Reed
Driven by unseen evolutionary forces, two distinct American civilizations clash in an inevitable conflict.
The French in the Heart of America
John H. (John Huston) Finley
The long-dead voices of forest explorers and itinerant priests echoing across the vast waterways of North America are summoned to reveal how the Gallic spirit permanently shaped the continent’s industrial heart.
Abraham Lincoln and the Union: A Chronicle of the Embattled North
Nathaniel W. (Nathaniel Wright) Stephenson
Northern political maneuvering and administrative endurance, rather than battlefield tactics, dictate the survival of the American Republic through its greatest trial.
By-Ways of War: The Story of the Filibusters
James Jeffrey Roche
Desperate men across the nineteenth century sought wealth and empire by private force, invading foreign nations to carve out personal realms before their lawless crusades collapsed in tragedy and blood.
The Champlain tercentenary
New York (State). Lake Champlain Tercentenary Commission
Across a series of formal dedications and international banquets, two nations gather to honor a shared wilderness past, using the bronze features of Samuel de Champlain to anchor their modern diplomatic friendship.
The Landing of the Pilgrims
Henry Fisk Carlton
Trapped aboard the Mayflower off a wild coastline, forty weary English refugees use a corrupt captain’s sabotage to seize their own self-governance.
The Sable Cloud: A Southern Tale With Northern Comments (1861)
Nehemiah Adams
A pro-slavery treatise framed as an ideological debate between North and South, this work attempts to justify human bondage through Scripture, moral philosophy, and idealizations of Southern domestic life.
The Slavery Question
John Lawrence
An uncompromising moral assault on the institution of American chattel slavery, this treatise dissects the legal, scriptural, and ecclesiastical arguments used to sustain human bondage.
Government and Administration of the United States
Westel Woodbury Willoughby
A structured examination reveals how the mechanics of American democracy operate, tracing the evolution from loosely connected British colonies into a sovereign federal republic bound by Constitutional law.
The Conquest of Canada, Vol. 2
George Warburton
Greed and administrative corruption corrode the defenses of New France, leaving a fractured colony vulnerable to the relentless, disciplined advance of British imperial power along the American frontier.
Our Part in the Great War
Arthur Gleason
A eyewitness journey into the heart of the Western Front reveals the spiritual resolve of a devastated France and the stark, chilling reality of modern warfare.
American Political Ideas Viewed from the Standpoint of Universal History
John Fiske
A self-governing town assembly contains the seed of a global federation. When local liberty pairs with broad representation, human history finds its way out of perpetual warfare.
American Slave Trade
Torrey, Jesse, active 1787-1834
In a nation priding itself on liberty, free citizens are dragged from their beds and bound in chains for southern markets. Jesse Torrey’s early nineteenth-century treatise exposes the domestic slave trade operating in the very shadow of the American Capitol.
The Continental Monthly, Vol. 1, No. 6, June, 1862: Devoted To Literature and National Policy
Various
A Union monthly magazine published during the heat of the American Civil War blends fiery anti-slavery essays, wartime reporting, serialized fiction, and travel sketches into a singular portrait of a nation fighting to redefine itself.
A Living from the Land
William B. (William Budington) Duryee
Seeking a return to the land is a rational response to modern economic uncertainty, provided one approaches the transition with expert guidance and careful planning. This manual offers a measured path toward securing stability through small-scale, diversified agricultural self-sufficiency.
American War Ballads and Lyrics, Volume 2 (of 2): A Collection of the Songs and Ballads of the Colonial Wars, the Revolutions, the War of 1812-15, the War with Mexico and the Civil War
Unknown
A chorus of voices from the American past, this collection gathers the songs and verse that defined a nation’s most tumultuous conflicts, capturing the raw spirit of soldiers and the heavy hearts of those who waited at home.
Beadle's Dime Union Song Book No. 2: A Collection of New and Popular Comic and Sentimental Songs
Various
A fragile, pocket-sized chorus of a nation at war, these verses capture the urgent, fervent spirit of a country bracing for the uncertainty of the Civil War.
Boone's Wilderness Road
Archer Butler Hulbert
The story of the American frontier is etched into the earth by the paths of those who traveled it first. This account traces the arduous creation and expansion of the legendary route that opened Kentucky to settlement.
Breaking the Outer Ring: Marine Landings in the Marshall Islands
John C. (John Carsten) Chapin
This concise historical monograph documents the U.S. military’s 1944 campaign to capture the Marshall Islands, a pivotal operation that breached Japan’s outer defensive perimeter in the Central Pacific. Through a blend of strategic overview and intimate, ground-level accounts, it captures the intensity of the…
Coal and the coal mines
Homer Greene
This instructive volume offers a window into the late 19th-century American coal industry, blending geological science with the gritty realities of industrial life. It serves as a comprehensive guide for readers curious about the origins, discovery, and extraction of the fuel that powered an era.
Sabbath in Puritan New England
Alice Morse Earle
This is an evocative, meticulously researched chronicle of the daily religious life of the early New England settlers. It reconstructs the austere, often uncomfortable realities of the Puritan Sabbath with scholarly precision and deep human empathy.
The Diplomatic Correspondence of the American Revolution, Vol. 08
Unknown
Navigating the precarious birth of a new nation required more than muskets; it demanded the subtle, often desperate art of statecraft practiced in the courts of Europe. These records reveal the behind-the-scenes reality of the American Revolution, where the survival of the United States often hinged on a letter, a…
The Mystic Mid-Region: The Deserts of the Southwest
Arthur J. (Arthur Jerome) Burdick
The sun-scorched, arid expanse of the American Southwest holds secrets of ancient seas and modern endurance. This account captures the stark, shifting reality of a landscape that defies human comfort while demanding respect.
The Pan-Angles: A Consideration of the Federation of the Seven English-Speaking Nations
Sinclair Kennedy
The world’s English-speaking nations stand at a crossroads where they must either unite in a formal federation or risk being overwhelmed by the rising power of competing global empires. This urgent call for a unified political structure argues that shared language and democratic tradition are the essential…
The Passing of the Frontier: A Chronicle of the Old West
Emerson Hough
The American frontier lives as a stirring, intimate concept of personal liberty and human advance. It is a historical testament to strength, courage, and the relentless spirit of exploration that forged a new national character.
The Theory of Social Revolutions
Brooks Adams
The American experiment faces a fundamental crisis: when the judiciary becomes an arm of political power, the social fabric inevitably frays, inviting radical upheaval and eventual transformation.
A popular history of the United States of America, Vol. 2 (of 2)
Mary (Mary Botham) Howitt
This historical survey traces the evolution of the United States from colonial conflict through the early nineteenth century. It captures the rapid expansion, political turbulence, and social shifts that defined a young nation’s turbulent development.
History of the 159th Regiment, N.Y.S.V
Edward Duffy
The march of a volunteer regiment unfolds across the map of a fractured nation, tracing the jagged intersection of personal sacrifice and national duty. This record chronicles the evolution of citizen-soldiers into battle-hardened veterans through the crucible of the Civil War.
House of John Procter, Witchcraft Martyr, 1692
William P. (William Phineas) Upham
The search for a final resting place becomes an act of historical reclamation, tracing the forgotten land of a man condemned by the 1692 witchcraft trials. This study maps the boundaries of a life cut short.
Hovey's Handbook of the Mammoth Cave of Kentucky: A Practical Guide to the Regulation Routes
Horace Carver Hovey
This guide invites readers into the cool, silent depths of an American wonder, offering a structured passage through the vast, subterranean labyrinths of Kentucky’s most famous cavern. It serves as both a practical map and a lyrical meditation on the majesty of eternal night.
The Molly Maguires and the detectives
Allan Pinkerton
This account chronicles the infiltration of a violent, clandestine society within the Pennsylvania anthracite coal regions during the mid-1870s. It serves as a stark, firsthand report of the industrial unrest that defined a brutal era of American labor history.
The Trial of Peter Zenger
Unknown
A landmark legal battle for the soul of colonial America, this chronicle captures the moment a printer’s defiance ignited the enduring ideal of a free press.
Unitarianism in America: A History of its Origin and Development
George Willis Cooke
This history traces the transformation of New England’s rigid colonial orthodoxy into a flexible, rational, and humanitarian faith that redefined American religious life. It chronicles the organized evolution of a movement from its theological roots to its broad social impact.
Breaking the Wilderness
Frederick Samuel Dellenbaugh
The vast, untamed expanse west of the Mississippi is brought into focus through the eyes of those who first mapped its rivers, traversed its mountains, and fought to claim its soil.
Scribner's Magazine, Volume 26, October 1899
Various
This collection captures the restless, expansive spirit of the late nineteenth century through a blend of travel narrative, theatrical memoir, and reflective prose. It serves as a vivid time capsule of a world in transition.
The American Judiciary
Simeon E. (Simeon Eben) Baldwin
The American judiciary stands as a unique bulwark of constitutional power, where judges are uniquely tasked with weighing legislative acts against the supreme, enduring mandate of the people.
The Story of Manhattan
Charles Hemstreet
This book traces the transformation of a small, precarious Dutch fur-trading outpost into the bustling, foundational city of a new nation. It captures the rapid layering of history upon the geography of Manhattan.
The War With the United States
William Wood
The struggle of 1812 serves as a grim reminder that when nations trade peace for the perceived necessity of conflict, the resulting chaos often defies the intentions of those who summoned it.
A Stake in the Land
Peter A. (Peter Alexander) Speek
A pragmatic guide to the early twentieth-century American dream, this study examines the vital intersection of immigrant settlement, land ownership, and the role of public education in fostering national belonging.
Fort Raleigh National Historic Site, North Carolina
Porter, Charles W., III (Charles Wesley)
Fort Raleigh stands as a monument to the first, ill-fated English attempt to establish a permanent colony in North America, marking the enduring mystery of the settlers who vanished into the American wilderness.
Fort Sumter National Monument, South Carolina
Frank Barnes
The story of Fort Sumter is the story of the American Civil War in microcosm, beginning with a tense, bloodless standoff and concluding in a ruin that became a symbol of national reconciliation.
History of the National Flag of the United States of America
Schuyler Hamilton
A careful study of the origins of the United States flag reveals how symbols of revolution were crafted to broadcast a singular message of national unity.
Ku Klux Klan Secrets Exposed: Attitude toward Jews, Catholics, Foreigners and Masons. Fraudulent Methods Used. Atrocities Committed in Name of Order
Ezra A. (Ezra Asher) Cook
This investigation unmasks the 1920s resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan, stripping away the organization’s carefully cultivated veneer of mystery to reveal a predatory, profit-driven enterprise. It serves as a stark historical indictment of how fear and prejudice can be systematically commodified to undermine…
Patrician and Plebeian: Or The Origin and Development of the Social Classes of the Old Dominion
Thomas Jefferson Wertenbaker
This historical study dismantles the persistent myth that Virginia’s colonial elite descended from English nobility, revealing instead how local environmental, economic, and political pressures forged a distinct, native-born aristocracy from more humble origins.
Peace with Mexico
Albert Gallatin
The United States must reclaim its moral standing by ending a war of conquest, for true national honor is found in justice rather than territorial expansion or the false glory of military victory.