Free summaries
History - American — page 26
1,672 public-domain history - american books, summarised. Page 26 of 35.

The American Bee Journal. Vol. XVII. No. 14. April 6, 1881
Various
This volume of The American Bee Journal serves as a vital historical snapshot of the professional and amateur apiculture community during a record-breaking, brutal winter in 1881.

The Camp-life of the Third Regiment
Robert Thomas Kerlin
A chaplain’s intimate, unvarnished account of the daily lives, hardships, and moral fiber of Missouri volunteers during the Spanish-American War, told through a series of heartfelt letters from the field.

The Making of the Great West, 1512-1883
Samuel Adams Drake
This chronicle maps the relentless expansion of the American frontier from the early Spanish quests of the sixteenth century to the settlement of the Pacific coast by the late nineteenth.

Soldiering in North Carolina: Being the experiences of a 'typo' in the pines, swamps, fields, sandy roads, towns, cities, and among the fleas, wood-ticks, 'gray-backs,' mosquitoes, blue-tail flies, moccasin snakes, lizards, scorpions, rebels, and other reptiles, pests, and vermin of the 'Old North State.' Embracing an account of the three-years and nine-months Massachusetts regiments in the department, the freedmen, etc., etc., etc
Thomas Kirwan
A printer by trade, an infantryman by necessity, one man recounts his three-year journey through the swamps and skirmishes of the Civil War’s North Carolina front. This is the unvarnished story of a soldier’s daily struggle against boredom, bureaucracy, and the elements in the "Old North State.

The Character and Influence of the Indian Trade in Wisconsin
Frederick Jackson Turner
The trading post was the forge of the American Northwest, a pivotal institution that transformed a wilderness of rivers into a theater for empire, commerce, and cultural upheaval.

Hydesville: The Story of the Rochester Knockings, Which Proclaimed the Advent of Modern Spiritualism
Thomas Olman Todd
HOOK A simple wooden farmhouse in 1848 becomes the epicenter of a global movement when two young sisters discover they can communicate with an invisible, rapping presence.

The Fighting Governor
Charles W. (Charles William) Colby
A fiery, aristocratic soldier navigates the perilous politics of seventeenth-century New France, transforming from a disgraced governor into the indispensable architect of the colony’s survival against impossible odds.

The Great Fortress
William Wood
A lone stone citadel on the fog-shrouded shores of Cape Breton holds the key to an empire, serving as the sole Atlantic gateway between France and its vast American wilderness.

Chambers's Journal of Popular Literature, Science, and Art, No. 733, January 12, 1878
Various
An extraordinary glimpse into nineteenth-century society, where moral dilemmas, industrial crafts, and dramatic fiction collide.

My Days and Nights on the Battle-Field
Charles Carleton Coffin
The record of a war correspondent’s early experiences, these pages capture the chaos and moral clarity of the American Civil War’s opening campaigns through a firsthand witness to the frontline action.

The Treaty Held with the Indians of the Six Nations at Philadelphia, in July 1742: To which is Prefix'd an Account of the first Confederacy of the Six Nations, their present Tributaries, Dependents, and Allies
Unknown
The fragile peace of colonial Pennsylvania rests on the precise, ritualized diplomacy of the Six Nations. This transcript of the 1742 proceedings reveals the high-stakes navigation of land rights, trade, and regional power.

A Letter from Major Robert Carmichael-Smyth to His Friend, the Author of 'The Clockmaker'
Robert Carmichael-Smyth
A visionary 1849 proposal outlines how a transcontinental railway across British North America could unite an empire, transform global commerce, and solve pressing domestic crises.

Border and Bastille
George A. (George Alfred) Lawrence
A fashionable English novelist sets out for America in 1863 to join the Confederate army, but his grand adventure falls apart in a tangle of treacherous guides, muddy rivers, and Federal prisons.

The American Missionary
Various
A monthly report of religious and educational labors, this periodical records the post-Civil War efforts to uplift systematically oppressed Black, Chinese, and Indigenous populations across America.

The Bark Covered House
William Nowlin
A boy grows up alongside a country as his family carves a homestead out of the dense Michigan timber, trading raw wilderness for fields, roads, and a permanent place in the republic.

Towards the Goal
Ward, Humphry, Mrs.
The Allied effort in the Great War is a chronicle of grim resolve, documenting the transformation of a nation as it mobilizes its people and industry toward a singular, desperate victory.

A Collection of State-papers, Relative to the First Acknowledgment of the Sovereignty of the United States of America, and the Reception of Their Minister Plenipotentiary, by Their High Mightinesses the States General of the United Netherlands
Unknown
A diplomat’s persistent petitioning sparks a groundswell of commercial and political will across Dutch provinces, transforming an outcast revolutionary movement into an officially recognized sovereign nation.

A history of the trials and hardships of the Twenty-fourth Indiana Volunteer Infantry
Richard J. (Richard Johnson) Fulfer
This account of the Twenty-fourth Indiana Volunteer Infantry offers an unvarnished, firsthand look at the daily reality of a Civil War soldier, tracing their long journey through the South’s battlefields and bayous.

Plantation Reminiscences
Letitia M. Burwell
A sentimental defense of the antebellum South written from the vantage point of a ruined post-war elite, this memoir captures a lost world of elaborate plantation hospitality, enslaved labor, and aristocratic nostalgia.

Social Life in Old Virginia Before the War
Thomas Nelson Page
A nostalgic and detailed exploration of the social life and customs of old Virginia before the Civil War.

The Discovery of America by the Northmen, 985-1015
Edmund F. (Edmund Farwell) Slafter
Centuries before Columbus crossed the Atlantic, adventurous Scandinavian navigators accidentally stumbled upon the rugged shores of North America, leaving behind an enduring maritime legacy preserved in ancient Icelandic sagas.

The Great Conspiracy, Volume 3
John Alexander Logan
This historical account examines the deep-seated political divisions and constitutional crises that culminated in the American Civil War. It argues that the conflict was a premeditated conspiracy against the integrity of the United States.

Opening the West With Lewis and Clark: By Boat, Horse and Foot Up the Great River Missouri, Across the Stony Mountains and on to the Pacific, When in the Years 1804, 1805, 1806, Young Captain Lewis, the Long Knife, and His Friend Captain Clark, the Red Head Chief, Aided by Sacajawea, the Birdwoman, Conducted Their Little Band of Men Tried and True Through the Unknown New United States
Edwin L. (Edwin Legrand) Sabin
Through uncharted wilderness and over the daunting Rocky Mountains, a determined band of explorers fulfills a young nation’s dream of reaching the Pacific.

The American Navy and Liberia: An Address before the American Colonization Society, January 18, 1876
Robert Wilson Shufeldt
This address traces the intertwined histories of the United States Navy and the Republic of Liberia, arguing that a renewed American commitment is essential to the survival of the African nation.

The magazine of history with notes and queries (Vol. I, No. 5, May 1905)
Various
Across the vast expanse of the American story, from the early mapping of the Mississippi to the grim administrative ledgers of the Civil War, history reveals itself as a collection of fragmented, human experiences. This volume serves as a repository for the forgotten details of the past, gathering disparate…

From Isolation to Leadership, Revised: A Review of American Foreign Policy
John Holladay Latané
The United States emerges from the shadow of European influence to claim a central role on the world stage. This historical narrative traces the shifting foundations of American foreign policy from its inception to the post-World War I era.

Index of the Project Gutenberg Works of William Wood
William Wood
These chronicles map the high-stakes evolution of North American history, charting the rise of empires through the lens of military strategy, naval supremacy, and the relentless endurance of the frontier. They act as a comprehensive survey of the conflicts that shaped Canada and the broader Atlantic world.

The Anti-slavery Harp: A Collection of Songs for Anti-slavery Meetings
William Wells Brown
These verses serve as a rhythmic, defiant call to conscience, transforming the stark realities of American chattel slavery into a rallying cry for the abolitionist movement.

The History of Peru
Henry S. Beebe
This chronicle records the rapid, uneven birth of a Midwestern town, capturing the chaotic spirit of frontier expansion and the fragile ambition of its earliest inhabitants.

The New Land: Stories of Jews Who Had a Part in the Making of Our Country
Elma Ehrlich Levinger
The American story, as it is often told, is a mosaic of arrivals and aspirations. Here, the focus shifts to the specific contributions, struggles, and persistent dreams of the Jewish people as they helped forge the identity of a young nation.

What Prohibition Has Done to America
Fabian Franklin
When a nation elevates a mere police regulation above its own fundamental charter, it trades the enduring dignity of free government for the fleeting, tyrannical impulses of a organized statutory crusade.

Stephen H. Branch's Alligator, Vol. 1 no. 04, May 15, 1858
Unknown
Mid-nineteenth-century New York politics explodes into scabrous pamphlets, municipal feuds, and a deeply physical, unsparingly eccentric personal memoir of survival and the itch.

The American Missionary
Various
This archival record offers an unfiltered look at the post-Civil War American missionary movement, capturing the period’s fervent idealism and its complex, often fraught, efforts to reshape a nation’s social and spiritual landscape.

The American Missionary
Various
Across the late-nineteenth-century American landscape, churches and schools rise from the ashes of war to forge a new path of education and spiritual revival.

The Great Conspiracy, Volume 1
John Alexander Logan
This dense historical account chronicles the systematic efforts of pro-slavery politicians to dismantle the American Union, tracing the origins of the Civil War from the earliest days of the Republic to the mid-1860s.

The Journal of Prison Discipline and Philanthropy (New Series, No. 3, January 1864)
Philadelphia Society for Alleviating the Miseries of Public Prisons
Behind the stone walls of mid-nineteenth-century Philadelphia, dedicated reformers navigate the heavy human toll of poverty, intemperance, and flawed justice to redeem lost souls.

A History of the Second Division Naval Militia Connecticut National Guard
Daniel Doane Bidwell
Salt spray, steady discipline, and patriotic devotion forged a dedicated group of Connecticut citizens into a formidable naval militia at the turn of the twentieth century.

Stephen H. Branch's Alligator, Vol. 1 no. 21, September 11, 1858
Unknown
This publication captures the biting wit and political chaos of 1858 New York, serving as a raw, unfiltered dispatch from a city obsessed with telegraphy, graft, and theatrical public spectacles.

The American Missionary
Various
This collection of reports and editorials offers a candid look at the late-19th-century American missionary landscape, detailing the struggles, logistical realities, and ideological tensions of the era’s religious and social reform efforts.

The Negro and the nation
Hubert H. Harrison
The American racial hierarchy is not a natural or immutable condition, but a calculated instrument of economic exploitation designed to keep the working class divided against itself.

Two Decades: A History of the First Twenty Years' Work of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union of the State of New York
Frances W. Graham
This chronicle documents the first two decades of a powerful grassroots movement, tracking the rise of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union in New York from local prayer groups to a statewide political force.

Ye Olde Mint: Being a brief description of the first U.S. Mint, established by Congress in the year 1792, at Seventh Street and Sugar Alley (now Filbert Street) Philadelphia
Frank H. Stewart
This account documents the humble origins of the first United States Mint, a modest Philadelphia site where the nation’s earliest coins were struck under the watchful eye of George Washington.

Historical Record of the Seventy-Second Regiment, or the Duke of Albany's Own Highlanders: Containing an account of the formation of the regiment in 1778, and of its subsequent services to 1848
Richard Cannon
This chronicle maps the evolution and deployment of a renowned British infantry unit, tracing the regiment’s global trajectory from its Highland inception in 1778 through seven decades of service across three continents.

History of the Constitutions of Iowa
Benjamin Franklin Shambaugh
The political architecture of a frontier territory emerges through the intense, often contentious process of shaping statehood. This account traces the evolution of Iowa’s governing principles from unregulated pioneer settlements to the adoption of a formal state constitution.

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.

Stephen H. Branch's Alligator, Vol. 1 no. 23, September 25, 1858
Unknown
A defiant editor, imprisoned for libel, chronicles his personal history, political struggles, and moral philosophy through the pages of a singular, embattled weekly publication.

The American Missionary
Various
This periodical captures the urgent, practical, and often embattled spirit of nineteenth-century home missions, documenting the expansion of church-led education across the American South, the frontier, and beyond.

The American Missionary
Various
This periodical serves as a vital historical record of late-19th-century American mission work, documenting the religious and social efforts of a prominent Congregationalist organization during a pivotal era of post-Civil War reconstruction.