Free summaries
History - Modern (1750+) — page 5
287 public-domain history - modern (1750+) books, summarised. Page 5 of 6.
Rowlandson's Oxford
A. Hamilton (Arthur Hamilton) Gibbs
This historical survey captures the boisterous, often scandalous spirit of eighteenth-century Oxford, stripping away the polish of tradition to reveal a university defined by decadence, absenteeism, and ritualized indifference.
Towards the Great Peace
Ralph Adams Cram
This is a collection of lectures grappling with the fallout of the First World War, serving as a passionate call to abandon modern industrial materialism in favor of a return to pre-modern, decentralized social and spiritual values.
The Christian Foundation, Or, Scientific and Religious Journal, May, 1880
Various
This periodical serves as a vigorous defensive document, articulating the intellectual and moral foundations of Christianity against the rising tide of skepticism in the late 19th century. It offers a rare, unfiltered look into the theological and cultural anxieties of an era caught between traditional faith and…
The record of a regiment of the line
Mainwaring George Jacson
This detailed regimental history documents the 1st Battalion Devonshire Regiment’s grueling service in South Africa from 1899 to 1902, capturing the grit of the siege of Ladysmith and the relentless trekking that followed.
The Constitution of the Empire of Japan, 1889
Japan
This document serves as the foundational legal framework for a modernizing nation, establishing a delicate balance between ancient imperial sovereignty and the structure of a contemporary parliamentary state. It outlines the governing principles of an empire transitioning into a new era of global engagement.
The Velocipede: Its History, Varieties, and Practice
J. T. Goddard
A graceful machine that promises to annihilate time and space, the bicycle emerges in these pages as the definitive invention for a modern, mobile age.
History of the World War, Volume 3 (of 7)
March, Francis A., Jr.
This work serves as a panoramic chronicle of the Great War’s middle years, documenting the agonizing transition from mobile warfare to the entrenched, industrial slaughter that defined the conflict. It provides a sobering, detailed record of the shifting battle lines across Europe, the Mediterranean, and the Middle…
Bayonet Training Manual Used by the British Forces
Anonymous
A stark wartime manual lays bare the mechanical reality of hand-to-hand combat, transforming the bayonet into a disciplined science of survival and aggression.
The League of Nations and Its Problems: Three Lectures
L. (Lassa) Oppenheim
A realistic proposal for global governance warns that lasting peace relies on gradual historical steps rather than utopian leaps.
War—What For?
George R. (George Ross) Kirkpatrick
A searing Socialist polemic addresses the American working class, laying bare how financial elites orchestrate international conflicts while using working-class sons as cheap cannon fodder.
The Warfare of Science
Andrew Dickson White
Across centuries of intellectual struggle, human progress has hinged on a persistent contest between open scientific inquiry and rigid theological dogma.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 62, Number 385. November, 1847
Various
A mid-nineteenth-century British miscellany offers a sweeping panoramic view of an empire wrestling with global expansion, literary ownership, and social hardship.
The Future of Islam
Wilfrid Scawen Blunt
A 19th-century diplomat presents a detailed, visionary analysis of a changing Islamic world, arguing that European powers must support internal religious reform rather than enforce aggressive colonial domination.
With a Highland Regiment in Mesopotamia: 1916—1917
Anonymous
The mud-soaked, sun-scorched story of a Highland battalion in the Mesopotamian campaign captures the brutal, unglamorous realities of a forgotten theater of the Great War. It serves as a stark, intimate record of endurance.
Evolution and creation
Herbert Junius Hardwicke
The pursuit of truth demands a departure from the comfort of established authority. By anchoring human history in geological evidence, one may reconcile the evolution of the natural world with the development of the human mind.
Handy War Guide for My Company: Handy Company Commander's Guide
André Godefroy Lionel Hanguillart
This manual distills the grim, practical realities of frontline combat into a concise set of tactical instructions for the company-level officer during the First World War.
Dictatorship vs. Democracy (Terrorism and Communism): a reply to Karl Kantsky
Leon Trotsky
The necessity of revolutionary force versus the appeal of parliamentary democracy remains a volatile question, argued here with the cold, sharp clarity of a partisan intellectual defending a new order against its critics.
![Cover of Secret Enemies of True Republicanism: Most important developments regarding the inner life of man and the spirit world, in order to abolish revolutions and wars and to establish permanent peace on earth, also: the plan for redemption of nations from monarchical and other oppresive [sic] speculations and for the introduction of the promised new era of harmony, truth and righteousness on the whole globe](https://cdn.myebooksbuy.com/c/secret-enemies-of-true-republicanism-most-important-developments.webp)
Secret Enemies of True Republicanism: Most important developments regarding the inner life of man and the spirit world, in order to abolish revolutions and wars and to establish permanent peace on earth, also: the plan for redemption of nations from monarchical and other oppresive [sic] speculations and for the introduction of the promised new era of harmony, truth and righteousness on the whole globe
Andrew B. (Andreas Bernardus) Smolnikar
The "secret enemies" of a true republic are not foreign monarchs or political parties, but the delusions of the spirit world and the failure of humanity to embrace a divinely ordered, collective peace. This 1859 polemic serves as both a spiritual manifesto and a desperate call to action for the American nation to…
Armageddon—And After
W. L. (William Leonard) Courtney
A call to action for a generation defined by the shadow of global conflict, this work explores the path toward a permanent peace in the ruins of a fractured Europe.
In Korea with Marquis Ito
George Trumbull Ladd
A seasoned academic offers a firsthand account of the Japanese administration in Korea during a pivotal moment of transition. This work documents the early years of the Japanese Protectorate through the eyes of a sympathetic observer.
Last Words on Evolution: A Popular Retrospect and Summary
Ernst Haeckel
The biological history of human origins is a hard-won scientific truth, not a matter of faith, and its acceptance signals the triumph of reason over institutional dogma.
History of Ambulance Company Number 139
Various
The men of a Kansas-based medical unit document their journey from training in the American heartland to the harrowing front lines of the Meuse-Argonne offensive and the eventual return to civilian life.
Over There: War Scenes on the Western Front
Arnold Bennett
The landscape of the Great War is a haunting testament to human endurance, where the fragile remnants of civilization stand in stark, silent defiance against the machinery of total destruction.
A Five Years' Residence in Buenos Ayres, During the years 1820 to 1825: Containing Remarks on the Country and Inhabitants
George Thomas Love
An observant British expatriate captures the transformation of a post-colonial city, providing a vivid, candid portrait of life in Buenos Aires during its formative early years of independence.
The Constitutional Development of Japan 1853-1881: Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Science, Ninth Series
T. (Toyokichi) Iyenaga
The arrival of Commodore Perry in 1853 acted as a catalyst, transforming Japan from a secluded, feudal society into a modern constitutional state in under three decades.
The Present State of Hayti (Saint Domingo) with Remarks on its Agriculture, Commerce, Laws, Religion, Finances, and Population
James (Merchant) Franklin
This work serves as a detailed contemporary account of Haiti’s post-revolutionary transition, examining how a former colonial jewel struggled to establish economic stability and governance in the early nineteenth century. It provides an unfiltered, critical perspective on the complex challenges faced by the young…
'Neath Verdun, August-October, 1914
Maurice Genevoix
The front lines of 1914 offer a stark, unvarnished look at the transition from movement to static slaughter. These accounts capture the visceral reality of a world turning into a graveyard.
The challenge of the dead
Stephen Graham
A former soldier retraces his steps across the scarred Western Front two years after the Armistice, seeking meaning among silent battlefields, ruined towns, and fresh wooden crosses.
The Wheel of Fortune
Mahatma Gandhi
A simple wooden wheel is the engine of a nation’s liberation. By reclaiming the ancient craft of spinning, millions may find their way to self-reliance and dignity.
A history of the Irish poor law, in connexion with the condition of the people
Nicholls, George, Sir
A clear-eyed examination of the legislative struggle to establish a sustainable system of public relief in Ireland, tracing the evolution from antiquated, fragmented practices to the structured, albeit imperfect, workhouse system.
The Economic Functions of Vice
John McElroy
Excess human life is culled not by nature's predators, but by the very vices of the unfit, which act as a merciful, self-administered filter for the species.
Turkish Prisoners in Egypt: A Report by the Delegates of the International Committee of the Red Cross
International Committee of the Red Cross
An official inspection of wartime internment facilities in Egypt reveals the conditions and daily experiences of thousands of Turkish prisoners held by the British during the First World War.
Annals of the early Caliphate from the death of Mahomet to the Omeyyad and Abbaside dynasties A.H. XI-LXI (A.D. 632-680) from original sources
Muir, William, Sir
In the half-century following the death of Mahomet, a desert faith shatters two ancient empires and rebuilds the Near East.
Round about a Pound a Week
Mrs. Pember Reeves
A family living in Edwardian Lambeth buys half-pennyworths of sugar, sleeps four children to a bed under a window, and faces infant mortality as a predictable calculation of rent.
With our army in Palestine
Antony Bluett
A soldier’s eye view of the Middle Eastern theater, this record moves from dusty desert marches to the green fields of the Levant with unvarnished candor.
Sixty Squadron R.A.F.: A History of the Squadron from its Formation
A. J. L. (Alan John Lance) Scott
A band of young aviators takes to the sky, forging the deadly art of aerial combat from the ground up over Western Europe.
German Atrocities from German Evidence
Joseph Bédier
A chilling archival indictment of war, built entirely from the captured diaries, unit orders, and letters of the very soldiers committing the acts.
The Method by Which the Causes of the Present and Past Conditions of Organic Nature Are to Be Discovered
Thomas Henry Huxley
All scientific reasoning, from unraveling the deepest mysteries of organic evolution to identifying the thief who stole the household silverware, relies on the exact same everyday operations of induction, deduction, and relentless experimental verification.
The Old Front Line
John Masefield
A stark, methodical inventory of the British front line before the July 1916 offensive, tracing every chalk ridge, ruined copse, and barbed-wire entanglement where thousands marched toward catastrophic fire.
What the "Boys" Did Over There: By "Themselves"
Unknown
The Great War is often remembered through the distant, polished lens of history, but these dispatches bring the raw grit of the trenches directly to the reader. They serve as a visceral, fragmented mosaic of survival in a conflict that redefined human endurance.
Trooper Bluegum at the Dardanelles: Descriptive Narratives of the More Desperate Engagements on the Gallipoli Peninsula
Oliver Hogue
Gallipoli was a crucible of mud, blood, and waiting, where Australian bushmen traded their saddles for shovels and their certainty for the grit of trench warfare. This account captures the transition of a volunteer force from eager horsemen into hardened, fatalistic veterans of a campaign that defied all expectation.
Scientific Studies
Henry Dircks
History serves as a vast laboratory where the boundaries between genuine mechanical genius and the persistence of delusion are tested through the lives and follies of the past.
The 116th Battalion in France
E. P. S. (Evelyn Prestwood Seymour) Allen
This regimental history chronicles the frontline experiences of a Canadian infantry unit, capturing the transition of raw recruits into seasoned veterans through the brutal, transformative years of the First World War. It serves as a direct, unadorned account of the tactical realities and shared camaraderie of the…
Angola and the River Congo, vol. 1
Joachim John Monteiro
A firsthand account of nineteenth-century exploration and trade, this narrative illuminates the natural landscape and social customs of a region spanning from the Congo River to the coastal reaches of Angola.
Ways of War and Peace
Delia Austrian
This account captures the sudden, disorienting transition from peacetime travel to the outbreak of the Great War. It offers a rare, firsthand view of the chaos faced by stranded civilians as they navigate a collapsing European order.
List of post offices in Canada, with the names of the postmasters ... 1860
Canada. Post Office Department
This volume serves as a rigid, administrative snapshot of Canada’s communications infrastructure on the first day of 1860. It functions as a comprehensive directory, pairing every established post office in the Province of Canada with its presiding postmaster and regional electoral division.
Recollections of Manilla and the Philippines: During 1848, 1849 and 1850
Robert MacMicking
A sharp-eyed British merchant navigates the rigid bureaucracy and vibrant culture of mid-nineteenth-century Manila, offering an urgent plea for economic liberalization in the Spanish Philippines.
Canadian Scenery, Volume 2 (of 2)
Nathaniel Parker Willis
This survey of mid-19th-century British North America captures the rugged intersection of wilderness expansion and colonial ambition through travelogue, regional observation, and practical advice for the prospective immigrant.