myebooksbuy
My Books

The whole shelf

All free summaries — page 212

34,239 public-domain books, summarised. Page 212 of 714.

Cover of Dave Fearless and the Cave of Mystery

Dave Fearless and the Cave of Mystery

Roy Rockwood

HOOK A young ocean diver and his father race against ruthless rivals to recover a stolen fortune hidden on a mysterious Pacific island.

Adventure6 min read
Cover of Education and the good life

Education and the good life

Bertrand Russell

Cultivating a free and rational mind is a parent’s greatest task, yet it requires a delicate balance between guiding a child’s natural instincts and avoiding the traps of repression.

Philosophy & Ethics7 min read
Cover of Fragments of Ancient Poetry

Fragments of Ancient Poetry

James Macpherson

HOOK This collection of ancient song fragments offers a haunting, mist-shrouded vision of a heroic past, where the voices of fallen warriors and grieving lovers echo across a desolate, timeless landscape.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Henry Ford's Own Story: How a Farmer Boy Rose to the Power that goes with Many Millions, Yet Never Lost Touch with Humanity

Henry Ford's Own Story: How a Farmer Boy Rose to the Power that goes with Many Millions, Yet Never Lost Touch with Humanity

Rose Wilder Lane

HOOK This portrait captures the relentless rise of an obscure farm boy who transformed mechanical obsession into a global industry, forever altering the relationship between man, machine, and capital.

Biographies5 min read
Cover of Hortense: Makers of History Series

Hortense: Makers of History Series

John S. C. (John Stevens Cabot) Abbott

A portrait of a woman caught in the violent tides of French history, whose life of exile and sorrow fueled her son’s path to the throne of an empire.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of Lest We Forget: World War Stories

Lest We Forget: World War Stories

John G. (John Gilbert) Thompson

This collection offers a series of brief, vivid accounts detailing the heroism, tragedies, and ideals of the First World War. Written in 1918, it serves as a contemporary window into how the conflict was framed for a younger generation.

Children & Young Adult Reading6 min read
Cover of Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, October, 1877. Vol XX - No. 118

Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, October, 1877. Vol XX - No. 118

Various

The nineteenth-century literary magazine serves as a bridge between the rapid industrialization of the era and the enduring human concerns of art, history, and social behavior. This collection offers a kaleidoscopic view of the Victorian intellectual landscape, mixing travelogue, fiction, and sociological inquiry.

Essays, Letters & Speeches6 min read
Cover of Paul Prescott's Charge

Paul Prescott's Charge

Alger, Horatio, Jr.

A young boy orphaned by poverty must navigate a hostile world, holding fast to his father’s final charge to live with integrity while proving his worth in an unforgiving city.

Adventure6 min read
Cover of Pharais

Pharais

William Sharp

The wind whispers of ancient sorrows and the tide pulls at the fraying edges of human hope in these haunting tales of the Scottish isles.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Philip Massinger

Philip Massinger

Alfred Hamilton Cruickshank

HOOK This scholarly examination illuminates the life and craft of a major Elizabethan dramatist, cataloging his artistic evolution through meticulous analysis of his surviving plays, collaborations, and the tragic loss of his unpublished manuscripts.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of Picture and Text: 1893

Picture and Text: 1893

Henry James

The intersection of artistic discipline and personal vision reveals the enduring power of the creator’s gaze. Through the lens of nineteenth-century illustration and performance, these reflections explore how the observer’s eye shapes the truth of the world.

Art6 min read
Cover of Quantity Cookery: Menu Planning and Cooking for Large Numbers

Quantity Cookery: Menu Planning and Cooking for Large Numbers

Lenore Richards

Efficient kitchen management transforms the chaos of high-volume service into a rhythmic, predictable art. This guide provides the foundational mechanics required to serve hundreds of patrons without sacrificing quality or order.

Cooking & Drinking6 min read
Cover of Recollections of Thirty-nine Years in the Army: Gwalior and the Battle of Maharajpore, 1843

Recollections of Thirty-nine Years in the Army: Gwalior and the Battle of Maharajpore, 1843

Gordon, Charles Alexander, Sir

A sweeping chronicle of a soldier-surgeon’s life, this narrative traverses the shifting frontiers of the nineteenth-century British Empire, from the sweltering plains of India to the besieged streets of Paris.

Biographies7 min read
Cover of Rouen, Its History and Monuments: A Guide to Strangers

Rouen, Its History and Monuments: A Guide to Strangers

Théodore Licquet

A city of storied stone and river-mists unfolds through the eyes of a local scholar, offering a meticulously mapped itinerary for the curious traveler of the nineteenth century.

Architecture6 min read
Cover of Some Specimens of the Poetry of the Ancient Welsh Bards

Some Specimens of the Poetry of the Ancient Welsh Bards

Evan Evans

This collection serves as a vital bridge to a lost world, rescuing the defiant, intricate voices of early Welsh poets from the encroaching shadows of history. It offers a rare, scholarly window into the soul of a culture defined by its resistance and its song.

Classics of Literature6 min read
Cover of The Death Shot: A Story Retold

The Death Shot: A Story Retold

Mayne Reid

This is a sweeping tale of vengeance and romantic devotion set against the volatile backdrop of the American frontier. It follows the harrowing struggle of a man left for dead who returns to claim justice and the woman he loves.

Adventure6 min read
Cover of The Flag of Distress: A Story of the South Sea

The Flag of Distress: A Story of the South Sea

Mayne Reid

A ghost ship drifts through the Pacific with its colors inverted, manned only by two orangutans and a pair of bound men, setting the stage for a desperate rescue.

Adventure6 min read
Cover of The Fleet: Its Rivers, Prison, and Marriages

The Fleet: Its Rivers, Prison, and Marriages

John Ashton

This historical chronicle unearths the forgotten layers of London’s Fleet district, where a polluted river, a notorious debtors' prison, and chaotic clandestine weddings once defined the city’s margins.

History - British6 min read
Cover of The Green Forest Fairy Book

The Green Forest Fairy Book

Loretta Ellen Brady

The world is a place where trees speak, birds carry messages, and a kind heart is the most potent magic of all. Here, simple kindness often rewards the humble more than any royal decree.

Children & Young Adult Reading6 min read
Cover of The History of the 51st (Highland) Division 1914-1918

The History of the 51st (Highland) Division 1914-1918

F. W. (Frederick William) Bewsher

The 51st (Highland) Division carved a singular reputation in the trenches of the Great War, and this chronicle captures their relentless service from the early battles of 1914 through the final, hard-won advances of 1918.

History - Modern (1750+)6 min read
Cover of The journal of the American-Irish Historical Society, Vol. VII, 1907

The journal of the American-Irish Historical Society, Vol. VII, 1907

Various

This volume serves as a formal repository for the historical documentation and organizational updates of the American-Irish Historical Society during the year 1907. It functions both as a scholarly periodical and a commemorative record for its members.

History - American7 min read
Cover of The Lincoln Story Book: A Judicious Collection of the Best Stories and Anecdotes of the Great President, Many Appearing Here for the First Time in Book Form

The Lincoln Story Book: A Judicious Collection of the Best Stories and Anecdotes of the Great President, Many Appearing Here for the First Time in Book Form

Unknown

This collection offers an intimate, anecdotal portrait of a leader who navigated the burdens of a fractured nation through the enduring power of wit, storytelling, and deep-seated human empathy.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of The Marble Faun

The Marble Faun

Nathaniel Hawthorne

A group of expatriate artists in Rome finds their innocence shattered by a sudden, impulsive act of violence that binds them together in a web of guilt, transformation, and moral reckoning.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of The Origin of Tyranny

The Origin of Tyranny

P. N. (Percy Neville) Ure

The archaic Greek tyrant was not merely a political usurper, but a pioneering capitalist who rose to power by mastering the burgeoning industries and trade networks of the ancient world.

History - Ancient7 min read
Cover of The Story of a Confederate Boy in the Civil War

The Story of a Confederate Boy in the Civil War

David E. (David Emmons) Johnston

This account offers an intimate, unvarnished look at the Civil War through the eyes of a young infantryman, capturing the transition from youthful idealism to the grim, grinding reality of a four-year struggle.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of The Stronghold: A Story of Historic Northern Neck of Virginia and Its People

The Stronghold: A Story of Historic Northern Neck of Virginia and Its People

Miriam Haynie

The Northern Neck of Virginia—the long, narrow peninsula carved by the Potomac and Rappahannock rivers—serves as the stage for this expansive chronicle of American heritage. It is a portrait of a landscape and its inhabitants, woven from the threads of colonial expansion, revolution, and the quiet endurance of…

History - American6 min read
Cover of Three Sunsets and Other Poems

Three Sunsets and Other Poems

Lewis Carroll

This collection of verse captures the melancholic underside of a celebrated imaginative mind, trading whimsical nonsense for earnest, often sorrowful, reflections on memory, loss, and the nature of love. These poems reveal a writer preoccupied with the passage of time and the heavy, spiritual weight of human longing.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of An apology for idlers, and other essays

An apology for idlers, and other essays

Robert Louis Stevenson

To be truly happy is a question of how we begin and not of how we end, of what we want and not of what we have. A spirit of idle curiosity is the surest remedy for the drudgery of existence.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Bill Nye and Boomerang

Bill Nye and Boomerang

Bill Nye

This collection of sketches and observations offers a dry, irreverent look at the American frontier, framed by a narrator who finds absurdity in everything from malfunctioning stoves to the solemnity of marriage. It is a portrait of a restless mind finding humor in the harsh, unpredictable edges of Wyoming life.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of Chantilly in History and Art

Chantilly in History and Art

Luise Richter

A scholarly pilgrimage through the halls and history of Chantilly, this volume surveys the storied lives of the castle’s inhabitants and the evolution of its incomparable art collection.

Art6 min read
Cover of Circe

Circe

Isaac Flagg

The gods’ own magic is no match for the pull of home, as a weary traveler and a powerful sorceress test the limits of love and memory.

Plays/Films/Dramas6 min read
Cover of Diary of Anna Green Winslow, a Boston School Girl of 1771

Diary of Anna Green Winslow, a Boston School Girl of 1771

Anna Green Winslow

A young girl’s observations in 1771 Boston turn the ordinary details of colonial childhood into an enduring, vibrant portrait of a life lived on the cusp of the American Revolution. Through these pages, a vanished world feels remarkably near.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of Diary of Samuel Pepys

Diary of Samuel Pepys

Samuel Pepys

These intimate, candid entries offer a rare, unvarnished window into the daily life, professional anxieties, and shifting personal fortunes of a seventeenth-century London administrator.

Biographies7 min read
Cover of Forest Neighbors: Life Stories of Wild Animals

Forest Neighbors: Life Stories of Wild Animals

William Davenport Hulbert

The wild residents of the northern woods live by ancient, unyielding rhythms, where every survival is a fleeting victory and every sunset brings a new, uncertain dawn.

Nature/Gardening/Animals6 min read
Cover of Here and Now Story Book: Two- to seven-year-olds

Here and Now Story Book: Two- to seven-year-olds

Lucy Sprague Mitchell

Children often encounter the world as a rush of sensory experiences, and this collection of stories seeks to match that intensity by mirroring the rhythmic, repeating patterns of a child’s own daily life.

Children & Young Adult Reading6 min read
Cover of Makers of Modern Medicine

Makers of Modern Medicine

James J. (James Joseph) Walsh

Scientific progress often relies less on grand, abstract theories and more on the quiet, patient observations of individuals who remain committed to the physical realities of the human body and the bedside care of the sick.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of Memoirs of Robert-Houdin, ambassador, author and conjurer

Memoirs of Robert-Houdin, ambassador, author and conjurer

Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin

A master of deception reveals the mechanics behind his illusions, transforming the arcane mysteries of the stage into a compelling study of human psychology and scientific precision.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of My Memories of Eighty Years

My Memories of Eighty Years

Chauncey M. (Chauncey Mitchell) Depew

A witness to the unfolding of modern America, a long-serving statesman and railroad executive reflects on the pivotal figures and transformative events that defined his eighty-eight years of public life.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of Photography in the studio and in the field

Photography in the studio and in the field

Edward M. Estabrooke

Photographic practice in the late nineteenth century required equal parts mechanical intuition and chemical precision, transforming fleeting light into a permanent, tangible memory through meticulous labor.

Art6 min read
Cover of Reflections on the painting and sculpture of the Greeks

Reflections on the painting and sculpture of the Greeks

Johann Joachim Winckelmann

To unlock the secrets of timeless beauty, one must look backward; the path to modern greatness lies in the singular, steady imitation of the ancient Greek masters.

Art6 min read
Cover of Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom

Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom

William Craft

A couple’s daring ruse to reclaim their humanity from the auction block stands as one of history's most extraordinary escape stories. This firsthand account transforms the abstract horrors of slavery into a gripping, personal narrative of survival.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of The Boys' and Girls' Pliny: Being parts of Pliny's "Natural History" edited for boys and girls, with an Introduction

The Boys' and Girls' Pliny: Being parts of Pliny's "Natural History" edited for boys and girls, with an Introduction

the Elder Pliny

This collection gathers the ancient world’s most curious wonders, from the sagacity of elephants to the legends of the sea, distilled for a younger audience from a monumental Roman encyclopedia.

Children & Young Adult Reading6 min read
Cover of The Circus, and Other Essays and Fugitive Pieces

The Circus, and Other Essays and Fugitive Pieces

Joyce Kilmer

The circus—that gathering of wonders, trampled grass, and acrobats—serves as a lens through which to view the ordinary and the extraordinary. These collected essays and critical pieces argue that true appreciation of life lies in the quiet, often overlooked, and perpetually human.

Essays, Letters & Speeches6 min read
Cover of The Comedy & Tragedy of the Second Empire: Paris Society in the Sixties

The Comedy & Tragedy of the Second Empire: Paris Society in the Sixties

Edward Legge

The Second Empire was a spectacle of opulence, political theater, and eventual ruin. This account captures the glittering facade of Paris in the sixties and the sobering collapse that followed.

History - European6 min read
Cover of The Comic Almanack, Volume 2: An Ephemeris in Jest and Earnest, Containing Merry Tales, Humerous Poetry, Quips, and Oddities

The Comic Almanack, Volume 2: An Ephemeris in Jest and Earnest, Containing Merry Tales, Humerous Poetry, Quips, and Oddities

William Makepeace Thackeray

This collection of nineteenth-century wit serves as a time capsule, capturing the relentless satire, inventive absurdity, and sharp social commentary that defined the Victorian sense of humor.

Humour7 min read
Cover of The Comic History of Rome

The Comic History of Rome

Gilbert Abbott À Beckett

This chronicle of Roman history subverts the gravity of ancient texts, offering a satirical lens through which the rise and collapse of the Republic become a series of human, often farcical, misadventures. It invites readers to view the legendary figures of antiquity not as marble icons, but as flawed, bickering,…

History - Ancient7 min read
Cover of The Copy-Cat, and Other Stories

The Copy-Cat, and Other Stories

Mary Eleanor Wilkins Freeman

These stories capture the hidden, often stubborn lives of New England villagers, revealing how quiet defiance and secret burdens shape the people behind their respectable lace-curtain facades.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of The Grey Man

The Grey Man

S. R. (Samuel Rutherford) Crockett

A landscape of ancient, bloody grudges, this tale follows a young man caught in the shadow of a legendary feud. It remains a classic of Scottish historical fiction, capturing the raw, relentless spirit of a kingdom divided.

Historical Novels6 min read
Advertisement