myebooksbuy
My Books

The whole shelf

All free summaries — page 217

34,239 public-domain books, summarised. Page 217 of 714.

Cover of Tales and Novels

Tales and Novels

Maria Edgeworth

Correcting youth requires clear examples, not heavy demands. Self-discovery, practical virtue, and disciplined thinking shape a mind far better than rigid instruction or empty social vanity.

British Literature9 min read
Cover of The Acts of the General Assemblies of the Church of Scotland

The Acts of the General Assemblies of the Church of Scotland

Church of Scotland. General Assembly

These official records trace a nation’s fierce struggle for religious self-determination, capturing the moment a Scottish church declared its independence from royal dictate and rebuilt its identity from the ground up.

History - British8 min read
Cover of The Autobiography of Sergeant William Lawrence: A Hero of the Peninsular and Waterloo Campaigns

The Autobiography of Sergeant William Lawrence: A Hero of the Peninsular and Waterloo Campaigns

William Lawrence

A young runaway tradesman enlists for a sixteen-guinea bounty and spent seventeen years in the ranks, marching across Spain, France, and Flanders straight into the fury of Waterloo.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of The Duchess of Berry and the Court of Charles X

The Duchess of Berry and the Court of Charles X

Imbert de Saint-Amand

A brief optical illusion of peace masks the decay of a fragile throne, where brilliant galas and royal pageants obscure the slow approach of an inevitable collapse.

History - European6 min read
Cover of The Eurhythmics of Jaques-Dalcroze

The Eurhythmics of Jaques-Dalcroze

Émile Jaques-Dalcroze

Translating the inner impulse of music into physical motion creates a complete unity between mind, body, and art, restoring the natural, expressive harmony that modern life and mechanical education have systematically stripped away.

How To ...6 min read
Cover of The Evolution of Culture, and Other Essays

The Evolution of Culture, and Other Essays

Augustus Henry Lane-Fox Pitt-Rivers

Human ingenuity advances not through sudden leaps of individual genius, but through a slow, continuous chain of tiny, incremental adaptations shaped by practical necessity.

Archaeology & Anthropology5 min read
Cover of The Fantastic Clan: The Cactus Family

The Fantastic Clan: The Cactus Family

J. J. (John James) Thornber

Spines, blossoms, and burning sun define an extraordinary wilderness where strange, resilient green architectures flourish against the vast sky of the American Southwest.

Nature/Gardening/Animals7 min read
Cover of The Feasts of Autolycus: The Diary of a Greedy Woman

The Feasts of Autolycus: The Diary of a Greedy Woman

Elizabeth Robins Pennell

An unapologetic, exquisitely styled manifesto for the dining table, declaring that true culinary pleasure is an art form deserving woman's highest artistic ambition.

Cooking & Drinking8 min read
Cover of The Highland bagpipe

The Highland bagpipe

W. L. (William Laird) Manson

An instrument capable of rallying armies on battlefield knolls can also incite fierce feuds, unseat a rider in Chicago, or be cast into a ditch by an offended elephant.

History - Other5 min read
Cover of The Legends of the Jews

The Legends of the Jews

Louis Ginzberg

An unspooling of ancient rabbinic imagination, this collection gathers centuries of folklore to rebuild the biblical wilderness as a realm of cosmic scale.

Mythology, Legends & Folklore7 min read
Cover of The Library of Work and Play: Housekeeping

The Library of Work and Play: Housekeeping

Elizabeth Hale Gilman

A young girl’s playhouse under a tree becomes the launching pad for a deep, surprisingly spiritual exploration of household management, transforming everyday domestic work into an art of devotion and quiet purpose.

How To ...6 min read
Cover of The Outlaws of Cave-in-Rock: Historical Accounts of the Famous Highwaymen and River Pirates

The Outlaws of Cave-in-Rock: Historical Accounts of the Famous Highwaymen and River Pirates

Otto A. Rothert

A limestone cavern along the Ohio River serves as the physical anchor for decades of frontier bloodletting, river piracy, and organized crime.

Crime, Thrillers and Mystery7 min read
Cover of The Rejuvenation of Aunt Mary

The Rejuvenation of Aunt Mary

Anne Warner

A wealthy, iron-willed country aunt threatens to disinherit her wild college nephew, only to be completely won over when his friends lure her into a whirlwind week of New York nightlife.

American Literature7 min read
Cover of The Sanitary Evolution of London

The Sanitary Evolution of London

Henry (Henry Lorenzo) Jephson

This chronicle maps the grueling, multi-generational campaign to transform London from a disease-ridden labyrinth into a modern, habitable metropolis. It stands as a vital record of how policy and persistence slowly conquered the lethal neglect of the nineteenth-century urban environment.

Health & Medicine7 min read
Cover of The Secret of the Earth

The Secret of the Earth

Charles Willing Beale

Two brothers take flight in a specialized airship and stumble through an opening at the pole into a sunlit world hidden inside the hollow Earth.

Adventure6 min read
Cover of The Treasure of the Incas: A Story of Adventure in Peru

The Treasure of the Incas: A Story of Adventure in Peru

G. A. (George Alfred) Henty

Gold, mystery, and the rugged slopes of the Andes drive two English brothers into the wild heart of Peru. They risk everything against hostile tribes, treacherous bandits, and natural perils to uncover the lost wealth of the ancient Incas.

Adventure6 min read
Cover of The Wonderful Visit

The Wonderful Visit

H. G. (Herbert George) Wells

A celestial visitor falls into a Victorian English village, where human custom, social malice, and physical suffering slowly drag its heavenly nature down to earth.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of A Simple Soul

A Simple Soul

Gustave Flaubert

A servant’s quiet life of devotion and loss narrows to the span of a provincial household, where a stuffed parrot becomes her ultimate vision of the divine.

French Literature6 min read
Cover of An Enquiry into the Life and Legend of Michael Scot

An Enquiry into the Life and Legend of Michael Scot

J. Wood (James Wood) Brown

To separate a thirteenth-century scholar’s genuine scientific achievements from the dark, persistent myths of medieval magic, an investigator must carefully trace surviving manuscripts through European cloisters, royal courts, and monastic libraries.

Biographies6 min read
Cover of Angels in Art

Angels in Art

Clara Erskine Clement Waters

An illuminating study traces how sacred art transformed airborne messengers into complex symbols of faith, power, and human emotion across centuries of painting and sculpture.

Art6 min read
Cover of Blackbeard: Buccaneer

Blackbeard: Buccaneer

Ralph Delahaye Paine

A high-spirited 1718 swashbuckler pits a brave South Carolina youth and a reluctant boy pirate against Edward Teach’s infamous crew in a fight for survival, honor, and sunken gold.

Adventure6 min read
Cover of Discourses on Satire and on Epic Poetry

Discourses on Satire and on Epic Poetry

John Dryden

A supreme English stylist unpacks the architecture of classic verse, testing ancient masters against modern rivals with sharp-eyed vigor and generous learning.

British Literature6 min read
Cover of Expositions of Holy Scripture: Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, and First Book of Samuel, Second Samuel, First Kings, and Second Kings chapters I to VII

Expositions of Holy Scripture: Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, and First Book of Samuel, Second Samuel, First Kings, and Second Kings chapters I to VII

Alexander Maclaren

A veteran preacher reads the long historical books of the Old Testament not as dusty chronicles of a dead nation, but as an unflinching mirror held up to the human heart.

Religion/Spirituality10 min read
Cover of Fors Clavigera (Volume 1 of 8): Letters to the workmen and labourers of Great Britain

Fors Clavigera (Volume 1 of 8): Letters to the workmen and labourers of Great Britain

John Ruskin

An urgent, deeply personal challenge to Victorian industrial society, these public-domain letters call on working people to abandon destructive notions of mechanical progress and reclaim a life grounded in honest labor and clear moral truth.

British Literature7 min read
Cover of Games and songs of American children

Games and songs of American children

Unknown

Beneath the innocent surface of ring dances and playground chants lies a vast, unbroken chain of ancient European folklore, preserved entirely by children across the American republic.

Archaeology & Anthropology6 min read
Cover of Gerald Fitzgerald, the Chevalier: A Novel

Gerald Fitzgerald, the Chevalier: A Novel

Charles Lever

A street child in Rome grows up to discover he is the secret heir to the Stuart throne, sweeping him into high-stakes European intrigue. <Image alt="Gerald Fitzgerald standing before an kneeling Cardinal" caption="Gerald Fitzgerald acknowledged by the Cardinal" src="imageagenttag17003276602765713539"/

Historical Novels7 min read
Cover of History of Phosphorus

History of Phosphorus

Eduard Farber

Accidental discoveries in alchemical cauldrons can ignite centuries of scientific revolution, transforming human understanding of life, medicine, industry, and the fundamental architecture of matter itself.

History - Other6 min read
Cover of Illustrations of the manners, customs, & condition of the North American Indians, Vol. 1 (of 2): With letters and notes, written during eight years of travel and adventure among the wildest and most remarkable tribes now existing

Illustrations of the manners, customs, & condition of the North American Indians, Vol. 1 (of 2): With letters and notes, written during eight years of travel and adventure among the wildest and most remarkable tribes now existing

George Catlin

A passionate painter ventures into the heart of the American wilderness, driven to capture on canvas the living presence of indigenous nations before their worlds are irrevocably altered.

Archaeology & Anthropology7 min read
Cover of Illustrations of the manners, customs, & condition of the North American Indians, Vol. 2 (of 2): With letters and notes, written during eight years of travel and adventure among the wildest and most remarkable tribes now existing

Illustrations of the manners, customs, & condition of the North American Indians, Vol. 2 (of 2): With letters and notes, written during eight years of travel and adventure among the wildest and most remarkable tribes now existing

George Catlin

A detailed, empathetic record of Native American cultures reveals a continent in profound transition, documenting traditional ways of life on the brink of permanent transformation.

Archaeology & Anthropology7 min read
Cover of Principles and Practice of Fur Dressing and Fur Dyeing

Principles and Practice of Fur Dressing and Fur Dyeing

William E. Austin

Demystifying an industry long shrouded in guild-like secrecy, this groundbreaking treatise translates the art of fur processing into a precise, modern applied science.

Engineering & Technology5 min read
Cover of School and Home Cooking

School and Home Cooking

Carlotta C. (Carlotta Cherryholmes) Greer

Practical science meets daily domestic life in an instructional manual designed to turn young students into capable home managers.

Cooking & Drinking6 min read
Cover of The Country Doctor

The Country Doctor

Honoré de Balzac

A wounded military veteran rides into a remote mountain valley to seek a country doctor, only to discover an entire community transformed by one man's devotion to civic duty and social redemption.

French Literature5 min read
Cover of The English and Scottish popular ballads, volume 3 (of 5)

The English and Scottish popular ballads, volume 3 (of 5)

Unknown

When an archer shoots an apple from his own child's head, he does not always act under the cruel coercion of a tyrant; in the English forest, he steps forward willingly, risking everything purely for the thrill of glory.

British Literature11 min read
Cover of The Gentle Art of Faking: A history of the methods of producing imitations & spurious works of art from the earliest times up to the present day

The Gentle Art of Faking: A history of the methods of producing imitations & spurious works of art from the earliest times up to the present day

Riccardo Nobili

A sweeping examination of forged beauty across the centuries, this study uncovers how collector vanity and artful trickery have mirrored one another from antiquity to the modern saleroom.

Art6 min read
Cover of The Gospel of St. John

The Gospel of St. John

Joseph MacRory

A meticulous textual defense of the Fourth Gospel balances strict doctrinal authority with clear, verse-by-verse structural analysis.

Religion/Spirituality8 min read
Cover of The Heart of Pinocchio: New Adventures of the Celebrated Little Puppet

The Heart of Pinocchio: New Adventures of the Celebrated Little Puppet

Collodi Nipote

When the world collapses into war, a wooden puppet decides his place is on the front line with his nation’s soldiers.

Adventure6 min read
Cover of The Moon Maid

The Moon Maid

Edgar Rice Burroughs

A multigenerational struggle between freedom and tyranny begins in space and spans centuries across a subterranean lunar world and a desolate, conqueror-ravaged Earth.

Adventure6 min read
Cover of The Negro in Literature and Art in the United States

The Negro in Literature and Art in the United States

Benjamin Griffith Brawley

A rigorous literary study details how African American creators built an enduring cultural heritage across poetry, prose, drama, fine arts, and music.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of The Poetical Works of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Volume 2

The Poetical Works of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Volume 2

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Dark romantic ballads, socio-political indictments, and spiritual meditations converge in a powerful collection that examines human suffering, earthly devotion, and divine transcendence.

British Literature7 min read
Cover of The Theory of Stock Exchange Speculation

The Theory of Stock Exchange Speculation

Arthur Crump

A ruthless dissection of modern financial markets reveals why amateur operators almost inevitably lose their fortunes to structured institutional forces.

Business/Management6 min read
Cover of The Two Brothers

The Two Brothers

Honoré de Balzac

A mother’s misplaced devotion fuels a bitter struggle between two very different brothers for a lucrative provincial inheritance.

French Literature6 min read
Cover of Trials of war criminals before the Nuernberg military tribunals under control council law no. 10, volume III

Trials of war criminals before the Nuernberg military tribunals under control council law no. 10, volume III

Various

Lawyers, judges, and civil servants transform from guardians of order into instruments of state-sponsored terror when the legal apparatus of a nation is weaponized against its own people.

History - European10 min read
Cover of Turns about Town

Turns about Town

Robert Cortes Holliday

An observant flâneur wanders through early twentieth-century cities, capturing the quiet comedy, eccentric personalities, and overlooked rhythms of daily life.

American Literature6 min read
Cover of Twentieth Century Inventions: A Forecast

Twentieth Century Inventions: A Forecast

George Sutherland

Looking ahead to a new century, a technological journalist measures the gap between technical possibility and practical adoption, forecasting how energy, transport, and industry will evolve.

Engineering & Technology6 min read
Cover of Ursula

Ursula

Honoré de Balzac

A gentle, pious orphan finds her rightful fortune stolen by scheming small-town relatives, setting off a quiet war of provincial greed against supernatural justice.

French Literature6 min read
Cover of Alexander the Great: Makers of History

Alexander the Great: Makers of History

Jacob Abbott

A young prince tames an unmanageable warhorse, inherits an empire before his prime, and leads a disciplined army across continents to tear down the power of Persia.

Biographies7 min read
Cover of Ballads of a Bohemian

Ballads of a Bohemian

Robert W. (Robert William) Service

A struggling artist starves cheerfully in the garrets and cafes of Montparnasse, only to be cast from his romantic ideal into the gory carnage of the Western Front.

Poetry6 min read
Cover of Captain John Smith

Captain John Smith

Charles Dudley Warner

A clear-eyed, witty debunking of America’s favorite tall-tale hero, this volume strips away centuries of romance to reveal the real, deeply flawed, yet endlessly fascinating human being beneath the myth.

Biographies6 min read
Advertisement