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All free summaries — page 262
34,239 public-domain books, summarised. Page 262 of 714.
Fanny Burney (Madame D'Arblay)
Austin Dobson
The life of a brilliant, observant novelist unfolds here, tracing her trajectory from a shy, anonymous literary sensation to a court attendant and, finally, a witness to the turbulence of the French Revolution.
George Washington, Volume II
Henry Cabot Lodge
The architect of American independence transitions from the battlefield to the presidency, forging a fragile new nation through grit, foresight, and a singular, steadfast commitment to constitutional order.
Helping Himself
Alger, Horatio, Jr.
A young man’s decision to pursue work rather than college sets him on a path of financial independence, moral integrity, and unexpected adventure in the bustling streets of 1850s New York.
High Adventure: A Narrative of Air Fighting in France
James Norman Hall
The sky is a vast, lonely theater where the machinery of war strips away the illusions of glory, leaving only the raw, visceral experience of flight. This narrative captures the quiet, terrifying transition from the eager romanticism of a novice to the seasoned, weary perspective of an airman who has looked…
Knights of Art: Stories of the Italian Painters
Amy Steedman
These biographical sketches bring the Renaissance to life, tracing the journey of Italian masters from their humble beginnings to the creation of immortal art that once served as the world’s primary picture-book.**
Latin America and the United States: Addresses by Elihu Root
Elihu Root
This collection of diplomatic speeches serves as an enduring portrait of early twentieth-century American foreign policy, capturing a pivotal effort to cultivate friendship and mutual understanding across the Western Hemisphere.
Mark Twain: A Biography. Volume III, Part 1: 1900-1907
Albert Bigelow Paine
The aging literary lion returns to American soil, only to find himself navigating a complex final act defined by public adoration, profound personal loss, and a deepening, philosophical cynicism regarding the human condition.
More Beasts (For Worse Children)
Hilaire Belloc
A learned child discovers the hidden secrets of the animal kingdom through this curious volume. These verses serve as a cautionary guide for those seeking to understand the strange, wild, and often dangerous creatures of the world.
Narcissus
Evelyn Scott
The tragedy of the self is that it can never truly leave its own reflection. This story traces the quiet, suffocating orbit of people who mistake their own mirrored projections for the souls of those they love.
Overland tales
Josephine Clifford McCrackin
This collection of sketches and stories captures the rugged, shifting landscape of the American West in the late 19th century. Through personal observation and narrative, it paints a portrait of a frontier defined by isolation, beauty, and sudden, quiet tragedy.
R. Caldecott's First Collection of Pictures and Songs
Unknown
These classic nursery rhymes and ballads capture the whimsy, tragedy, and rhythmic pulse of childhood folklore through a series of vivid, often absurd, moral tales.
Raphael: A Collection of Fifteen Pictures and a Portrait of the Painter with Introduction and Interpretation
Estelle M. (Estelle May) Hurll
The Renaissance master’s work comes to life through this careful curation, bridging the gap between historical masterpiece and the viewer’s own imagination.
Seekers in Sicily: Being a Quest for Persephone by Jane and Peripatetica
Elizabeth Bisland
Two women travel through the sun-drenched landscapes of Sicily, seeking the remnants of ancient myth and the elusive spirit of Persephone. Their journey is a lyrical blend of classical scholarship and the sensory delights of Italian life.
Some of Æsop's Fables with Modern Instances
Aesop
This collection of ancient wisdom uses the simple, timeless language of animals to hold a mirror to the complexities of human nature, proving that our instincts and follies remain largely unchanged across the centuries.
Sporting Society
Unknown
The pursuit of sport in the nineteenth century was more than a pastime; it was the rigorous, sometimes perilous, social language of a class. These sketches capture the field in all its grit, glory, and absurdity.
Stories by English Authors: Germany (Selected by Scribners)
Unknown
These five distinct narratives offer windows into the German-speaking world, capturing intimate human experiences—from the redemptive power of music and art to the sharp ironies of romance and moral reckoning.
Stories by English Authors: London (Selected by Scribners)
Unknown
This collection of short fiction serves as a poignant, unvarnished window into the stark social stratifications of late 19th-century London, documenting both the trivial obsessions of the wealthy and the crushing struggles of the poor.
Te Tohunga: The ancient legends and traditions of the Maoris
W. (Wilhelm) Dittmer
This collection serves as a vessel for the foundational cosmogony and heroic cycles of the Maori people, transcribed through the lens of a turn-of-the-century observer. It functions as a bridge between the oral preservation of ancient myth and the static permanency of the printed page.
The Astral World—Higher Occult Powers: Clairvoyance, Spiritism, Mediumship, and Spirit-Healing Fully Explained
Joel Tiffany
A rigorous exploration of the human soul’s architecture, this work argues that our capacity for spiritual growth is not a matter of faith, but a predictable consequence of how we perceive our place in the universe.
The Bible, King James version, Book 21: Ecclesiastes
Anonymous
To find meaning in a world where everything fades is the ultimate human pursuit. This ancient meditation confronts the inevitable disappointment of worldly ambition and the brief, repetitive nature of life itself.
The Bible, should it be in the school room?
Franklin Steiner
The forced inclusion of religious texts in American public education remains a persistent point of friction, pitting constitutional principles against the desires of advocacy groups. This work rigorously dissects the legal and moral arguments surrounding the mandatory reading of the Bible in the classroom.
The Black Diamond
Francis Brett Young
A sprawling, visceral chronicle of a young miner’s flight from the stifling soot of the coal pits into the uncertain, rugged freedom of the English countryside.
The Burning Secret
Stefan Zweig
A young boy’s fragile, idolizing love for his mother and a predatory stranger shatters during a summer holiday, forcing him to confront the dark, adult complexities hidden behind the facade of his family life.
The Child's Rainy Day Book
Mary White
When the skies turn gray and the outdoors are no longer an option, these pages offer a structured, imaginative blueprint to transform a quiet afternoon into a world of creative industry.
The Childrens' Story of the War, Volume 1 (of 10): From the Beginning of the War to the Landing of the British Army in France
Edward Parrott
This chronicle serves as a formal, patriotic introduction to the First World War, written for young readers at the dawn of the conflict. It frames the Great War as a moral necessity, blending historical context with the urgent fervor of the era.
The cosmic cloud
Edmond Hamilton
A desperate band of cosmic explorers ventures into a lightless void to confront a hidden menace threatening the future of the entire galaxy. They must navigate a world of shadow to thwart an armada of silent, sightless invaders.
The Darrow Enigma
Melvin L. (Melvin Linwood) Severy
A physician finds himself entangled in a bizarre murder investigation where the victim’s death seems impossible, forcing him to rely on a brilliant, eccentric friend to unravel the truth.
The History of Margaret Catchpole, a Suffolk Girl
Richard Cobbold
A spirited Suffolk girl finds her life upended by a dangerous attachment to a smuggler, leading her from domestic service to the gallows and eventually to the distant shores of Australia. Her journey tests the limits of loyalty, redemption, and the social structures of the early nineteenth century.
The History of the Negro Church
Carter Godwin Woodson
The church stands as the central pillar of African American life, evolving from a fragile hope among the enslaved into a complex institution that shapes the intellectual, social, and political destiny of a people.
The Life of Sir Rowland Hill and the History of Penny Postage, Vol. 2 (of 2)
Hill, Rowland, Sir
The modernization of the British postal system was not a matter of mere engineering, but a hard-fought battle against entrenched bureaucracy and institutional inertia. This chronicle follows the architect of the Penny Post as he maneuvers through the corridors of power to transform a stagnant service into a global…
The Lost Heir
G. A. (George Alfred) Henty
The stage is set for a high-stakes battle of wits as a determined young woman works to expose an impostor claiming a fortune and a connection to a war hero. This is a story of calculated deception and the quiet courage required to unmask it.
The Pecan and its Culture
H. Harold (Hardrada Harold) Hume
The pecan represents a burgeoning horticultural frontier, demanding both scientific rigor and patient observation from those who seek to master its cultivation. This manual serves as a definitive guide to transforming wild potential into a reliable, high-yielding orchard crop.
The Philosophy and Theology of Averroes
Averroës
This foundational work defends the necessity of rational inquiry within a religious framework, arguing that philosophy and scripture are complementary paths to the same truth.
The Secret Memoirs of the Courts of Europe: William II, Germany
marquise de Fontenoy
This collection of recollections offers an intimate, often candid glimpse into the rigid social hierarchies and personal idiosyncrasies governing the German and Austro-Hungarian empires at the turn of the twentieth century. It serves as a bridge between the formal, public personas of monarchs and the turbulent,…
The Secret of the Totem
Andrew Lang
This work serves as a scholarly investigation into the origins of totemism, aiming to explain why early human groups adopted animal names and how those names evolved into the complex systems of social regulation known as exogamy.
The story of the Gadsbys
Rudyard Kipling
A young cavalry officer navigates the suffocating pressures of colonial service and the unexpected vulnerability of domestic life, eventually finding that the vows of marriage change the very nature of courage.
The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition, Vol. 19
Robert Louis Stevenson
A haunting collision between the lawless, sun-drenched desperation of the South Seas and the cold, unforgiving morality of the Scottish moors defines these final masterpieces.
To-morrow
Joseph Conrad
A retired sea captain waits for a son who is never coming, while his neighbor’s daughter pays the price for playing along with his delusion.
Winning a Cause: World War Stories
John G. (John Gilbert) Thompson
The courage of the common soldier and the resilience of a nation mobilized for a global struggle define these accounts of a world at war. This collection serves as a historical record of the American spirit during the final, decisive chapters of the conflict that reshaped the twentieth century.
Witch Winnie's Mystery, or The Old Oak Cabinet: The Story of a King's Daughter
Elizabeth W. (Elizabeth Williams) Champney
A group of boarding-school friends faces a series of baffling thefts and internal rivalries, only to discover that the most perplexing puzzles are often solved by looking at the furniture rather than the motives of others.
Wives of the Prime Ministers, 1844-1906
Elizabeth Lee
These portraits offer a glimpse into the private lives of women standing behind Britain’s most powerful leaders, exploring how they navigated the complexities of nineteenth-century political and social influence.
A Hoosier holiday
Theodore Dreiser
A restless traveler wanders back to the heartland of his youth, searching for the ghosts of a simpler existence amidst the changing landscape of early twentieth-century America.
A Life for a Life, Volume 3 (of 3)
Dinah Maria Mulock Craik
HOOK A tale of long-buried sin and the redemption found in truth, this novel examines the heavy price of atonement and the enduring power of a love that survives total social disgrace.
A Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Venture, a Native of Africa, but Resident above Sixty Years in the United States of America, Related by Himself
Venture Smith
Born into a royal lineage in Africa, an abducted man navigates decades of brutal servitude in America to purchase his own freedom and reclaim his family through sheer, unrelenting labor.
A Short History of Russia
Mary Platt Parmele
This historical survey explores the evolution of the Russian state as a governing system rather than a unified nation, examining the tension between its autocratic power and its largely passive population.
An English Garner: Ingatherings from Our History and Literature (8 of 8)
Unknown
This collection offers a mosaic of historical accounts, personal narratives, and Elizabethan verse, capturing the texture of English life through the eyes of those who lived it. It is a vital repository for anyone seeking to touch the pulse of a transformative, often turbulent, era.
An Iceland Fisherman
Pierre Loti
This poignant narrative explores the profound, quiet bond between a Breton woman and a fisherman, set against the unforgiving backdrop of the North Sea. It is a haunting portrait of love, loss, and the eternal, indifferent power of the ocean.
Bar-20 Days
Clarence Edward Mulford
The frontier is a place of quick triggers and even quicker wits, where a man’s reputation is his only true currency. In this rugged world, loyalty among the Bar-20 outfit is the only law that holds.