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All free summaries — page 557
34,239 public-domain books, summarised. Page 557 of 714.
Camping & Tramping with Roosevelt
John Burroughs
A quiet, observant exploration of a president’s private relationship with the American wilderness. This memoir captures the rare intersection of political power and deep, unpretentious naturalism.
Campmates: A Story of the Plains
Kirk Munroe
Glen Eddy, an orphaned youth living in uncertainty, sets out to discover his origins and prove his worth by joining an ambitious railroad engineering expedition across the American frontier.
Cat o' mountain
Arthur O. (Arthur Olney) Friel
The rugged isolation of the Shawangunk Mountains serves as the backdrop for a tense, atmospheric struggle between a man haunted by the past and a woman fiercely protective of her wild, mountain home. This narrative blends the grit of a manhunt with the budding, hard-won romance between two outsiders.
Conscience & Fanaticism: An Essay on Moral Values
George Henry Lane Fox Pitt-Rivers
The human mind is a battlefield where ancestral habits, emotional cravings, and environmental pressures collide. Understanding how these forces manifest as morality is the only safeguard against the destructive surges of collective fanaticism.
Dave Dawson on Guadalcanal
Robert Sidney Bowen
The fate of the Allied Pacific offensive rests on the shoulders of two young pilots, pushed to their limits in a relentless gauntlet of aerial combat, capture, and escape.
Diary of Ezra Green, M.D. from November 1, 1777, to September 27, 1778
Ezra Green
A century-long life begins with a front-row seat to the American Revolution, captured in the terse, observant jottings of a ship’s surgeon navigating the high-stakes naval warfare of the Atlantic.
Dick Merriwell Abroad
Burt L. Standish
A young American prodigy and his loyal Texan companion traverse Europe, constantly thwarting the schemes of a persistent, villainous rival.
Disqualified
Charles L. Fontenay
An interplanetary investigator arrives on a remote colony to determine its eligibility for technological aid. He soon discovers that the planet’s idyllic social order masks a horrific, hidden secret regarding its labor supply.
Dürer
Herbert Furst
Albrecht Dürer remains an enigmatic figure, a man of profound intellect and rigid faith whose meticulous craftsmanship captured the soul of a transformative era while resisting the easy grace of his contemporaries.
Earthmen Ask No Quarter!
Fox B. Holden
HOOK When Earth’s military leadership surrenders to an overwhelming alien fleet, a single, overlooked commander decides that the survival of humanity is worth more than a direct order.
English spelling and spelling reform
Thomas Raynesford Lounsbury
The inconsistencies of our written language are not mere accidents of history, but a persistent source of confusion that demands a more reasoned approach to orthography. This exploration dissects the irrational nature of English spelling and the societal resistance to its reform.
Eternal Life
Henry Drummond
By blending biological principles with Christian theology, the text argues that eternal life is not merely endless time, but the cultivation of a perfect, unbreakable relationship with an eternal environment.
Evelina's Garden
Mary Eleanor Wilkins Freeman
In the quiet corners of a New England village, an aging recluse finds her solitary life—and a legacy of unfulfilled longing—intertwined with the fate of a young namesake and a forbidden romance.
Everybody's Business Is Nobody's Business
Daniel Defoe
This is a biting social critique of early 18th-century London, written by a man who believes the city’s working class has become dangerously unruly. It is a sharp, polemical appeal for order, regulation, and the restoration of traditional hierarchy.
Facing Death
G. A. (George Alfred) Henty
A young miner rises from the suffocating darkness of a Staffordshire pit to become a leader of men, navigating industrial upheaval, personal sacrifice, and the hidden dangers of the earth.
Fancy's Show-Box (From "Twice Told Tales")
Nathaniel Hawthorne
This story examines whether the human soul can be stained by wicked deeds that were plotted but never physically committed. It challenges the distinction between outward reputation and the hidden reality of our private thoughts.
Fossil Forests of the Yellowstone National Park
Frank Hall Knowlton
This guide reveals the silent, stone-wrought history of Yellowstone, where ancient forests were entombed by volcanic fire and preserved through eons as upright, petrified monoliths.
From the St. Lawrence to the Yser with the 1st Canadian brigade
Frederic C. (Crawford) Curry
HOOK This account captures the transformation of a volunteer from a Canadian town into a seasoned trench soldier, documenting the brutal collision between Victorian idealism and the industrial reality of the Great War.
"George Washington's" Last Duel: 1891
Thomas Nelson Page
A spirited, comedic tale of Southern manners, high-strung egos, and the elaborate theatrics of a simulated duel, all orchestrated by a mischievous old bachelor.
Greece and the Allies, 1914-1922
G. F. (George Frederick) Abbott
Amidst the chaos of the Great War, a nation struggles for sovereignty against the competing demands of global empires and domestic rivals. This account chronicles how the neutral state of Greece became an unwilling theater for international intrigue and fractured political identity.
Guide to West Point, and the U.S. Military Academy
Edward C. (Edward Carlisle) Boynton
This comprehensive volume serves as a historical record and a practical manual for the United States Military Academy at West Point. It provides an immersive look at the site’s dual identity as a Revolutionary War fortification and a premier center for officer training.
Gypsy Breynton
Elizabeth Stuart Phelps
This lively portrait of a spirited girl navigating the expectations of 19th-century girlhood captures the friction between a vibrant, restless nature and the rigid social codes of her era.
Harper's Young People, May 18, 1880: An Illustrated Weekly
Various
This weekly publication serves as a vibrant, multifaceted time capsule of late 19th-century American childhood, blending serialized adventure, educational guidance, and a bustling community of young readers. It captures the curiosity and earnest spirit of an era transitioning into the modern age.
Historical Parallels, vol. 3 (of 3)
Arthur Thomas Malkin
The recurring echoes of history reveal how human nature remains constant across the centuries, as the triumphs and tragedies of ancient civilizations mirror the struggles of the modern world.
History of the United States of America, Volume 8 (of 9)
Henry Adams
This volume chronicles the final, grueling stages of the War of 1812, capturing a young nation struggling to define its sovereignty amid military incompetence, financial ruin, and deep internal division. It is a masterwork of historical scrutiny that balances the chaos of the battlefield with the paralysis of the…
Hushed Up! A Mystery of London
William Le Queux
A mysterious death, a secret society of criminals, and a desperate search for the truth drive this Edwardian thriller. Behind the polished veneer of London’s elite, dark forces threaten those who dare to love.
Hymns from the Morningland: Being Translations, Centos and Suggestions from the Service Books of the Holy Eastern Church
John Brownlie
A collection of lyrical devotions, these verses bring the ancient, resonant beauty of Eastern Christian liturgy into the quiet, measured cadence of Western hymnody.
Jack Ranger's Gun Club
Clarence Young
A group of boarding-school friends trade the classroom for the rugged Wyoming wilderness, where they hunt game and uncover a strange, high-altitude mystery.
Jacob Hamblin: A Narrative of His Personal Experience as a Frontiersman, Missionary to the Indians and Explorer, Disclosing Interpositions of Providence, Severe Privations, Perilous Situations and Remarkable Escapes: Fifth Book of the Faith-Promoting Series, Designed for the Instruction and Encouragement of Young Latter-day Saints
Jacob Hamblin
A frontier missionary chronicles his life among the tribes of the American Southwest, documenting his efforts to broker peace and his belief in divine intervention amid the harsh realities of pioneer life.
John Leech's Pictures of Life and Character, Vol. 1 (of 3): From the Collection of "Mr. Punch"
John Leech
A parade of Victorian life viewed through a satirical lens, where the trivial becomes monumental and the daily mishaps of the gentleman class provide an endless, sharp-eyed comedy of manners.
Let 'Em Breathe Space!
Lester Del Rey
This gripping science fiction novella explores the claustrophobic nightmare of a long-haul space mission where the air supply is slowly failing and the crew’s sanity is unspooling. It is a stark, high-stakes drama that strips away the glamour of space travel to reveal the raw fragility of human cooperation under…
Linda Carlton, Air Pilot
Edith Lavell
Driven by an unyielding desire to fly, a daring seventeen-year-old defies societal expectations and her father's doubts to become a skilled pilot.
Macmillan & Co.'s Catalogue. September 1874: Of Works in Belles Lettres, Including Poetry, Fiction, Etc
Macmillan & Co.
This volume serves as a comprehensive inventory of late Victorian literary culture, capturing the expansive reach and editorial ambitions of one of London’s most prominent publishing houses in 1874.
Making a Rose Garden
Henry H. (Henry Hodgman) Saylor
Cultivating the perfect rose is less a matter of luck than a disciplined partnership with nature, where careful preparation yields a bounty of blooms.
Man to Man
Jackson Gregory
The story of a man who returns from the South Seas to settle a family feud, this novel captures the raw spirit of the American West through the lens of a relentless, high-stakes battle for control over a sprawling cattle empire.
Matelda and the cloister of Hellfde
of Magdeburg Mechthild
A medieval mystic’s long-lost journals reveal a soul’s intimate, often turbulent, dialogue with the divine. These writings bridge the gap between ancient solitary devotion and the enduring mystery of spiritual experience.
Men into space
Murray Leinster
A pioneer risks everything in a hand-rigged nose cone, proving that the vacuum above the sky belongs to human daring rather than automatic instruments.
Mere mortals
C. (Charles) MacLaurin
Great figures of history are often viewed through a lens of myth, but their lives were ultimately dictated by the frailty, disease, and biological imperatives of the human body.
Merry-Garden and Other Stories
Arthur Quiller-Couch
This collection of short stories captures the elusive melancholy of the past, where human lives brush against folklore, maritime superstition, and the quiet decay of the English and French countryside. It is a work of atmosphere, tracing the thin lines between memory, dream, and reality.
Midnight Sunbeams
Edwin Coolidge Kimball
A journey through the quiet fjords and bustling cities of Scandinavia, capturing the long, golden light of northern summers and the enduring customs of a resilient people.
Minnesota
Ledyard Bill
This guide presents the mid-19th-century American West not as a wild frontier, but as a burgeoning, healthful sanctuary. It serves as both a travelogue for the curious and a medical manifesto for those seeking to recover their vitality.
Mirrors of Moscow
Louise Bryant
These intimate, journalistic portraits peel back the revolutionary theater of the Soviet Union to reveal the fragile, contradictory, and deeply human figures operating behind the curtain of history.
Miss Theodosia's Heartstrings
Annie Hamilton Donnell
Theodosia Baxter, a world-weary traveler returning to her quiet, empty home, finds her solitary life unexpectedly invaded by a spirited neighborhood of children, ultimately discovering a capacity for love she thought long buried.
Munchausen XX
W. G. Worfel
This picaresque narrative follows a self-styled adventurer through a series of increasingly impossible exploits, blending tall-tale humor with a whimsical, pseudo-scientific quest for a mysterious princess. It presents a world where human ingenuity, coupled with absurd mechanical and natural solutions, overcomes…
My Lords of Strogue, Vol. 2 (of 3): A Chronicle of Ireland, from the Convention to the Union
Lewis Wingfield
The shadows of the late eighteenth century loom large over an Ireland teetering on the brink of revolution, as personal loyalties collide with the cold, calculated machinery of statecraft.
Nests and Eggs of Familiar British Birds, Second Series: Described and Illustrated
H. G. (Henry Gardiner) Adams
This volume serves as a Victorian-era field guide, documenting the nesting habits, eggs, and seasonal behaviors of thirty-eight British bird species with a blend of scientific observation and moral instruction.
Plish and Plum
Wilhelm Busch
HOOK Two abandoned dogs, rescued from a watery grave by a pair of mischievous boys, transform from household terrors into disciplined companions, leading their tormentor to a watery, ironic end.
Poganuc People: Their Loves and Lives
Harriet Beecher Stowe
A young girl’s wonder at the forbidden rituals of Christmas exposes the rigid social and religious divides of a small New England town. This intimate portrait captures the quiet friction between tradition and change.