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American Literature — page 10
3,593 public-domain american literature books, summarised. Page 10 of 75.
The Song of the Lark
Willa Cather
A young woman leaves a tiny, sun-baked Colorado town, discovers the depth and power of her voice, and endures years of unrelenting discipline to become a premier operatic soprano on the world stage.
The Trimmed Lamp, and Other Stories of the Four Million
O. Henry
A sprawling urban panorama where quiet heartbreak, sharp satire, and sudden tenderness walk hand in hand through the turn-of-the-century metropolis.
The Tale of Terror: A Study of the Gothic Romance
Edith Birkhead
To step into the shadowy corridors of the literary past is to discover that our appetite for the macabre is no modern defect, but a timeless human impulse.
Holiday Tales: Christmas in the Adirondacks
W. H. H. (William Henry Harrison) Murray
In the freezing depths of the New York wilderness, an old outdoorsman learns that true Christmas cheer isn't found in solitary comfort, but in sharing food, fire, and forgiveness with those who need them most.
Familiar Letters: The Writings of Henry David Thoreau, Volume 06 (of 20)
Henry David Thoreau
A lifetime of correspondence reveals the gradual transformation of a fiery young transcendentalist into a solitary observer of nature, charting his journeys through deep woods, intellectual friendships, and terminal illness.
The shadow over Innsmouth
H. P. (Howard Phillips) Lovecraft
A traveler enters a dying coastal town and uncovers a lineage of monstrous blasphemies, only to discover that the dark waters he flees are flowing inside his own veins.
The Oxford Book of American Essays
Unknown
A single culture does not emerge fully formed overnight; it builds itself through tiny observations, violent national shifts, and quiet, solitary reflections. Bound together across a century of American thought, these selected writings trace a young nation learning how to think, write, and see itself clearly.
The Eyes Have It
Philip K. Dick
A mundane afternoon reading session transforms into a desperate struggle against panic when every common literary figure of speech is taken with terrifying, literal precision.
A Collection of Stories, Reviews and Essays
Willa Cather
Amid the wide prairies, drafty tenements, and critical battlegrounds of turn-of-the-century America, lonely souls search for beauty, human connection, and their rightful place in a rapidly shifting world.
Myths and Legends of Our Own Land
Charles M. (Charles Montgomery) Skinner
A vast, spirited gathering of local lore across the American landscape, tracking how rivers, hills, and frontier hamlets came to be haunted by human passion, ghostly vengeance, and supernatural wonder.
Index of the Project Gutenberg Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson
An expansive reference guide illuminates the rich tapestry of classical allusions, historical figures, and philosophical pillars underpinning nineteenth-century transcendentalist thought.
Barbarians
Robert W. (Robert William) Chambers
A collection of interconnected short stories set during the Great War, this work follows various volunteers and soldiers as they confront the encroaching shadow of enemy infiltration behind the lines in France.
Wild Animals I Have Known
Ernest Thompson Seton
In the North American wilderness, animals do not live as collective species, but as individual personalities bound to tragic, heroic, and deeply human fates.
Franklin's Autobiography: (Eclectic English Classics)
Benjamin Franklin
This account of a self-made life traces the transformation of an inquisitive Boston apprentice into a preeminent statesman and man of letters. It serves as both a historical record and a foundational manual for personal industry.
Hanover
Jack Thorne
A Black editor defies white supremacists in 1898 Wilmington, igniting a deadly coup that shatters a community and forces its survivors to seek redemption amid the ashes.
The $30,000 Bequest, and Other Stories
Mark Twain
These stories capture the peculiar American collision of grand ambition and mundane reality. They offer a sharp, witty look at how dreams of wealth and status distort the lives of ordinary people.
Journal 02, 1850-September 15, 1851: The Writings of Henry David Thoreau, Volume 08 (of 20)
Henry David Thoreau
A quiet, painstaking immersion into nineteenth-century New England, where daily excursions through woods and meadows become a profound practice of intellectual and spiritual awakening.
The Women Who Make Our Novels
Grant M. (Grant Martin) Overton
An observer of modern literature captures thirty-five living women writers in their prime, detailing how popular art gets made in early twentieth-century America.
The Piazza Tales
Herman Melville
A quiet domestic porch opens onto mountain illusions, masking the dark, unraveling world of human obsession, illusion, and quiet rebellion.
American nights entertainment
Grant M. (Grant Martin) Overton
A candid and charming slice of literary history, this guide reveals how modern publishing, author personalities, and early twentieth-century reading tastes collided to shape a nation's love for books.
The Letters of William James, Vol. 1
William James
A brilliant, restless mind opens itself in unfiltered private letters, tracking the journey from an uncertain young student searching for a vocation to a foundational figure in modern philosophy and psychology.
Optimism: An Essay
Helen Keller
A quiet, resolute conviction that human joy is a deliberate spiritual duty, forged in total silence and darkness, can dismantle every cynical argument against the goodness of existence.
Index of the Project Gutenberg Works of Nathaniel Hawthorne
Nathaniel Hawthorne
A comprehensive structural directory maps the entire printed legacy of a New England master, organizing decades of novels, sketches, short stories, and personal journals into a single reference volume.
Excursions
Henry David Thoreau
A quiet revolution awaits the reader who steps onto the trail of the American wilderness, where the rustle of fallen oak leaves and the scent of wild apples offer a richer education than any university.
The Conduct of Life
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Courageously facing the rigid mechanics of existence, a mind discovers that personal power, practical work, and noble ideals can master raw circumstance.
Papa's own girl: A novel
Marie Stevens Howland
A small New England town becomes the unlikely launching pad for a sweeping experiment in cooperative living and women's self-determination.
A Book of Prefaces
H. L. (Henry Louis) Mencken
American letters suffer from a timid obsession with moralizing, leaving real artistic genius overlooked, censored, or misunderstood. Only a critical eye willing to champion unvarnished truth can separate enduring art from popular cant.
A History of American Literature Since 1870
Fred Lewis Pattee
A vast continent puts away its old songs and finds a raw, loud voice in the dirt, the cities, and the camps.
An Old-Fashioned Girl
Louisa May Alcott
A country girl brings her warm common sense into a fashionable city household, quietly altering every life she touches.
Daddy-Long-Legs
Jean Webster
Sent from the cold monotony of an orphanage to an elite women's college, a spirited young woman writes monthly letters to the anonymous benefactor funding her education, creating a brilliant portrait of self-discovery, independence, and unexpected love.
Man Overboard!
F. Marion (Francis Marion) Crawford
A ghost story of chilling precision, this tale proves that guilt can weigh down a man's boots far more heavily than ocean water.
The Strenuous Life: The Works of Theodore Roosevelt, Volume 12 (of 14)
Theodore Roosevelt
A call to action for a rising superpower, this collection demands that citizens and statesmen reject soft ease in favor of relentless, principled effort.
Over the Teacups
Oliver Wendell Holmes
A quiet circle of aging friends gathers around the tea table to talk, exchange poems, and measure their evening years against the flight of time.
The best short stories of 1915, and the yearbook of the American short story
Unknown
A young generation wrestles with dark ambitions, fragile health, and the inescapable bonds of love across a changing American landscape.
The Knickerbocker, or New-York Monthly Magazine, May 1844: Volume 23, Number 5
Various
A lively kaleidoscope of mid-nineteenth-century American intellect and humor captures a young nation wrestling with its history, art, and national identity.
Memories and Studies
William James
A sharp intelligence confronts the mystery of human character, measuring the inner force that drives men to act, create, or surrender.
A Little Maid of Old Philadelphia
Alice Turner Curtis
A young girl's adventures during the American Revolution, filled with bravery, friendship, and historical intrigue.
The Country of the Pointed Firs
Sarah Orne Jewett
A secluded Maine fishing village reveals its quiet heart to a visiting writer through the rhythmic days, shared memories, and enduring dignity of its isolated coastal people.
Rose in Bloom: A Sequel to "Eight Cousins"
Louisa May Alcott
A heartwarming tale of love, family, and self-discovery, following Rose's journey from girlhood to womanhood.
The Tunnel Under the World
Frederik Pohl
A man discovers his entire town is a controlled experiment, and he is a pawn in a sinister advertising scheme.
Roads of Destiny
O. Henry
A life is not a single path, but a tangle of choices where a stray word or a split-second decision can rewrite the entire future.
The seven stairs
Stuart Brent
A Chicago bookseller chronicles his turbulent, idealistic life spent curating literature, hosting concerts, and battling the commercial forces that threaten the survival of the independent spirit.
A Girl of the Limberlost
Gene Stratton-Porter
A resourceful girl transforms her life and heals a bitter family legacy through the quiet, patient study of nature in the Indiana woods.
The Collected Works of Ambrose Bierce, Volume 02: In the Midst of Life: Tales of Soldiers and Civilians
Ambrose Bierce
War is not a glorious theater of heroes, but a grim intersection of mechanical slaughter and psychological collapse where the line between the living and the dead is terrifyingly thin.
The Mirror of Taste, and Dramatic Censor, Vol. I, No. 1, January 1810
Unknown
A passionate defense of the stage serves as both a mandate for high culture and a stage for dramatic storytelling. It offers a window into the intellectual fervor of early nineteenth-century American theater.
The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg, and Other Stories
Mark Twain
The honest citizens of a prideful town meet their match when a slighted stranger introduces a trap that unmasks their hidden greed. This collection of stories explores the frailty of human virtue with biting, clear-eyed humor.
Knickerbocker's History of New York, Complete
Washington Irving
A whimsical, sprawling mock-chronicle, this work reimagines the colonial history of New York as a series of absurd, heroic, and deeply human misadventures. It stands as a foundational piece of American satire, celebrated for its wit and playful invention.
Flappers and Philosophers
F. Scott (Francis Scott) Fitzgerald
The pursuit of status and the friction between youthful idealism and cold reality drive these characters, who often find that their greatest obstacles are the rigid expectations they place upon themselves.