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American Literature — page 31
3,609 public-domain american literature books, summarised. Page 31 of 76.
Lincoln's Inaugurals, Addresses and Letters (Selections)
Abraham Lincoln
The words of a self-taught prairie lawyer trace a singular ascent from humble beginnings to the presidency, mapping the conscience of a nation through its most agonizing rupture. This record reveals a mind that grew in clarity and sorrow as the stakes of history rose.
The Bride of the Mistletoe
James Lane Allen
A study of a marriage unraveling over forty-eight hours, this narrative examines how the weight of history and the pull of primitive instinct can turn a devoted partner into a stranger.
The Ghost
William Douglas O'Connor
A wealthy, hardened landlord undergoes a spiritual transformation on Christmas Eve, guided by the spectral presence of a deceased friend. This haunting tale explores the tension between cold-hearted social indifference and the moral imperative of human compassion.
The Jewels of Aptor
Samuel R. Delany
In a fractured, post-catastrophic future, an unlikely band of travelers journeys across a treacherous, forbidden sea to confront ancient gods and the remnants of a lost technological age.
The Tory Lover
Sarah Orne Jewett
A divided heart navigates the treacherous loyalties of the American Revolution, as a young man risks his honor and his life for love on the high seas.
Uncle Josh's Punkin Centre Stories
Cal Stewart
A rural innocent wanders through the bustling streets of New York, finding as much confusion in a post office box as he does in a department store.
You Know Me Al: A Busher's Letters
Unknown
A self-absorbed minor-league pitcher gets bought by the Chicago White Sox, enters big-league baseball, and details his personal and professional blunders through delusional letters to a long-suffering home-town friend.
Athalie
Robert W. (Robert William) Chambers
She is born with the rare gift of seeing what lies beyond normal sight, yet her heart remains hopelessly anchored to the world of men.
Kitty Carter, Canteen Girl
Ruby Lorraine Radford
A devoted sister steps up to manage the home front when her father serves as a Navy pharmacist, uncovering a treacherous sabotage ring while working with the Red Cross Canteen.
Sisters
Grace May North
Two long-separated California sisters, divided by class and social ambition, must confront the hidden truth of their shared parentage.
Terry: A Tale of the Hill People
Charles Goff Thomson
In the deep forests of Mindanao, an American lieutenant risks everything to tame a wild frontier, only to be transformed by the very land and people he was sent to govern.
The Bobbsey Twins
Laura Lee Hope
Four suburban siblings construct paper shoe-box homes, brave local winter drifts, outmaneuver a neighborhood bully, and unmask a domestic phantom before setting off for a countryside summer vacation.
The English Orphans
Mary Jane Holmes
A quiet, plain orphan girl survives workhouse neglect and public scorn to grow into a woman whose character, intellect, and grace quietly eclipse the shallow world around her.
The Little Review, May 1914 (Vol. 1., No. 3)
Various
A defiant battle cry for artistic independence, this early 20th-century literary journal challenges cultural complacency, rejecting government hand-outs and conventional moralism in favor of raw, unvarnished creative expression.
A Child-World
James Whitcomb Riley
A simple frame house in nineteenth-century Indiana becomes the luminous theater of childhood, where every ordinary hour brims with magical enchantment and boundless wonder.
Elsie's Vacation and After Events
Martha Finley
A devoted naval officer leads his extended family on a grand coastal voyage, weaving American history, deep religious devotion, and gentle domestic discipline into a tapestry of late-nineteenth-century domestic life.
Graham's Magazine, Vol. XLI, No. 5, November 1852
Various
Youthful ideals fade into maturity, yet the quiet power of labor, science, and domestic life endures across changing centuries.
The Abandoned Farmers: His Humorous Account of a Retreat from the City to the Farm
Irvin S. (Irvin Shrewsbury) Cobb
Escaping the city seemed like a dream, until every step toward country living turned into a comedy of self-inflicted errors.
The Harris-Ingram Experiment
Charles E. (Charles Edward) Bolton
A strike at an iron plant, a steamship in a mid-ocean storm, and the glittering cities of Europe form the backdrop for a grand industrial reform.
I'd Like to Do It Again
Owen Davis
Behind the red velvet curtains of the early American stage lies a craft built on grit, instinct, and thousands of tireless rewrites. A seasoned playwright looks back at decades of theatrical evolution with endless affection and sharp, practical clarity.
Life of Edwin Forrest, the American Tragedian. Volume 1 (of 2)
Alger, Horatio, Jr.
A fierce, larger-than-life actor carries the rough, democratic spirit of young America onto the world's standard theatrical stages, transforming personal vanity and tempestuous emotion into a monumental artistic legacy.
Mark Twain's Burlesque Autobiography
Mark Twain
A wildly irreverent double-parody of family genealogy and medieval melodrama, this short comedic work skewers romantic literature and aristocratic pretensions with deadpan absurdist flair.
Mr. Dooley's Philosophy
Finley Peter Dunne
An Irish-American saloonkeeper dispenses sharp, dialect-rich commentary on imperialism, high finance, and social absurdities to his long-suffering regular, transforming turn-of-the-century headlines into enduring comic wisdom.
The Curved Blades
Carolyn Wells
When a wealthy, dictatorial heiress is found poisoned and struck in her locked bedroom, a tangle of bizarre clues leaves the police helpless.
The Great War Syndicate
Frank R. Stockton
A private business entity takes over a nation's military operations, deploying terrifyingly precise scientific superweapons to enforce a sudden, absolute global peace.
The Man of Adamant: (From: "The Snow Image and Other Twice-Told Tales")
Nathaniel Hawthorne
A fanatical hermit retreats into a dark forest cave to escape humanity's sins, only to find his own self-righteous isolation turning his heart to literal stone.
The Story of a Mine
Bret Harte
Greed, legal fraud, and political corruption collide when a accidentally discovered California quicksilver mine becomes the ultimate prize in a high-stakes struggle spanning backwoods wilderness and the scheming halls of Washington.
The Woman in the Alcove
Anna Katharine Green
A glittering diamond vanishes amidst a high-society ball, leaving a beautiful woman dead in a secluded nook and her secret admirer framed for her murder.
Wehman Bros.' Vaudeville Jokes No. 1
Anonymous
A collection of vaudeville-era jokes, offering a glimpse into the humor of the early 20th century.
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Chapters 21 to 25
Mark Twain
A drifting raft carries a boy and an escaped slave into the dark heart of the American riverlands, where human greed and violence routinely wear the mask of respectable morality.
Crucial Instances
Edith Wharton
Edith Wharton's *Crucial Instances* delves into the complexities of human relationships and the pivotal moments that shape our lives.
Double Trouble
Herbert Quick
A respectable banker loses five years of his life to an altered state, waking up as a smooth-talking town boss engaged to a woman he has never met.
Homespun Tales
Kate Douglas Smith Wiggin
A collection of heartwarming tales set in a quaint New England village, exploring love, family, and community.
Poems of American Patriotism
Unknown
A nation’s history echoes not merely in its recorded battles, but in the enduring lyrics born from its most desperate hours and quietest sacrifices.
Rollo at Play
Jacob Abbott
A young boy's adventures teach valuable lessons about responsibility and nature.
Rudder Grange
Frank R. Stockton
An improvised houseboat on a abandoned canal barge becomes the comic launching pad for a young couple’s domestic misadventures.
Shavings: A Novel
Joseph Crosby Lincoln
In a coastal Massachusetts village, a gentle eccentric who carves wooden windmills finds his quiet life upended when he shelters a young widow, her child, and a secret that threatens the entire town's peace.
Short Stories and Essays (from Literature and Life)
William Dean Howells
To step into these pages is to wander through a vanishing turn-of-the-century America with a quiet observer who catches the exact weight of frozen brine on an East River pier and the soft hypocrisy of modern life.
Sky Island: Being the further exciting adventures of Trot and Cap'n Bill after their visit to the sea fairies
L. Frank (Lyman Frank) Baum
A magical umbrella whisks a boy away on a fantastical adventure to Sky Island, where he meets a sailor, a girl, and a host of colorful characters.
The Fall of British Tyranny
John Leacock
British intrigue encounters American resolve across a continent at war in a fiery political drama. Written during the dawn of the American Revolution, this satirical play transforms military clashes and cabinet schemes into a rallying cry for independence.
The Innocents Abroad
Mark Twain
An American traveler sets out on a grand steamship tour across the Mediterranean, determined to look past romantic myths and describe the Old World exactly as he finds it.
The Puddleford Papers
Henry Hiram Riley
In an isolated frontier town, eccentric settlers, aspiring elites, and makeshift legal authorities turn everyday rustic survival into a series of theatrical misunderstandings.
The Triumph of Virginia Dale
John Francis
A wealthy young woman sets out to improve the lives of others, creating chaos in her small town until her stubborn, wealthy father learns to compromise.
Uncle William: The Man Who Was Shif'less
Jennette Lee
A laid-back Nova Scotia fisherman teaches a struggling young artist that life is measured not by money made, but by time, peace, and human connection.
Daybreak: A Romance of an Old World
James Cowan
A single moon-quake unmoors a satellite, launching two travelers into the depth of the cosmos to discover a world where spiritual purity and utopian order have triumphed over human greed.
Dream Life: A Fable of the Seasons
Donald Grant Mitchell
An intimate journey through a man’s inner world traces how boyhood reveries fade into worldly ambitions, only to yield to quiet grace.
High society
George S. (George Shepard) Chappell
A swift, satirical spin through the rituals, eccentricities, and gilded absurdities of high society at the turn of the 1920s.
Jane Allen, Center
Edith Bancroft
A high-spirited Western ranch girl heads East for her junior year, where campus politics, mysterious foreign origins, and high-stakes basketball collide.