Free summaries
American Literature — page 35
3,609 public-domain american literature books, summarised. Page 35 of 76.
A Romance of Tompkins Square: 1891
Thomas A. (Thomas Allibone) Janvier
A solitary baker’s pursuit of the perfect honey-cake reveals the fragility of human ambition and the necessity of grace in the face of deep, lingering sorrow.
Annie Kilburn
William Dean Howells
A woman of means returns to her small Massachusetts hometown, only to discover that her desire to do good is complicated by the rigid social boundaries and economic tensions of a changing New England.
Authors at home: Personal and biographical sketches of well-known American writers
Unknown
These intimate portraits reveal the private studies and daily habits of thirty influential American writers, offering a quiet window into the spaces where classic literature was born at the turn of the twentieth century.
Geraldine Farrar: The Story of an American Singer
Geraldine Farrar
A celebrated American prima donna recounts her journey from a precocious child in Massachusetts to the center of the world's grandest opera stages.
Henry James, Jr
William Dean Howells
This insightful appreciation explores the life and evolving craft of one of literature’s most subtle observers. It serves as both a biographical sketch and a critical defense of a novelist who fundamentally redefined the form.
Independence Day
Unknown
A collection of orations, poetry, and historical analysis, this volume examines the meaning of American independence while advocating for a transition from chaotic, dangerous celebrations to a more thoughtful, respectful observance.
Ingersollia: Gems of Thought from the Lectures, Speeches, and Conversations of Col. Robert G. Ingersoll, Representative of His Opinions and Beliefs
Robert Green Ingersoll
The power of an unfettered mind is the only true engine of progress, capable of dismantling the ancient, rusted chains of superstition that have long held human intellect in bondage.
Poems
George Pope Morris
A collection of song-lyrics, dramatic verse, and occasional odes, this volume captures the rhythmic sentimentality and patriotic fervor of early nineteenth-century American life.
The Benson murder case
S. S. Van Dine
A refined, leisure-loving aesthete joins his friend the District Attorney to solve the murder of a Wall Street broker, relying on psychological intuition rather than standard police procedure.
The Burglar's Fate, and The Detectives
Allan Pinkerton
A bank is robbed by four young men who believe their reputations and cleverness will shield them from discovery, only to find the relentless machinery of justice closing in. This account follows the methodical pursuit of the perpetrators as they scatter across the American frontier, trading their fleeting freedom…
The Sacred Fount
Henry James
An anonymous narrator becomes obsessed with a psychological theory at a house party, convinced that the guests are exchanging their vitality through secret, parasitic romances.
A Passionate Pilgrim
Henry James
The American traveler’s romantic dream of an ancestral England collides with the harsh reality of a dying man’s obsession. This portrait of longing explores the profound, often painful, disconnect between the idealized past and the tangible present.
A Sappho of Green Springs
Bret Harte
A skeptical editor and a charming rogue collide in the California foothills, where the lines between literary ambition, social pretense, and the hard realities of the frontier blur into a series of life-changing misunderstandings.
And Then the Town Took Off
Richard Wilson
The town of Superior, Ohio, finds itself abruptly lifted two miles into the sky on Halloween night, leaving its bewildered citizens to navigate a new, precarious existence among the clouds. This lighthearted science-fiction satire follows the town’s struggle to comprehend its sudden elevation while managing the…
Index of the Project Gutenberg Works of John Burroughs
John Burroughs
The works of John Burroughs offer an enduring invitation to step out of the parlor and into the woods, where the quiet observation of nature becomes a profound act of discovery. Through decades of essays, he bridges the gap between scientific curiosity and the simple, rhythmic pleasures of a life lived outdoors.
Old Mission Stories of California
Charles Franklin Carter
This collection of seven short stories captures the twilight of the Spanish mission era in California, reflecting on a landscape and a culture caught in the inexorable grip of change. Through a series of vignettes featuring both historical figures and fictional archetypes, the prose recreates a vanished world of…
Samantha at Saratoga
Marietta Holley
A rural couple journeys to a fashionable resort, finding that the absurdity of high-society vanity serves as a perfect foil for their own grounded, deeply affectionate marriage.
Sunlight Patch
Credo Fitch Harris
A rugged mountaineer encounters a world of letters and refinement, only to find that the most difficult lessons are those involving the human heart. This story of transformation unfolds against the backdrop of the Kentucky hills, where the past and future collide.
Tales from Bohemia
Robert Neilson Stephens
Life in the city reveals its strange, shifting corners through the eyes of journalists, actors, and wanderers in these vignettes of late nineteenth-century American bohemianism.
The Goodness of St. Rocque, and Other Stories
Alice Moore Dunbar-Nelson
These stories capture the vibrant, precarious soul of 19th-century New Orleans, where the lush, humid atmosphere of the bayou meets the intimate, often hidden struggles of the city's diverse residents.
The Lily's Quest (From "Twice Told Tales")
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Two young lovers seek a perfect place to build a sanctuary for their future joy, only to discover that the only ground available for such a dream is already consecrated to the dead.
Try and Trust
Alger, Horatio, Jr.
The path to success is rarely paved with easy choices, but a steadfast heart and an unshakable commitment to honesty remain the surest guides for the young and the dispossessed.
Beautiful Joe: An Autobiography
Marshall Saunders
This narrative invites you to experience the world through the eyes of a dog who learns that kindness is the strongest force in nature. It is a gentle, earnest call for compassion toward all living beings.
Editorial Wild Oats
Mark Twain
These sketches capture the chaotic, ink-stained life of a frontier reporter, where a poorly turned phrase could draw as much fire as a live grenade.
Literary Shrines: The Haunts of Some Famous American Authors
Theodore F. (Theodore Frelinghuysen) Wolfe
In the quiet corners of New England, geography becomes a map of memory, where small domestic rooms and leafy forest paths preserve the echoes of America’s greatest literary voices.
Observations By Mr. Dooley
Finley Peter Dunne
A sharp, witty observer of the human condition holds court from his Chicago saloon, offering a wry look at politics, war, and the absurdity of progress.
Selina: Her Hopeful Efforts and Her Livelier Failures
George Madden Martin
A young woman's quiet rebellion against 1880s respectability unfolds through failed teaching jobs, home economics, and the awkward birth of the American women's movement.
The Bondboy
George W. (George Washington) Ogden
A bondboy’s struggle for justice against a cruel master and a society quick to judge, testing the limits of loyalty and the true meaning of honor.
The Dreamers: A Club
John Kendrick Bangs
A young man eats a heavy dinner, falls into a rich, troubled sleep, and wakes to tell his fellow club members a story that parodies the popular literature of the day.
The Twins of Table Mountain, and Other Stories
Bret Harte
Perched on a remote mountain crag, two twin brothers lead an isolated existence until the arrival of an outsider shatters their quiet, setting into motion a series of life-altering events and personal reckonings.
A Wasted Day
Richard Harding Davis
In a single morning, an icy Wall Street titan trades the machinery of global finance for a damp criminal courtroom to save a humble clerk from prison.
Confessions and Criticisms
Julian Hawthorne
Personal reflections and critical essays probe literary craft, democratic philosophy, and the hidden mechanics of art.
Cressy
Bret Harte
A young idealist takes a frontier teaching post, only to find that rustic life is a complex tangle of pride, secrets, and unspoken desire.
In the Sweet Dry and Dry
Christopher Morley
Absurdist, anti-Prohibition satire pits eccentric free spirits against a tyrannical reformer attempting to outlaw every naturally fermenting fruit in the country.
Ladies and Gentlemen
Irvin S. (Irvin Shrewsbury) Cobb
An affectionate gaze at American life reveals how vanity, trickery, and misplaced good intentions endlessly scramble human lives across an eccentric landscape of bustling towns, backwoods camps, and film sets.
Only an Incident
Grace Denio Litchfield
A small-town young woman falls quietly in love with her parish's new minister, unaware that he views her only as a sweet fixture of his new home while pining secretly for her brilliant, aristocratic friend.
Poems of Experience
Ella Wheeler Wilcox
A earnest voice confronts the restless soul, urging it to drop its defensive pride and yield to a higher spiritual purpose.
Ptomaine Street: The Tale of Warble Petticoat
Carolyn Wells
A middle-class girl with an insatiable appetite marries a wealthy specialist, moves to an elite enclave, and wages a hilarious, futile war against highbrow pretension.
Sunny Slopes
Ethel Hueston
A young, spirited woman marries a minister, only to find their quiet parish life upended when he contracts tuberculosis.
The Dead Men's Song: Being the Story of a Poem and a Reminiscent Sketch of its Author Young Ewing Allison
Champion Ingraham Hitchcock
A deaf journalist takes four famous lines of piratical verse left behind by Robert Louis Stevenson, builds a gripping deep-sea ballad around them, and quietly creates an enduring piece of American popular lore.
The discarded daughter
Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte Southworth
A young woman's steadfast devotion to her true love triumphs over paternal tyranny, disinheritance, and years of exile in the wild tidewater country of Maryland.
The Man Without a Country
Edward Everett Hale
A young army officer curses his country in a moment of reckless swagger, only to be granted his exact wish: to spend the rest of his natural life at sea without ever hearing the name of the United States again.
The Ranch at the Wolverine
B. M. Bower
A young woman raised on an Idaho cattle ranch must navigate the harsh realities of frontier survival, cattle rustling, and family tragedy while discovering her own heart.
The Window at the White Cat
Mary Roberts Rinehart
A young woman's middle-of-the-night visit to a bachelor lawyer's office launches a maze of missing pearls, municipal graft, and a body found in an exclusive political club.
The Wishing-Ring Man
Margaret Widdemer
Sheltered by her elderly grandfather—a famous, gently tyrannical poet—young Joy Havenith lives in a house filled with dead ancestors and literary grandees, starved for youth, color, and a life of her own.
A Son of the Gods, and A Horseman in the Sky
Ambrose Bierce
A single snap of a trigger or a lone gallop across a field collapses the distance between heroic ideal and brutal carnage.
Courtship of Miles Standish: Minnehaha Edition
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
A hesitated proposal of marriage in early New England sets off a silent struggle between friendship, romantic devotion, and martial pride.
Dr. Breen's Practice
William Dean Howells
A high-minded young woman attempts to heal the sick, only to discover that the heaviest burden she carries is her own exacting conscience.