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Essays, Letters & Speeches — page 8
1,315 public-domain essays, letters & speeches books, summarised. Page 8 of 28.
The Scrap Book, Volume 1, No. 3: May 1906
Various
This periodical serves as a vibrant time capsule of 1906, gathering reflections, short stories, historical anecdotes, and practical wisdom into a single, eclectic volume. It offers a window into the intellectual and social preoccupations of the Edwardian era.
America First: Patriotic Readings
Unknown
This anthology serves as a pedagogical toolkit for fostering national identity, blending historical dramatizations with stirring oratory and verse to instill a sense of shared civic duty in the American classroom. It acts as a bridge between the founding ideals of the Republic and the patriotic responsibilities of…
A Chesterton Calendar: Compiled from the writings of 'G.K.C.' both in verse and in prose. With a section apart for the moveable feasts
G. K. (Gilbert Keith) Chesterton
A collection of aphorisms and observations, this volume serves as a daily companion for the curious mind, offering sharp, paradoxical insights into faith, tradition, and the enduring oddity of being human.
The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Vol. 11 (of 12): Dresden Edition—Miscellany
Robert Green Ingersoll
A fierce champion of individual conscience, the author dissects the intersection of law, theology, and human rights with the biting clarity of a courtroom orator. His words serve as a blistering indictment of dogma.
France in eighteen hundred and two
Henry Redhead Yorke
This collection of contemporary letters offers a sharp, firsthand look at France during the fragile interlude of 1802. It serves as a bridge between the chaos of the Revolution and the rising authority of the Consulate.
Musicians of to-day
Romain Rolland
This collection of critical essays serves as a passionate, clear-eyed survey of the European musical landscape at the dawn of the twentieth century. It bridges the gap between the monumental figures of the nineteenth century and the burgeoning avant-garde.
The American Quarterly Review, No. 17, March 1831
Various
This collection of essays and reviews captures the intellectual anxieties and ambitious spirit of the early American republic, serving as a time capsule for the concerns of 1831.
Essays in the Study of Folk-Songs (1886)
Martinengo-Cesaresco, Evelyn Lilian Hazeldine Carrington, contessa
The song of the peasant, whether in the quiet of an Italian mountain or the heat of an Armenian hearth, offers an intimate, unvarnished window into the human condition. It reveals a shared history written not in ledgers, but in verse.
Per Amica Silentia Lunae
W. B. (William Butler) Yeats
The moon’s cool, quiet light serves as the perfect backdrop for a profound exploration into the nature of the self, the masks we wear, and the hidden architecture of the human soul.
The Borzoi 1920
Inc. Alfred A. Knopf
This archival volume serves as a curated snapshot of a burgeoning literary house in 1920, blending personal essays, critical tributes, and a comprehensive catalog of the era’s intellectual life.
A Philosophical Dictionary, Volume 08
Voltaire
A lively wit dismantles old dogmas with sharp historical proofs and relentless irony.
The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition, Vol. 22: Juvenilia and Other Papers
Robert Louis Stevenson
A young writer tests his voice across history, light, landscapes, and war games, leaving a paper trail of brilliant early craft.
A Philosophical Dictionary, Volume 04
Voltaire
An encyclopedic survey of human folly dismantles religious dogmas, historical myths, and philosophical absurdities to expose the cruelty of absolute certainty. It champions practical reason and simple virtue over theological dictates and brutal state persecutions.
The Majesty of Calmness
William George Jordan
True peace is not the absence of trouble, but the absolute, quiet readiness to face it. Serenity is a muscle built through self-reliance, steady growth, and the deliberate rejection of modern rushing.
The Intellectual Life
Philip Gilbert Hamerton
Cultivating the mind is a deliberate art of self-preservation, requiring physical discipline, emotional honesty, and a calculated defense of one's time against the trivialities of the world.
Flowers from a Persian Garden and Other Papers
W. A. (William Alexander) Clouston
Across diverse cultures and distant eras, human ingenuity shapes the same fundamental observations about foolishness, vanity, and moral truth into unforgettable stories.
Notes and Queries, Vol. V, Number 122, February 28, 1852: A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc
Various
A lively Victorian tapestry of shared erudition, where nineteenth-century scholars and curious readers trade historical discoveries, resolve obscure literary puzzles, and preserve disappearing folklore through open, collaborative correspondence.
Notes on democracy
H. L. (Henry Louis) Mencken
The masses embrace fraud and flee from reason, turning the sacred promise of self-governance into an endless, hilarious circus.
Philosophical Letters
Newcastle, Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of
A bold seventeenth-century natural philosopher dismantles the mechanicist views of her famous male contemporaries to defend a radical vision of a living, thinking universe where matter moves and senses itself.
Letters to an Unknown
Prosper Mérimée
A private, decades-long paper trail captures the guarded soul of a French man of letters as he drops his emotional armor for a mysterious woman.
Tour in England, Ireland, and France, in the years 1826, 1827, 1828 and 1829.: with remarks on the manners and customs of the inhabitants, and anecdotes of distiguished public characters. In a series of letters by a German Prince
Pückler-Muskau, Hermann, Fürst von
A high-born aristocrat crisscrosses Western Europe on a grand journey of self-discovery, casting a remarkably candid, witty, and razor-sharp gaze upon the glittering salons, miserable backstreets, and wild landscapes of a changing nineteenth-century world.
Some Turns of Thought in Modern Philosophy: Five Essays
George Santayana
Modern intellectual turns—from historical British empiricism to quantum physics, psychoanalysis, and French theology—receive a steady, clarifying appraisal that exposes the human assumptions hiding inside abstract philosophy.
Philosophical Letters of Friedrich Schiller
Friedrich Schiller
A human mind seeks absolute truth through pure reason, only to discover that the physical body continuously shapes, sustains, and limits every flight of thought.
The Works of Frederick Schiller
Friedrich Schiller
A grand clash between human freedom and absolute necessity echoes through history, drama, and philosophy, revealing how the human spirit achieves its ultimate dignity when pushed to the edge of ruin.
Philosophical Studies
G. E. (George Edward) Moore
Common sense and rigorous analysis can dismantle the grandest metaphysical abstractions when we take ordinary experience seriously.
The Uses of Diversity: A book of essays
G. K. (Gilbert Keith) Chesterton
Laughter separates humanity from a serious animal kingdom, yet modern life risks forfeiting that joy to solemn absurdities.
Freedom's Battle: Being a Comprehensive Collection of Writings and Speeches on the Present Situation
Mahatma Gandhi
When a nation discovers that its consent sustains its own subjugation, the only path to self-respect is the immediate withdrawal of all cooperation.
The Catholic World, Vol. 22, October, 1875, to March, 1876: A Monthly Magazine of General Literature and Science
Various
A nineteenth-century periodical weaves historical drama, sharp theological defense, and philosophical inquiry into a broad portrait of Catholic thought confronting a rapidly modernizing world.
"Out of the East": Reveries and Studies in New Japan
Lafcadio Hearn
A serene, contemplative journey into late nineteenth-century Japan that captures a rapidly modernizing nation through its timeless spiritual traditions and intimate everyday customs.
Flowers of Freethought (First Series)
G. W. (George William) Foote
A fearless freethinker turns his intellect against religious dogma, exposing the absurdities of orthodox faith with sharp wit and unyielding logic.
Three essays
Thomas Mann
A master storyteller turns his analytical lens upon the nature of genius, the ruthless dynamics of political power, and the disturbing edges of human curiosity across three distinct investigations of culture and history.
A Philosophical Dictionary, Volume 05
Voltaire
Every absurd doctrine and brutal custom in human history was once defended by someone who claimed to speak directly for God or reason.
A Residence in France During the Years 1792, 1793, 1794 and 1795, Complete: Described in a Series of Letters from an English Lady: with General and Incidental Remarks on the French Character and Manners
Charlotte Biggs
A clear-eyed Englishwoman travels into Revolutionary France, expecting a grand cultural tour, only to find herself trapped inside a nightmare of hyperinflation, arbitrary arrests, and total political chaos.
Studies of Contemporary Poets
Mary Sturgeon
A vital generation of early twentieth-century poets rejects bookish tradition to forge an art rooted directly in the raw, vibrant, and democratic realities of modern human experience.
The Romance of the Milky Way, and Other Studies & Stories
Lafcadio Hearn
Across ancient celestial legends, eerie supernatural hauntings, Victorian philosophy, and quiet wartime observations, a singular voice captures the subtle spirit of a changing world where ghosts and everyday reality merge seamlessly.
American Eloquence, Volume 1: Studies In American Political History (1896)
Unknown
When a young republic sets out to define its own powers, every debate becomes a foundational drama about the nature of freedom and authority.
A serious proposal to the Ladies, for the advancement of their true and greatest interest (In Two Parts)
Mary Astell
Instead of squandering energy on transient fashions and flatteries, women are invited to cultivate the mind—a lasting treasure that age cannot diminish nor opinion distort.
Cambridge Essays on Education
Unknown
A vision of learning that elevates the human spirit above mechanical drill, aiming to reshape both the individual and the future of society.
Essays of Michel de Montaigne
Michel de Montaigne
A retired French nobleman sits down in his tower library to examine his own mind, turning his doubts, habits, and private observations into a radical new form of literature.
Roosevelt in the Kansas City Star: War-time Editorials
Theodore Roosevelt
A former president uses a regional newspaper column to demand absolute preparation, condemn political half-measures, and urge an uncompromising victory during America's entry into World War I.
Fact and Fable in Psychology
Joseph Jastrow
A clear-eyed examination of the human mind reveals that our greatest susceptibility to mystery often arises from our own psychological patterns rather than external wonders. Science serves as the necessary lantern to navigate these shadowed territories.
Twelve Types
G. K. (Gilbert Keith) Chesterton
These incisive essays explore the hidden souls of historical figures and writers, arguing that the true essence of a person is often found in the very things their biographers overlook or dismiss.
Rustic Sounds, and Other Studies in Literature and Natural History
Darwin, Francis, Sir
This collection of essays offers an intimate, intellectual journey through the landscapes of natural history, literature, and the rigors of scientific discovery. Written with a gentle, inquisitive spirit, it serves as a bridge between the Victorian scientific tradition and the quiet, domestic observations of an…
An Essay on Comedy and the Uses of the Comic Spirit
George Meredith
The Comic Spirit is not merely the impulse to laugh, but a discerning, luminous intelligence that pricks the vanity and affectation of a society. It acts as a watchful guardian against the delusions of the human heart.
Free Thought and Official Propaganda
Bertrand Russell
This lecture stands as a trenchant diagnosis of the modern mind, arguing that freedom of thought is currently imperiled not by the stake or the rack, but by the far more efficient tools of state education, mass propaganda, and economic coercion.
Hours in a Library, Volume 1: New Edition, with Additions
Leslie Stephen
Deep reading is a quiet act of companionship, transforming solitary study into a dialogue across centuries with the ghosts of literature. This collection of essays invites the reader to sit in the archives and re-evaluate the giants of the past with a sharp, discerning eye.
Studies of the Greek Poets (Vol 1 of 2)
John Addington Symonds
To illuminate the origins of Western literature, one must journey through the sacred myths, the lyrical outbursts, and the dramatic heights of the ancient Greek soul. This survey traverses the evolution of a civilization’s voice from its earliest epics to its final, sophisticated decline.
Field and Hedgerow: Being the Last Essays of Richard Jefferies
Richard Jefferies
The English countryside comes alive through these observant, meditative essays, capturing the fleeting nuances of nature and the vanishing rhythms of rural life. They offer a profound intimacy with the earth, rendered with the precision of a naturalist and the soul of a poet.