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Life of Samuel Johnson, Vol. IV

James Boswell
This is the fourth volume of the Biography of Samuel Johnson.

Samuel Johnson's Life has been documented in great detail by his friends, this biography being originally published by James Boswell, and then edited several times by other persons, such as John Croker, who have been friends of both Samuel Johnson as well as James Boswell.

Already famous during his life time, Samuel Johnson's biography attracted considerable attention when it was published after Johnson's death, and continues to be read until today.
Women of the American Revolution Volume 1

Elizabeth F. Ellet
Excerpt from Preface: Their patriotic sacrifices were made with an enthusiasm that showed the earnest spirit ready on every occasion to appear in generous acts. Some gave their own property, and went from house to house to solicit contributions for the army. Colors were embroidered by fair hands, and presented with the charge never to desert them; and arms and ammunition were provided by the same liberal zeal. They formed themselves into associations renouncing the use of teas, and other imported luxuries, and engaging to card, spin, and weave their own clothing.
Lives of the Most Eminent Painters, Sculptors and Architects Vol 6

Giorgio Vasari
The Lives of the Most Excellent Italian Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, from Cimabue to Our Times (in the original Italian, Le Vite de' più eccellenti pittori, scultori, e architettori da Cimabue insino a' tempi nostri) is a collection of biographies of Italian artists written by the 16th-century Italian painter and architect Giorgio Vasari. The Vite or "Lives" is a valuable witness of the thought about art at the times now known as Renaissance by one of its actors: Vasari is mostly known for being the mind behind the revitalization of the Uffizi, in Florence. The Lives are a fundamental work for art historians.
Narrative of Sojourner Truth

Olive Gilbert
The Narrative of Sojourner Truth is the gripping autobiographical account of Sojourner Truths life as a slave in pre-Civil War New York State, and her eventual escape to Freedom. Since Sojourner could neither read or write, she dictated her story to Olive Gilbert after they met at a Women’s Rights rally. The Narrative was first published in 1850, and was widely distributed by the Abolitionist Movement. It was one of the catalysts for the rise of anti-slavery public opinion in the years leading up to the Civil War. Though Olive Gilbert's writing about Sojourner takes on a patronizing tone at times (a weakness of some Abolitionists), The Narrative of Sojourner Truth remains a moving and historic document, chronicling the struggles of African-Americans under slavery and the life of a truly remarkable woman.
Narrative of Sojourner Truth (version 2)

Olive Gilbert
Sojourner Truth (born Isabella Baumfree) was born into slavery in 1797 (or thereabouts) in Swartekill, Ulster County, New York. This narrative, as told by Sojourner Truth to her friend Olive Gilbert, recounts to the best of her recollection what she and her family endured while they were the legal property of other human beings. These life experiences served as the catalysts for her becoming, in her later years, an outspoken abolutionist and women's rights activist. Her forgiving attitude toward those who once treated her and her loved ones with such cruelty is an example for all who would aspire to heal and move on from traumatizing life experiences. The voice of Olive Gilbert comes through in this narrative, and together, she and Sojourner Truth build a compelling case against slavery.
Early Kings of Norway

Carlyle, Thomas
"The Icelanders, in their long winter, had a great habit of writing; and were, and still are, excellent in penmanship. It is to this fact, that any little history there is of the Norse Kings and their old tragedies, crimes and heroisms, is almost all due. The Icelanders, it seems, not only made beautiful letters on their paper or parchment, but were laudably observant and desirous of accuracy; and have left us such a collection of narratives (Sagas, literally "Says") as, for quantity and quality, is unexampled among rude nations. Snorro Sturleson's History of the Norse Kings is built out of these old Sagas; and has in it a great deal of poetic fire,. . . and deserves to be reckoned among the great history-books of the world. It is from these sources that the following rough notes of the early Norway Kings are hastily thrown together." (Excerpted from Thomas Carlyle's preface by Karen Merline)
Bacon

Church, Richard William
This investigation of Bacon the scholar and man of letters begins with a look at the early days ang progresses to his relationships with Queen Elizabeth and James I. It includes accounts of his positions as solicitor general, attorney-general, and chancellor. The book concludes with Bacon's failure, his overall philosophy, and summaries of his writings.
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Theodoric the Goth

Thomas Hodgkin
Theodoric the Great (~454-526) was king of the Ostrogoths during the time of the terminal decline of the Western Roman Empire. After wandering with his people through the Balkans, at times allied with the Eastern Empire, and at others, its enemy, he was invited by the Emperor Zeno to invade and conquer Italy on behalf of the Empire. He defeated the Germanic king Odovacar, who had himself deposed the last Emperor of the West, and established the Ostrogothic Kingdom in Italy. He became known as "King of the Goths and Romans in Italy", ruling according to the principle of civilitas. His reign was a time of stability and prosperity. ( Patrick Eaton)
Little Journeys to the Homes of Great Teachers

Elbert Hubbard
Elbert Hubbard describes the homes of authors, poets, social reformers and other prestigious people, reflecting on how their surroundings may have influenced them. These short essays are part biography and part pontification of Hubbard's opinion of the subject and their oeuvre.

In this volume he reflects on the lives of great teachers throughout history. Included are Moses, Confucius, Pythagoras, Plato, King Alfred, Erasmus, Booker T. Washington, Thomas Arnold, Friedrich Froebel, Hypatia, Saint Benedict and Mary Baker Eddy.
Peter the Great

Abbott, Jacob
There are very few persons who have not heard of the fame of Peter the Great, the founder, as he is generally regarded by mankind, of Russian civilization. The celebrity, however, of the great Muscovite sovereign among young persons is due in a great measure to the circumstance of his having repaired personally to Holland, in the course of his efforts to introduce the industrial arts among his people, in order to study himself the art and mystery of shipbuilding, and of his having worked with his own hands in a ship-yard there. The little shop where Peter pursued these practical studies still stands in Saardam, a ship-building town not far from Amsterdam. The building is of wood, and is now much decayed; but, to preserve it from farther injury, it has been incased in a somewhat larger building of brick, and it is visited annually by great numbers of curious travelers.
The whole history of Peter, as might be expected from the indications of character developed by this incident, forms a narrative that is full of interest and instruction for all.
(from the Preface of Peter the Great)
King Alfred of England

Jacob Abbott
The life and accomplishments of England's sole title holder of "The Great." King Alfred defended England from Viking invasions and ushered in an era of learning and progress for the British Isles. Summary by Ryan Cherrick.
Martin Luther

Carl E. Koppenhaver
This short, engaging volume summarizes the life of a priest who, intending to spark a lively academic debate by nailing 95 theses on a church door, unwittingly sets the continent aflame with the 1517 Reformation of the Catholic Church.
Legends of Charlemagne (Version 2)

Thomas Bulfinch
This study of Charlemagne is directed at the general literature reading public. Although the author tried to remain true to the legend and mythology surrounding the King of the Franks, renowned for uniting much of Europe, he points out that this is not a scholastic work for serious study, but rather to be read for enjoyment.
Partial Portraits

Henry James
In this book, writer Henry James gives wonderful and probing insights into the lives and works of many famous and interesting writers, some known personally by him. We see into the creative workings of Ralph Waldo Emerson, George Eliot, Anthony Trollope, Robert Louis Stevenson, Constance Fenimore Woolson, Alphonse Daudet, Guy De Maupassant, Ivan Turgenieff and George du Maurier.
Joseph Haydn; Servant And Master

Herbert Francis Peyser
Haydn, barring a few hardships in his youth, lived an extraordinarily fortunate life and had abundant reason for the optimism which marked every step of his progress.... Haydn was a master by the grace of Heaven and a servant only by the artificial conventions of a temporary social order... About the vast number of symphonies, the magnificent string quartets, the clavier works, the songs there can here be no question.
Little Journeys to the Homes of Good Men and Great

Elbert Hubbard
Elbert Hubbard visits the homes of authors, politicians, poets, philosophers and other prestigious people. If they are still living he speaks with them about their work. If they are dead he reflects on how their surroundings may have influenced them. These short essays are part biography, part interview and part pontification of Hubbard's opinion of the subject and their oeuvre. In this volume he reflects on his own life, as well as on those of George Eliot, Thomas Carlyle, John Ruskin, William E. Gladstone, J.M.W. Turner, Jonathan Swift, Walt Whitman, Victor Hugo, William Wordsworth, William M. Thackeray, Charles Dickens, Oliver Goldsmith, William Shakespeare and Thomas A. Edison.
Life Of Charlotte Brontë Volume 2

Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell
Charlotte Bronte was a British author, the eldest of the three famous Bronte sisters who have become standards of English literature. She is best known for her novel Jane Eyre, one of the greatest classics of all times. Just two years after Charlotte's death, her friend Elizabeth Gaskell wrote her biography. Want to know more about Charlotte Bronte? If you do, please read this biography.
Life of Florence Nightingale, Volume 2

Edward Tyas Cook
A history of Florence Nightingale (1820-1910), the founder of modern nursing. Here's the definitive biography, gleaned from a lifetime of her notes, letters and writings, that goes way beyond the mere legend of "The Lady With The Lamp", and the "Founder Of Modern Nursing". This well written saga covers the vastly more expanded story of her development into an intelligent woman with a high purpose, her social standing and family connections that opened many doors for her, her extensive work after the Crimean War working with governments to develop better health care delivery systems to the indigent in England and in India, and her voluminous writings on numerous topics. Volume 2 recounts her life from 1861 through her death in 1910.
Life and Adventures of Frank and Jesse James

Joseph. A. Dacus
Biographies of Frank and Jesse James, detailed accounts of all their significant escapades, and the final outcomes.
Life Of Abraham Lincoln

Ward Hill Lamon
Ward Hill Lamon's work is a study of the life of the 16th President of the United States of America from his childhood to the day of his first inauguration. Lamon, who worked with Lincoln during his administration, and who had access to the papers of Lincoln's law partner and biographer William Herndon, paints a vivid portrait of the years that lead to what many considered to be an unlikely yet successful run for the presidency. From his time fighting in the west as both an officer and a private soldier, through his Congressional years, private law practice and failed attempts to win a seat in the United States Senate, Lincoln is presented as the human being he was, nothing more and nothing less. This fascinating man, who arguably could be considered the best president the United States has ever known, was a complex and intensely private and conflicted individual who nonetheless sought and found his calling in public service. Lamon skillfully weaves Lincoln's speeches and letters, often in full, throughout his narrative so that the reader hears much of the story in Lincoln's own words. Rich in detail, one comes away with a fuller understanding of who Lincoln was and what formed his political and religious beliefs. With so much already known about Lincoln, Lamon's work supplements known history with private details that only Herndon and Lamon and those closest to Lincoln could provide.
Sergeant York and His People

Cowan, Sam
From a cabin back in the mountains of Tennessee, forty-eight miles from the railroad, a young man went to the World War. He was untutored in the ways of the world. Caught by the enemy in the cove of a hill in the Forest of Argonne, he did not run; but sank into the bushes and single-handed fought a battalion of German machine gunners until he made them come down that hill to him with their hands in air. There were one hundred and thirty-two of them left, and he marched them, prisoners, into the American line. Marshal Foch, in decorating him, said, "What you did was the greatest thing accomplished by any private soldier of all of the armies of Europe." His ancestors were cane-cutters and Indian fighters. Their lives were rich in the romance of adventure. They were men of strong hate and gentle love. His people have lived in the simplicity of the pioneer. This is not a war-story, but the tale of the making of a man. His ancestors were able to leave him but one legacy—an idea of American manhood. In the period that has elapsed since he came down from the mountains he has done three things—and any one of them would have marked him for distinction.
Saint Bonaventure

Fr. Laurence Costelloe
St. Bonaventure (1221 -1274), born Giovanni di Fidanza, was an Italian medieval Franciscan, scholastic theologian and philosopher. The seventh Minister General of the Order of Friars Minor, he was also Cardinal Bishop of Albano. He was canonised on 14 April 1482 by Pope Sixtus IV and declared a Doctor of the Church in the year 1588 by Pope Sixtus V. He is known as the "Seraphic Doctor" (Adapted from Wikipedia)
Oliver Cromwell and the Rule of the Puritans in England

Charles H. Firth
The Life of Cromwell is in part based on an article contributed by the author to the Dictionary of National Biography in 1888, but embodies the result of later researches, and of recently discovered documents such as the Clarke Papers. The battle plans have been specially drawn for this volume by Mr. B. V. Darbishire, and in two cases differ considerably from those generally accepted as correct. The scheme of this series does not permit a discussion of the reasons why these alterations have been made, but the evidence concerning the battles in question has been carefully examined, and any divergence from received accounts is intentional. The reader who wishes to see this subject discussed at length is referred to a study of the battle of Marston Moor printed in Volume XII. of the Transactions of the Royal Historical Society (new series), and to a similar paper on Dunbar which will appear in Volume XIV.The quotations from Cromwell’s letters or speeches are, where necessary, freely abridged.
Lucretia Borgia

Ferdinand Gregorovius
According to Original Documents and Correspondence of Her Day. Lucretia Borgia is the most unfortunate woman in modern history. Is this because she was guilty of the most hideous crimes, or is it simply because she has been unjustly condemned by the world to bear its curse? The question has never been answered.
James Watt

Carnegie, Andrew
This biography of the inventor covers his early years, successes and failures, and legacy.
Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of America, During the Years 1799-1804, Vol.2

Aimé Bonpland
In Volume 2 of “The Personal Narrative”, Alexander von Humboldt and the botanist Aimé Bonpland continue their travels, beginning at Lake Valencia in the llanos of Venezuela and then travelling the mighty South American river, the Orinoco, and its tributaries, for 75 days in a dugout canoe, guided by local Indians and accompanied by one of the local missionaries. As in Volume 1, von Humboldt describes the people, plants, animals, geography and geology of the region. These descriptions include his famous experiments on electic eels as well as descriptions of the arrau tortoise, river porpoises, crocodiles, jaguars and caribe (flesh eating) fish. Likewise there are narratives of the sights, sounds and smells of the scenery through which they passed, and accounts of the peoples of the Orinoco basin.Their canoe carried themselves and their provisions, but also their scientific instruments, collections, and a menagerie of caged birds and monkeys. von Humbold summarises the difficulties of the voyage. “The inconveniences endured at sea in small vessels are trivial in comparison with those that are suffered under a burning sky, surrounded by swarms of mosquitos, and lying stretched in a canoe, without the possibility of taking the least bodily exercise. In seventy-five days we had performed a passage of five hundred leagues (twenty to a degree) on the five great rivers, Apure, Orinoco, Atabapo, Rio Negro, and Cassiquiare; and in this vast extent we had found but a very small number of inhabited places.”These travels had the aims of identifying the source(s) of the Orinoco, of ascertaining its connection with the Amazon, and of making astronomical measurements to improve the maps of the rivers, all of which were incorrect at that time. (Incidentally, von Humboldt's longitudes are with reference to the Paris meridian.) Volume 2 describes their travels from the 21st of February to the 14th of June 1800, when they arrived at Angostura, the capital of the province of Guiana at that time.
Alexander Hamilton

Conant, Charles A.
Alexander Hamilton was a significant figure in the political and economic development of the early United States. He served in the American Revolutionary War and became an aide to General George Washington. He was one of the authors (along with John Jay and James Madison) of a series of essays know as The Federalist Papers, which were written in support of the ratification of the proposed Constitution. Scholars and others still refer to these essays to this day for interpretation of the Constitution. As the first Secretary of the Treasury in George Washington’s Cabinet, Hamilton was a proponent of a strong centralized government. Hamilton pursued many actions (some controversial) in an attempt to provide financial stability for the new government, including the establishment of the U.S. Mint and a National Bank. Ironically, he may most often be remembered for the infamous pistol duel with Aaron Burr that resulted in Hamilton’s death.
Lives of the Most Eminent Painters, Sculptors and Architects Vol 8

Giorgio Vasari
The Lives of the Most Excellent Italian Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, from Cimabue to Our Times (in the original Italian, Le Vite de' più eccellenti pittori, scultori, e architettori da Cimabue insino a' tempi nostri) is a collection of biographies of Italian artists written by the 16th-century Italian painter and architect Giorgio Vasari. The Vite or "Lives" is a valuable witness of the thought about art at the times now known as Renaissance by one of its actors: Vasari is mostly known for being the mind behind the revitalization of the Uffizi, in Florence. The Lives are a fundamental work for art historians.
Empresses of Constantinople

Joseph Martin McCabe
In concluding an earlier volume on the mistresses of the western Roman Empire I observed that, as the gallery of fair and frail ladies closed, we stood at the door of “the long, quaint gallery of the Byzantine Empresses.” It seemed natural and desirable to pass on to this more interesting and less familiar series of the mistresses of the eastern Roman Empire, and the present volume will therefore tell the story of the Empresses, or Queens, as they preferred to be called, who occupied the throne set up by Constantine in New Rome, or ancient Byzantium. (Summary taken from the author's introduction)
Oscar Wilde: His Life and Confessions

Frank Harris
Consumers of biography are familiar with the division between memoirs of the living or recently dead written by those who "knew" the subject more or less intimately, and the more objective or scholarly accounts produced by later generations.

In the case of Wilde, as presented to us by Frank Harris, we are in a way doubly estranged from the subject. We meet with Oscar the charismatic talker, whose tone of voice can never be reproduced – even if a more scrupulous biographer had set down his words accurately – and we are perhaps already aware of him as Wilde the self-destructive celebrity who uneasily fills the place of the premier gay icon and martyr in our contemporary view.

Neither of these images will do. We need to read as many accounts as possible. Harris, though himself a self-advertising literary and sexual buccaneer, takes a wincingly representative view of Wilde’s homophile activity: for him it is a patrician excrescence, the abominable vice of the few, contracted at English boarding schools – though thankfully “not infectious” as far as he himself is concerned.

What a long road we have to travel to arrive at the essentially gay man of today! But there are many shortcuts to take us back to where we came from…
George Bernard Shaw

Chesterton, G. K.
Chesterton and Shaw were famous friends and enjoyed their arguments and discussions. Although rarely in agreement, they both maintained good-will towards and respect for each other. However, in his writing, Chesterton expressed himself very plainly on where they differed and why. In Heretics he writes of Shaw:
“After belabouring a great many people for a great many years for being unprogressive, Mr. Shaw has discovered, with characteristic sense, that it is very doubtful whether any existing human being with two legs can be progressive at all. Having come to doubt whether humanity can be combined with progress, most people, easily pleased, would have elected to abandon progress and remain with humanity. Mr. Shaw, not being easily pleased, decides to throw over humanity with all its limitations and go in for progress for its own sake. If man, as we know him, is incapable of the philosophy of progress, Mr. Shaw asks, not for a new kind of philosophy, but for a new kind of man. It is rather as if a nurse had tried a rather bitter food for some years on a baby, and on discovering that it was not suitable, should not throw away the food and ask for a new food, but throw the baby out of window, and ask for a new baby.”
Shaw represented the new school of thought, humanism, which was rising at the time. Chesterton's views, on the other hand, became increasingly more focused towards the church. In Orthodoxy he writes:
“The worship of will is the negation of will. . . If Mr. Bernard Shaw comes up to me and says, "Will something," that is tantamount to saying, "I do not mind what you will," and that is tantamount to saying, "I have no will in the matter." You cannot admire will in general, because the essence of will is that it is particular.
Lord Clive

Thomas Babington Macaulay
Robert Clive was, in Macaulay’s view, the real founder of British power in India. Macaulay himself served on the Governor’s Council in India from 1834 to 1838, working on legal and educational changes in that country. In his view, the establishment of British control and influence in India was part of a great civilizing mission, helping to rid India of its backwardness, superstitions, and corruption by replacing them with an advanced English culture, scientific and literary. That view comes through very clearly both in this essay and that of his on Warren Hastings as well. Needless to say many Indians have and have had a rather different outlook. ( Nicholas Clifford)
Little Journeys to the Homes of Great Musicians

Elbert Hubbard
Elbert Hubbard describes the homes of authors, poets, social reformers and other prestigious people, reflecting on how their surroundings may have influenced them. These short essays are part biography and part pontification of Hubbard's opinion of the subject and their oeuvre.

In this volume he reflects on the lives of great musicians. Included are Richard Wagner, Paganini, Frederic Chopin, Robert Schumann, Sebastian Bach, Felix Mendelsohn, Franz Liszt, Ludwig van Beethoven, George Handel, Giuseppe Verdi, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Johannes Brahms.
Explorers and Travellers

Adolphus W. Greely
“Explorers and Travellers” is a collection of short biographies of some of America’s intrepid explorers. Adolphus W. Greely writes brief but very complete histories of men who risked life and fortune to discover more of our world. A thoroughly enjoyable work if you enjoy exploration and adventure. - summary by William Tomcho
Youth

Leo Tolstoy
Youth is the third in Tolstoy's trilogy of three autobiographical novels, including Childhood and Boyhood, published in a literary journal during the 1850s.
Books Fatal to Their Authors

Peter Hempson Ditchfield
This is a collection of stories of authors who have lost their fortunes and sometimes their lives after writing a book. The liberty of a person's conscience was unknown in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries; Why should a man be drawn and quartered for writing what we know is the truth? What must it have been like to have lived in that era. At the time it was dangerous to say that the earth went around the sun and many other theories were treated in the same way.
Spirit of the Age; Or, Contemporary Portraits

William Hazlitt
William Hazlitt was a keen observer of his time and the people populating the literary landscape. He presents short monographs on such illustrious persons as Jeremy Bentham, known for his philosophy of utility, William Godwin, who raised the standard of morality above the reach of humanity, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Edward Irving, who keeps the public in awe by insulting all their favourite idols, Horne Tooke, Sir Walter Scott, Lord Byron, Thomas Campbell, who wrote Pleasures of Hope,James Mackintosh, appointed Recorder (chief judge) of Bombay in 1804, William Wordsworth, Thomas Malthus, who wrote in answer to Mr. Godwin, William Gifford , who edited The Quarterly Review, Francis Jeffrey, who edited the Edinburgh Review, Henry Brougham, who founded the Edinburgh Review in 1802, Francis Burdett, one of the most pleasing speakers in the House, and is a prodigious favourite of the English people, William Wilberforce, whose first object and principle of action is to do what he thinks right, Robert Southey, the best and most natural prose-writer of any poet of the day, Thomas Moore, who wrote Fables for the Holy Alliance, and Leigh Hunt, we will venture to oppose his Third Canto of the Story of Rimini for classic elegance and natural feeling to any equal number of lines from Mr. Southey's Epics or from Mr. Moore's Lalla Rookh. Charles Lamb wrote Essays of Elia under his pseudonym Elia and Washington Irvine wrote under the pseudonym Geoffrey Crayon. Hazlitt compares the two in his final essay.
Petticoat Commando, The

Brandt, Johanna
In introducing the English version of this book I venture to bespeak a welcome for it, not only for the light which it throws on some little-known incidents of the South African war, but also because of the keen personal interest of the events recorded. It is more than a history. It is a dramatic picture of the hopes and fears, the devotion and bitterness with which some patriotic women in Pretoria watched and, as far as they could, took part in the war which was slowly drawing to its conclusion on the veld outside.
I do not associate myself with the opinions expressed by the writer as to the causes of the war or the methods adopted to bring it to an end, or as to the policy which led to the Concentration Camps, and the causes of the terrible mortality which prevailed during the first months of their existence. On these matters many readers will hold different opinions from the writer, or will prefer to let judgment be in suspense and to look to the historian of the future for a final verdict. We are still too near the events to be impartial. But this book does not challenge or invite controversy. Fortunately for South Africa, most of us on both sides can now discuss the events of the war without bitterness and understand and respect the feelings of those who were most sharply divided by these events from ourselves.
The greater part of the narrative comes from a diary kept during the war with unusual fullness and vividness. The difficulty experienced by the writer of the diary in communicating to friends outside Pretoria information about what was passing inside, and in unburdening herself of the feelings roused in her by the events of the war, made the diary more than usually intimate. To understand fully many of the narratives which have been transferred from it to this book, it must be remembered that one is reading, not something written from memory years after the event, but rather the record of a conversation at the time, in which the diarist is describing the events as if to a friend who shares to the full all her own feelings and to whom she can speak without reserve.
Much has happened in the ten years which have passed since the end of the war. The country which was distracted by the conflicting ideals and interests of its different Governments and peoples has become the Union of South Africa. It is now one State. It remains that it should call forth a spirit of patriotism and nationality which will unite and not divide its people.
Celebrated Crimes, Vol. 4: Karl-Ludwig Sand

Alexandre Dumas
This is the fourth volume of Alexandre Dumas' studies of celebrated crimes and their perpetrators. This volume is concerned with the story of Karl Ludwig Sand, who stabbed August von Kotzebue to death in 1819. August von Kotzebue had been a prominent dramatist, a student of Musäus, whose royalist and conservative writings ultimately led to his assassination by a member of a revolutionary liberal Burschenschaft.
My First Book (Version 2)

Various
Have you ever wondered how your favorite author started on his or her writing career? Did they launch themselves wholeheartedly into literature? Did they slave away every evening after a hard day at the office? Did they devote their golden years to reflect on a life well-spent? Some faced rejection while others found almost instant success. In this volume, we learn from the authors themselves what launched their literary careers... Bret Harte, Arthur Conan Doyle, R.M. Ballantyne, H. Rider Haggard and many other favorites contributed their stories.
Jane Austen and Her Times

Geraldine Edith Mitton
This is a lively and highly accessible overview of the life and times of one of England's most beloved authors. Using excerpts from a wide variety of sources, such as Austen's own personal correspondence and the works of her contemporaries, Mitton chronicles her literary career and family life amidst the changing climate of the Georgian and Regency eras, giving the reader a sense of what it was like to live in her world. A must-read for the dedicated Austen aficionado!
Chronicles of America Volume 08 - The Quaker Colonies

Sydney Fisher
The Quaker Colonies describes the Quaker emigration to the colonies in the sixteen and seventeen hundreds and at the same time its involvement in the evolution of Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey. Throughout, the author investigates the various interactions--religious, cultural, and political--between the racial and national groups: the Indians, the French (albeit briefly), the English (Quaker, Catholic, and Anglican), the Dutch, and the Swedes.
John Quincy Adams

John T. Morse
This biography contains three main sections. the first covers Adams's early years and his time as a diplomat--both in America and overseas. The second tells of his two careers as Secretary of State and President. The last involves his years in the House of Representatives.
Gilbert Keith Chesterton

Maisie Ward
This is the first and only authorized biography of G.K. Chesterton, written by his friend, Maisie Ward.

Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874 – 1936), was an English writer, poet, philosopher, dramatist, journalist, orator, lay theologian, biographer, and literary and art critic. He wrote around 80 books, several hundred poems, some 200 short stories, 4000 essays, and several plays. Chesterton is well known for his fictional priest-detective Father Brown, and for his reasoned apologetics. He converted from Anglicanism to Catholicism in 1922.
T. De Witt Talmage As I Knew Him

Thomas De Witt Talmage
The Autobiography of Thomas De Witt Talmage, he was one of the most prominent religious leaders in the United States during the mid 19th century. His sermons which have been put into writing are convicting, informative and well worth reading or listening to, just as his life is. Full of the spirit of God his life is a testimony and encouragement even today, years after his death.

This book was written by himself and his wife, Eleanor McCutcheon Collier Talmage. The first 17 chapters written by Mr. Talmage and the last five were written by his wife.( fiddlesticks)
Lives of the Most Eminent Painters, Sculptors and Architects Vol 7

Giorgio Vasari
The Lives of the Most Excellent Italian Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, from Cimabue to Our Times (in the original Italian, Le Vite de' più eccellenti pittori, scultori, e architettori da Cimabue insino a' tempi nostri) is a collection of biographies of Italian artists written by the 16th-century Italian painter and architect Giorgio Vasari. The Vite or "Lives" is a valuable witness of the thought about art at the times now known as Renaissance by one of its actors: Vasari is mostly known for being the mind behind the revitalization of the Uffizi, in Florence. The Lives are a fundamental work for art historians.
Growth of a Soul

August Strindberg
Johan August Strindberg was a Swedish playwright who has had many of his works read into LibriVox by volunteers. From his earliest work, Strindberg developed forms of dramatic action, language, and visual composition so innovative that many were to become technically possible to stage only with the advent of film. He is considered the "father" of modern Swedish literature. The Growth of a Soul is Strindberg's own literary autobiography and recreation of the spirit of the times at Upsala University and his attempts to become a literary artist. The work ends with the publication of his novel The Red Room (1879). It is the autobiography of a thinking soul. He discusses the works of such souls as Friedrich Schiller (1788-1805), Christopher Jacob Boström (1797-1866), Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) and Henry Thomas Buckle (1821-1862).(Wikipedia and Soupy)

The history of the development of a soul can be sometimes written by giving a simple bibliography; for a man who lives in a narrow circle and never meets great men personally, seeks to make their acquaintance through books. The fact that the same books do not make the same impression, nor have the same effect upon all, shows their relative powerlessness to convert anybody. For example, we call the criticism with which we agree good; the criticism which contradicts our views is bad. Thus we seem to be educated with preconceived views, and the book which strengthens, expresses and develops these makes an impression on us. The danger of a one-sided education through books is that most books, especially those composed at the end of an era, and at the university, are antiquated. The youth who has received old ideals from his parents and teachers is accordingly necessarily out of date before his education is completed. When he enters manhood, he is generally obliged to fling away his whole stock of old ideas, and be born again, as it were. Time has gone by him, while he was reading the old books, and he finds himself a stranger among his contemporaries. August Strindberg
Frederick Douglass A Biography

Charles Waddell Chesnutt
Born into slavery, Frederick Douglass became one of America's great icons. He escaped slavery to become one of our great abolitionists, statesman, writer, orator, all around social reformer and intellectual of our time. He was born in 1818 in the state of Maryland.
Oscar Wilde: A Study

André Gide
This is a 1905 memoir of one great litterateur’s latter days written by another great litterateur. This recording omits the numerous footnotes and two letters in French untranslated by the translator. -Summary by david wales
Industrial Biography: Iron Workers and Tool Makers

Samuel Smiles
Short Biographies of some of the most influential engineers who developed the modern manufacturing methods behind the Industrial Revolution.

Engineers and designers tend to be fairly anonymous figures in history – content to make things rather than write about them. At the time Smiles wrote “Industrial Biography” the whole of British society was undergoing massive changes driven by developments in the High Technology of the day – Mechanical Engineering.

Much of the knowledge we have of the brilliant mechanical engineers who developed the iron and machine tools of the nineteenth century was gathered and recorded by Smiles from the men themselves and from their students. Without Bramah, Maudslay, Nasmyth , and others Brunel would not have been able to build his railways, bridges and steamships. And many of their machine tools are still in use 200 years later: my own lathe looks very similar to one made by Maudslay in 1800 and almost identical to Whitworth lathes from the 1830s.

Smiles’ most famous work is “Self Help” published in 1859: the book that defined the Liberal Victorian response to the poor. In "Industrial Biography", written only four years later, the virtues of thrift, hard work, and self-improvement are woven through the stories of the great mechanical engineers, most of whom raised themselves from very humble beginnings. In some ways Industrial Biography and the other engineering biographies published by Smiles can be seen as examples to illustrate “Self Help”.
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