Essays & Short Works
Showing 51–100 of 117 results
Miscellaneous Essays of G. K. Chesterton
These eleven files are miscellaneous short essays or stories from G.K. Chesterton. They were chosen for not only their brevity but also for being shining exemplars of Chesterton’s wit and whimsy. A fun but powerful introduction into the mind of the man that is G.K. Chesterton. (Summary by GK Cleveland)
Modern Essays
Thirty three essays by more or less well-known authors of Britain, the United States, and Canada, each fronted by an introductory paragraph. Early twentieth or late nineteenth centuries. ?I think I can offer you, in this parliament of philomaths [lover of learning], entertainment of the most genuine sort;?as brilliant and sincere work is being done to-day in the essay as in any period of our literature. Accordingly the pieces reprinted here are very diverse. There is the grand manner; there is foolery; there is straightforward literary criticism; there is pathos, politics, and the picturesque. But every selection is, in its own way, a work of art. And I would call the reader’s attention to this: that the greater number of these essays were written not by retired ?sthetes, but by practising journalists in the harness of the daily or weekly press.? The listener is alerted to the fact that some of the essays have been edited from the original, some lightly, others quite heavily. Published in 1921. ( Author’s Preface and david wales)
Short Nonfiction Collection Vol. 002
A collection of ten short nonfiction works in the public domain. The essays, speeches and reports included in this collection were independently selected by the readers, and the topics encompass history, politics, religion, science and humor. Included in this collection are the “Oath of Hippocrates” and “The Funeral Oration of Pericles” along with Patrick Henry’s “The Call to Arms,” and Jack London’s eyewitness account of the aftermath of the San Francisco earthquake in 1906. On the lighter side, we have Jerome K. Jerome’s “Should Women Be Beautiful,” a short address by Mark Twain to The Author’s Club in NYC, and the anonymous “Miseries,” a lighthearted lament on subjects such as the difficulties of eating a peach gracefully in public and finding a suitable length of twine when you need one. In this collection you will also find “A Free Man’s Worship” by Bertram Russell, “Obstacle-Cause” from “Sophisms of the Protectionists” by Fr?d?ric Bastiat, and an essay by T. H. Huxley on the science of palaeontology. (summary by J. M. Smallheer)
Short Nonfiction Collection Vol. 003
A collection of ten short nonfiction works in the public domain. The essays, speeches and reports included in this collection were independently selected by the readers, and the topics encompass history, politics science and religion. Included in this collection are Martin Luther?s ?Ninety-five Theses,? Jefferson Davis? speech before the United States Senate in 1861 ?On Withdrawing from the Union,? William E. Gladstone?s address delivered in the House of Commons in 1893 on ?Irish Home Rule? and Wendell Phillips speech in 1837 in Fanuiel Hall in Boston regarding ?The Murder of Lovejoy.? You will also find here an epistolary essay by Fran?ois Marie Arouet de Voltaire ?On Lord Bacon,? a letter from Samuel Clemens commenting on the inclusion of Jesus in the list of ?One Hundred Greatest Men,? ?On Applauding Preachers? by Saint John Chrysostom, an essay by Alice Meynell on ?Solitude,? and the entry on Captain Edward Teach (aka Blackbeard) from ?The Pirates Who?s Who? by Philip Gosse. (summary by J. M. Smallheer) The Ninety-Five Theses by Martin Luther, was translated by R. S. Grignon.
Short Nonfiction Collection Vol. 008
A collection of fifteen short nonfiction works in the public domain. The essays, speeches, news items and reports included in this collection were independently selected by the readers, and the topics encompass history, politics, philosophy, nature and religion.
Short Nonfiction Collection Vol. 009
A collection of fifteen short nonfiction works in the public domain. The essays, speeches, news items and reports included in these collections are independently selected by the readers, and the topics encompass history, politics, philosophy, nature, religion, etc.
Short Nonfiction Collection Vol. 010
A collection of fifteen short nonfiction works in the public domain. The essays, speeches, news items and reports included in this collection were independently selected by the readers, and the topics encompass history, politics, philosophy, nature and religion.
Short Nonfiction Collection Vol. 012
A collection of fifteen short nonfiction works in the public domain. The essays, speeches and reports included in this collection were independently selected by the readers, and the topics encompass humor, history, politics, science medicine, nature, finance, cooking, film and religion. (summary by J. M. Smallheer)
Short Nonfiction Collection Vol. 013
A collection of sixteen short nonfiction works in the public domain. The essays, speeches and reports included in this collection were independently selected by the readers, and the topics encompass history, politics, medicine, nature and religion. (summary by J. M. Smallheer)
Short Nonfiction Collection Vol. 014
A collection of short nonfiction works in the public domain. The essays, speeches and reports included in this collection were independently selected by the readers, and the topics encompass history, politics, military history, humor, philosophy, nature and religion. (summary by J. M. Smallheer)
Short Nonfiction Collection Vol. 015
A collection of short nonfiction works in the public domain. The essays, speeches and reports included in this collection were independently selected by the readers, and the topics encompass history, government, military history, science, philosophy, sports, nature and religion. (summary by J. M. Smallheer)
Short Nonfiction Collection Vol. 016
A collection of short nonfiction works in the public domain. The selections included in this collection were independently chosen by the readers, and the topics encompass history, science, literature, sports, education, humor, philosophy, nature and religion. (summary by J. M. Smallheer)
Short Nonfiction Collection Vol. 017
A collection of short nonfiction works in the public domain. The selections included in this collection were independently chosen by the readers, and the topics encompass history, science, cooking, economics, education, humor, philosophy, nature and religion. (summary by J. M. Smallheer)
Short Nonfiction Collection Vol. 018
A collection of short nonfiction works in the public domain. The selections included in this collection were independently chosen by the readers, and the topics encompass law, history, science, travel, philosophy, nature and religion. (summary by J. M. Smallheer)
Short Nonfiction Collection Vol. 019
A collection of short nonfiction works in the public domain. The selections included in this collection were independently chosen by the readers, and the topics encompass history, literature, travel, science, medicine, war, writing, education, philosophy, and religion. (summary by J. M. Smallheer)
Short Nonfiction Collection Vol. 020
A collection of short nonfiction works in the public domain. The selections included in this collection were independently chosen by the readers, and the topics encompass history, science, cooking, economics, education, humor, philosophy, nature and religion. (summary by J. M. Smallheer)
Short Nonfiction Collection Vol. 021
A collection of short nonfiction works in the public domain. The selections included in this collection were independently chosen by the readers, and the topics encompass history, war, farming, slavery, education, philosophy, and nature. (summary by J. M. Smallheer)
Short Nonfiction Collection Vol. 023
A collection of short nonfiction works in the public domain. The selections included in this collection were independently chosen by the readers, and the topics encompass history, politics, cooking, humor, medicine, theater, philosophy, memoirs. (summary by J. M. Smallheer)
Short Nonfiction Collection Vol. 024
A collection of short nonfiction works in the public domain. The selections included in this collection were independently chosen by the readers, and the topics encompass gardening, military history, humor, climate change, travel and religion. (summary by J. M. Smallheer)
Short Nonfiction Collection Vol. 026
A collection of short nonfiction works in the public domain. The selections included in this collection were independently chosen by the readers, and the topics encompass history, travel, embroidery, science, mathematics, humor, philosophy, politics, and nature. (summary by J. M. Smallheer)
Short Nonfiction Collection Vol. 027
A collection of short nonfiction works in the public domain. The selections included in this collection were independently chosen by the readers and include speeches and essays on history, science, politics, nature, travel, psychology and love. (summary by J. M. Smallheer)
Short Nonfiction Collection Vol. 028
A collection of short nonfiction works in the public domain. The selections included in this collection were independently chosen by the readers, and the topics encompass history, slavery, science, education, humor, philosophy, nature and baseball. (summary by J. M. Smallheer)
Short Nonfiction Collection Vol. 029
Twenty short nonfiction works in the public domain, independently chosen by the readers. Topics include architecture, education, philosophy, religion, health, humor, history, and literature. (Summary by Sue Anderson)
Short Nonfiction Collection Vol. 030
Twenty short nonfiction works in the public domain, independently chosen by the readers. Topics include botany, dreams, farming, history, literature, nature, and religion. (summary by Sue Anderson)
Short Nonfiction Collection Vol. 031
Fifteen short nonfiction works in the public domain, independently chosen by the readers. Topics include the Faust Legend, Stephen Crane, Sundials and the Statue of Liberty. (Summary by Sue Anderson)
Short Nonfiction Collection Vol. 033
Eighteen short nonfiction works in the public domain, independently chosen by the readers. Topics include astronomy, religion, United States history, football, child raising, Tokyo firebombing, and more. (summary by Sue Anderson)
Short Nonfiction Collection Vol. 034
Eighteen short nonfiction works in the public domain, independently chosen by the readers. Topics include the English countryside; William Randolph Hearst and journalism; the philosophy of Soren Kierkegaard, John Dewey and others; General William T. Sherman’s voyage to San Francisco; the metric system, and the future of the machine age. (Summary by Sue Anderson) Bjornson’s “Beyond Human Power” and Kierkegaard’s “What Says the Fire Marshal?” were both translated by Lee Milton Hollander The translators of Philemon’s “The Highest Good” and Lessing’s “On Love of Truth” are unknown.
Short Nonfiction Collection, Vol. 035
Eighteen short nonfiction works in the public domain, independently chosen by the readers. Topics include how to swim, Navajo silversmithing, the sun, begonias and ferns, Martin Luther, U.S. Presidents Eisenhower and Nixon, Captain Cook’s exploration of Botany Bay, General James Wolfe, and Moravian missionaries in Labrador. (summary by Sue Anderson)
Short Nonfiction Collection, Vol. 036
Eighteen short nonfiction works in the public domain, independently chosen by the readers. Topics include the discovery of X-rays, earthquakes, Hegel, Sir William Osler, Charles William Eliot, Oscar Wilde, Charles Sumner, Monica Lewinsky, and Anita Loos; the Lincoln highway, joys of gardening, goldfish, skunk raising, and the cultivation of tobacco. “Earthquakes” was co-authored by Louis Pakiser. (summary by Sue Anderson)
Short Nonfiction Collection, Vol. 037
Eighteen short nonfiction works in the public domain, independently chosen by the readers. Topics include the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake, blow-pipe weapons, Oriental china; impressions of America by Enrico Caruso, Oscar Wilde, and Charles W. Eliot; Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass; film directors Ernst Lubitsch and King Vidor; architect Louis Sullivan; Roe vs. Wade, women’s rights; microphobia, the Boy Scouts, Kentucky’s blue-grass region, and wintry weather. (Summary by Sue Anderson)
Short Nonfiction Collection, Vol. 038
Eighteen short nonfiction works in the public domain, independently chosen by the readers. Topics include bedside books, South African cookery, Bryce canyon, Wilhelm Stekel’s psychology, the Theologia Germanica, Paracelsus, John Donne, Cotton Mather, Julia Smith’s translation of the Bible, Zen Buddhism, American immigrants, slavery, Joseph Crosby Lincoln, Oscar Wilde, Albert Einstein, and cats. “Cats and Their Care” was edited by Liberty Hyde Bailey. “Looking Backward” was translated by Samuel Aaron Tannenbaum. “The Collector” was translated by Rosalie Gabler. “Thelogia Germanica” was translated by Susanna Winkworth. (summary by Sue Anderson)
Short Nonfiction Collection, Vol. 039
Eighteen short nonfiction works in the public domain, independently chosen by the readers. Topics include literary figures–Alice Mangold Diehl, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Arthur Hugh Clough; philosophers–Hegel, Kierkegaard; religious thinkers–Martin Luther, Cotton Mather; political leaders–Thomas Jefferson, John F. Kennedy; important documents–the Constitution of Japan (1946), the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom; moments in history–the Battle of the Crater, the Dred Scott Decision; historical figures–the Pseudo Dionysius and Xenophon; and, lastly, shopper’s tips for watermelons and cantaloupes. (Summary by Sue Anderson) Hegel’s The Problem was translated by William T. Harris Xenophon’s On Horsemanship was translated by Morris H. Morgan
Short Nonfiction Collection, Vol. 040
Eighteen short nonfiction works in the public domain, independently chosen by the readers. Topics include a murder during the Yukon gold rush, a perpetual motion fraud, the dissection of a Tasmanian tiger’s brain, phlogiston, Bertrand Russell on noting, the memoirs of Louis XIV, the novels of Marie Corelli, marriage, free love, and motherhood. Authors include Benjamin Franklin, Hamlin Garland, Ida Tarbel, Emma Goldman, Florence Nightingale, Robert Benchley, Heywood Broun, and the duc de Saint-Simon.
Short Nonfiction Collection, Vol. 041
Eighteen short nonfiction works in the public domain, independently chosen by the readers. Topics include a woman in Alaska, Cuban folklore, and hunting peccaries on the Nueces; Max Planck’s Quantum Theory and Newton’s world view; church bells and chocolate cake; naval flag signals, rocket life-saving apparatus, and seashore plants and pebbles; also many literary and philosophical figures including Jonathan Swift, Jonathan Edwards, Johann Fichte, Joseph Butler, George Sand, Marie Corelli, G. K. Chesterton, and Hilaire Belloc. (summary by Sue Anderson)
Short Nonfiction Collection, Vol. 042
Eighteen short nonfiction works in the public domain, independently chosen by the readers. Topics include biographies of astronomer Fiammetta Wilson, naturalist Alexander von Humboldt, mountaineer Jacques Balmat, French Revolutionist Camille Desmoulins, and Buddha; a climb of Mt. Fuji by Lafcadio Hearn, reviews of 20th century poetry and of books by E. M. Delafield, Mrs. Gaskell, and Kierkegaard; marriage; motion pictures; color blindness; and an essay on optimism by Helen Keller. (Summary by Sue Anderson)
Short Nonfiction Collection, Vol. 043
Nineteen short nonfiction works in the public domain, independently chosen by the readers. Topics include the role of “people of color” in New Orleans and Louisiana history, the question of voting rights for Blacks after the Civil War; W.E.B.Du Bois on the American Negro Academy, and a biography of Harriet Tubman; Irish patriot Robert Everet’s execution appeal; Swendenborg and spiritism; the optics of the kaleidoscope; the daily life of sailors and housewives; the relation of meteor showers to a massive earthquake in 1755; John Ruskin; Friedrich Schelling; Bramah’s Kai Lung stories; and articles on the bottlenose whale and botrytis mold. (Summary by Sue Anderson)
Short Nonfiction Collection, Vol. 044
Nineteen short nonfiction works in the public domain, independently chosen by the readers. Topics include wives, widows, and women scorned–the “Baby Doe Tabor” scandal, the trials of literary marriages, and colonial women; history–Wounded Knee, the Underground Railroad, Edward Bellamy’s “nationalism,” and English railroads; inspiring places–the Alhambra and Squaw Rock; invention–the marine chronometer; and essays on the Constitution, the natural equality of men, old age, the consolation of reading, and on the fantastic imagination. (Summary by Sue Anderson) The Art of Dying by August Strindberg was translated by Claud Field. The Natural Equality of Men to be Acknowledged by Samuel Pufendorf was translated by Andrew Tooke.
Short Nonfiction Collection, Vol. 046
Twenty short nonfiction works in the public domain, independently chosen by the readers. Topics include meteor showers, smallpox inoculation, telegraphy, fear of death, church bell change-ringing , painting as a pastime, prejudice against Jews from Mark Twain’s perspective, the view from Braddock Heights, Maryland, philosophical reflections by Saint Bonaventure, Paracelsus, and Friedrich Jacobi, letters written by Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe, and eulogies to Alexander Hamilton and John Keats. The Degrees of Ascension to God by Saint Bonaventure was translated by Thomas Davidson.
Short Nonfiction Collection, Vol. 047
Eighteen short nonfiction works in the public domain, independently chosen by the readers. Topics include philosophy and thought — Plato, Aristotle, Leonhard Euler, Henri Amiel, and the French Rights of Man; adventure and mystery — the ascent of Aconcagua and the mystery ship Mary Celeste; science — a new comet and lichen dyes; portraits of the seasons by Lucy Maud Montgomery: biographies of Charles Dickens and Clara and Robert Schuman; a history of the Transcendental utopia Fruitlands by Louisa May Alcott, and an essay on reading by Isaac Disraeli. summary by Sue Anderson
Short Nonfiction Collection, Vol. 052
Seventeen short nonfiction works in the public domain, independently chosen by the readers. Topics include Nature and Science–fall scenery, rose oil, large type books for low vision, the pulmotor, and the method of scientific investigation; Philosophy and Thought–Joseph Priestly, Kierkegaard, Rousseau, and A.C. Bradley on poetry; History and Travel–John Johnston founder of Sault St. Marie, eating in Berlin, and Sir John Mandeville’s travels; a Japanese folk tale; a defense of Lady Bryon by Harriet Beecher Stowe, and a Virginia slave narrative by Minnie Fulkes. (Summary by Sue Anderson) “Preparation for a Christian Life” was translated by Lee M. Hollander.
Short Nonfiction Collection, Vol. 054
Sixteen short nonfiction works in the public domain, independently chosen by the readers. Topics include Science and Exploration–a tribute to Egyptologist Amelia Edwards, and discourses on gravitation and relativity by Georges-Louis Le Sage and Ralph Sampson; Sociology and Society–Julio Guerrero on the Mexican character, reflections on life from Kierkegaard’s Diapsalmata, Immanuel Kant on religious education, the fate of romance in the King of Siam’s harem, nickelodeons, and the tragic results of an 1851 fire on small businesses in New York’s Bowery; Nature–how weeds spread, animal coloration, and mountaineering in the Rockies; as well as a biography of Buster Keaton, and a treatise on British hat making in the age of Top Hats with styles named the Bang-Up and the Vis-a-Vis. (summary by Sue Anderson)
Short Nonfiction Collection, Vol. 057
Fifteen short nonfiction works in the public domain, independently chosen by the readers. Natural cataclysm is the subject of several readings: the 1899 Alaskan earthquake, which uplifted cliffs at Yakutat Bay 47 feet; a terrifying forest fire in Northern Wisconsin in 1899; the fiery sunsets which followed the volcanic eruption of Krakatoa in 1883; a storm at sea which sank the English frigate Anson in 1807; and the explosion of a hydrogen-filled dirigible over Chicago in 1919. Natural beauty, also a topic, includes a guide to the Antrim coast of Ireland, observations on Black Walnut trees and the communal life of Yellow-Jacket wasps, and an essay on how to paint reflections. Two colloquies of Erasmus explore a young woman’s choice to become a nun and the “preposterous judgments” of people who value the names of things more than the Things themselves. Progress–envisioned as the age of electricity; changes in burglary; and Nostradamus’ prognostications for the future round out the volume. -summary by Sue Anderson Elizabeth G. Peckham was the co-author of “Communal Life of Yellow-Jacket Wasps” Fifty Quatrains of Nostradamus was translated by Theophilus de Garenci?res
Short Nonfiction Collection, Vol. 059
Sixteen short nonfiction works in the public domain, independently chosen by the readers. Volume 59 contains an eclectic mix of readings, ranging from a description of a Coney Island elephant colossus to meditations on mental telepathy and baseball. Philosophical essays by Leibniz, Kierkegaard, Schopenhauer, Francis Bacon and William Blake touch on the topics of truth, prejudice, poetic genius, suicide, and preparation for a Christian life. An educator at a women’s college in the early 1920’s bemoans the decline in the way high school girls dress for school and recommends a “serge jumper dress, made with a washable under blouse.” In the same span of years, a female reporter, going undercover to research conditions in the Detroit House of Corrections has herself arrested and is “stripped to the skin and searched for narcotics” and then made to don prison garb: “a faded gingham coverall, prison-made and drab.” A medical doctor, writing in the 1870’s, examines the connection between clean living and longevity, while a historian discusses how slave labor was employed in the salines of Southern Illinois. Native American Indian speech patterns are explored in an essay on the evolution of language, while a a chapter from a children’s science book explains what happens “when the dew falls.” Lastly, a spirited defense of the Bodleian as a research institution rather than a circulating library rounds out this volume of the nonfiction collection. Preparation for a Christian Life III was translated by Lee M. Hollander.
Short Nonfiction Collection, Vol. 066
Twenty short nonfiction works chosen by the readers. “Why Women Should Vote” (Jane Addams, 1910) is one of several selections devoted to women’s interests, as are Martha Foote Crow’s “The Young Woman on the Farm” (1910), Alice Freeman Palmer’s “Three Rules for Happiness,” and Myrtle Reed’s recipes for “Coffee Cakes, Doughnuts, and Waffles.” Tradition and belief are treated in two selections from Kierkegaard, a letter from Japan (“When the Dead Return”), a creation myth (“Sky Weds Earth”), and an essay by Mark Twain on “Mental Telegraphy.” Topics in history and political theory include “The Original Draft of the Declaration of Independence,” “An Audience with Abraham Lincoln,” “Government” (Bastiat), “Constitutional Law” (Bentham), “War Scenes Across the Canadian Border ” (1915), “Americans Lose Men in Fight in Siberia” (1919) and “Quentin Roosevelt’s Last Letter Home” (1918). Sport receives its due with a history of the bicycle, while “In the Land of the Wild Yak” portrays the hardships endured by 19th century explorer Sven Hedin. Finally, “Mr. NAMIKAWA Yasuyuki’s Cloisonn?” celebrates the life of a Japanese artist and his exquisite enamel work. – Summary by Sue Anderson
Short Nonfiction Collection, Vol. 067
Twenty short nonfiction works chosen by the readers. Two U.S. Presidents are remembered in “A Colored Man’s Reminiscences of James Madison” and Washington’s “Address to Congress on Resigning His Commission (1783).” Other topics in history and political theory include two of George W. Ball’s memos about the Vietnam War from 1965, “Irish Marriage Rites,” “Celts and Celtophiles,” Kropotkin on “Anarchism in Socialistic Evolution,” a tragedy at sea (“The Titanic”), and a look back at “The Passing of the Sailing Ship.” Religion and philosophy are represented with two selections from Kierkegaard’s “Preparation for a Christian Life” and a sermon by Spurgeon (“Glorious Predestination”). Biographies pay homage to the mathematical genius Srinivasa Ramanujan. How-to and guidance readings include farming advice from George Washington Carver (“Help for Hard Times”), “Teaching Mathematics with Paper Folding,” “Sexual Neuroses,” and “Elementary Lessons in Cookery.” “The Common Milkweed” celebrates one of summer’s roadside flowers. Finally Richard de Bury pens a tribute to books in a selection from the Philobiblon, written in 1345. Summary by Sue Anderson Selections from Kierkegaard were translated by Lee M. Hollander That the Treasure of Wisdom is Chiefly Contained in Books was translated by E.C. Thomas
Short Nonfiction Collection, Vol. 068
Twenty short nonfiction works in the public domain. “The Regulation of Time” and “Uniform Standard Time” are two of several readings which touch on social regulation, societal norms, and individual expression. Others examine dancing mania (“Choreomania”); gender conformity (“A Mormon Strategy”); race laws (“Black Code of Illinois”); etiquette and social class (“Housekeeping at the White House (1903)”; “Opportunity” (a view by Ambrose Bierce); organized religion (“The Church in Liverpool in the Early 1800s”); oratory and persuasion (“Pliny to Cerealis” and “The Martians”); legal protection for original ideas (“Copyright for a banana costume”); and an exhortation to judge men by their deeds, not their names (“First Apology of Justin Martyr”). Music and books are celebrated in “Fidelio;” “The Function of a National Library;” “Books in the Wilderness;” and Oscar Wilde’s “To Read or Not to Read.” Natural science is represented by “Coral and Coral Reefs” and “Making a Rock Garden.” Finally, a fateful communique is examined in the “Zimmermann Telegram.” Summary by Sue Anderson Pliny to Cerealis: Letter XXIV was translated by William Melmoth
Short Nonfiction Collection, Vol. 076
Twenty short nonfiction works chosen by the readers. “Our constitution is color-blind… the law regards man as man and takes no account of his surroundings or of his color when his civil rights…are involved.” Justice Harlan’s eloquent defense of equal rights for Black citizens in his 1866 dissent to Plessy v. Ferguson is one of several Vol. 076 selections which explore social issues and politics: John Adams; Gettysburg Address; Civil Rights Bill (1866); First Philippic of Demosthenes; Manifesto of the Humanitarian League; and Acadian Reminiscences. The multitudinal dimensions of human diversity are displayed in other selections: On Leveling from Amiel’s Journal; Sufism; The Discovery of Witches; The Cruise of the Wasp; Nanook of the North; Fossil Hunting in the Permian of Texas; The Nation’s Capital: What to See; Underground London; Poisons Used by Ancient Races; Genetically Engineered Crops; and Recipes for Ice Creams and Ices. Summary by Sue Anderson.
Short Nonfiction Collection, Vol. 078
Twenty short nonfiction works, chosen by the readers. “That thing up there on the stand with the American flag on top is a machine gun, and those are bullets hitting the house. And that means your country is shooting at you.” These are a mother’s words to her six-year old daughter, recalled by Dr. Olivia Hooker testifying about the horrific destruction of Black-owned homes and businesses in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1921. Strife and good will, the complexity of human society is the theme of many vol. 078 readings: (Little Sermons in Socialism; The Altar of Freedom, Perfection According to the Saviour, Napoleon’s Argument for the Divinity of Christ, Chicago Race Riots, The Diggers’ Manifesto, Arguments of Celsus, Freemasonry, Twenty Unsettled Miles, Progress of Ballot Reform, James Jesse Strang, Monitorial System of Harrow School, and Wedding on Maarken). A change of pace is found in The Lake Biwa-Kioto Canal, The New Madrid Earthquake, The History of Games, Rendering Clouds and Water, and Food in Little Italy. Summary by Sue Anderson