Essays & Short Works

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.

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)

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

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.

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)

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

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

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