"The Short Line War is a story that will appeal more particularly to the sterner sex, and we take it that the hyphenated name, Merwin-Webster, stands for two healthy-minded young men who have put their heads together and who have mapped out this story of a railroad war, in which politics form a considerable part. Jim Weeks is the central figure in the fight, and we like him so much better for knowing of the romance in his early life. He was a man 'without much instinct or imagination; he took everything seriously and literally, he could not understand a whim'--therefore a very foolish little woman came into his life only to leave it desolate...

G.K. Chesterton and James Walsh join Hilaire Belloc in an energetic rollout of the means by which history becomes propaganda, to the damage, not only to truth, but to the human soul.

Written in a conversational style that will appeal to the younger person as well as seasoned professional, "Thinking as a Science" is timeless classic. Through eleven chapters, the last being a descriptive, annotated bibliography, Henry Hazlitt systematically takes the step-by-step on the process of introducing logic and context into the thinking process. The rather long chapter on "Reading and Thinking" clarifies several notions on where one needs to understand where mere knowledge acquisition ends and using reading the stimulate thinking begins.For an individual who was largely self taught, Hazlitt's contribution to the process of thinking is a must-read.

Wells considered this book one of his most important, a natural follow-up to such works as his Man of the Year Million and The Time Machine. His goal was to get people to think and act in new ways. The book starts with a look at how humans get along socially and how they carry out their business ventures. It then discusses how these elements influence others, such as politics, the world of work, and education. H. G. tried to make clear how the current social order was disintegrating without preparing another to take its place. He then traced the roots of democracy, which in its present state he saw as unworkable. Instead, he proposed a new republic. He also critiqued modern warfare.

This nonfiction collection of sketches, by "members of the New York press," takes the reader on a tour of 1866 New York City after dark, with stops along the way to vividly depict scenes ranging from the splendid to the squalid - but focusing largely on the latter!

Νόμοι (Laws) is Plato's final dialogue written after his attempt to advise the tyrant Dionysius II of Syracuse. The dialogue takes place between: an Athenian Stranger (Socrates? A god in human form?); the quiet Lacedaemonian Megillus; and the Cretan Cleinias. The Stranger asks whether humans live to be more effective at waging war or if there is something more important a legislator should seek to achieve. During their pilgrimage Cleinias discloses his role in the establishment of a new colony...

This biography is actually a series of essays by prominent personalities of the time that shed light on John Stuart Mill's life and areas of endeavor. Those areas include his experiences in India House, his moral character, certain botanical explorations, how effective he was as a critic, studies in morals and the law, and discoveries concerning political economy. They also explore ideas concerning his influence on institutions of higher learning, accomplishments as a politician, and fame as a philosopher.

Read in English, this is a pivotal document in the history of Zionism and the State of Israel. Herzl designed this work to elevate the discussion of "the Jewish Question" so it would "no longer take the form of violent abuse or sentimental vindication but of a debate, practical, large, earnest, and political." While few of Herzl's proposals were actually carried out, the importance of A JEWISH STATE was in the groundswell of support for a Jewish homeland engendered by its solutions to the practical problems of establishing a new state...

In the 1880s William Morris, the artist and poet famously associated with the Arts and Crafts movement, left the Liberal Party and threw himself into the Socialist cause. He spoke all over the country, on street corners as well as in working men's clubs and lecture halls, and edited and wrote for the Socialist League's monthly newspaper. Signs of Change is a short collection of his talks and writings in this period, first published in 1888, covering such topics as what socialism and work should be, and how capitalism and waste developed.

Eryxias (ΕΡΥΞΙΑΣ) may not have been written by Plato (ΠΛΑΤΩΝ). The dialogue discusses whether wealth has value and what the aim of philosophy should be.

Frank Albert Fetter was an American economist of the Austrian school, but referred to himself as a member of the “American Psychological School” instead. Fetter contested the position that land is theoretically distinct from capital, arguing that such a distinction was impractical. His stand on this issue led him to oppose ideas like the land value tax. Fetter also asserted that just as the price of each consumer good is determined solely by subjective value, so the rate of interest is determined solely by time preference...

"This Essay May be Considered as the Germ of the Treatise on The Wealth of Nations, Written by the Celebrated Smith" —Condorcet's Life of Turgot.

What I have done in this book, if I have correctly solved the great problem I have sought to investigate, is, to unite the truth perceived by the school of Smith and Ricardo to the truth perceived by the schools of Proudhon and Lasalle; to show that laissez faire (in its full true meaning) opens the way to a realization of the noble dreams of socialism; to identify social law with moral law, and to disprove ideas which in the minds of many cloud grand and elevating perceptions.

Economics (Greek: ΟΙΚΟΝΟΜΙΚΑ; Latin: Oeconomica) may not have been written by Aristotle. The author provides examples of methods used by the state to raise money including debt, currency devaluation, commodity controls, tariffs, sales tax, fines, violence and sacrilege.

Social Statics, or The Conditions essential to Happiness specified, and the First of them Developed is an 1851 book by the British polymath Herbert Spencer. In it, he uses the term "fitness" in applying his ideas of Lamarckian evolution to society, saying for example that "It is clear that any being whose constitution is to be moulded into fitness for new conditions of existence must be placed under those conditions. Or, putting the proposition specifically — it is clear that man can become adapted to the social state, only by being retained in the social state...

"The Challenge of Waste" examines the wasteful nature of the competitive market system, particularly from a Veblenian point of view. He also praises World War I era planning by the Fuel Administration and other government wartime agencies.

In 1908, the National Monetary Commission was established by Congress to study financial boom-and-bust cycles. Senator Nelson Aldrich was chair of the commission. He, in secret enclave with a group of bankers, drafted what was called The Aldrich Plan, which provided for a central "bank" that would hold funds individual banks could borrow in the case of a bank run, print currency, and act as the fiscal agent of the US government. However, the plan gave little power to the government and seemed to give almost absolute control of the country's currency to Wall Street financiers...

"When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for an author to dissolve the bands which have connected him with his publishers, a decent respect for the opinions of mankind requires that he should declare the causes which impel him to the separation." So begins the alleged author's introduction to this work, which chronicles the conflict between a female author and her publisher. This conflict really did happen, although the details in this book are fictitious. For more information about the actual situation, see the author's Wikipedia article.

This work according to the subtitle is "a chronicle of American life in the reign of the Georges." It describes land, locales, houses, habits, diversions, learning, religion, labor, and travel.

Marine Maj. Gen. Smedley Butler's expose of American Corporate Imperialism. Butler said, “I served in all commissioned ranks from second lieutenant to Major General. And during that period I spent most of my time being a high-class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street, and for the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer for capitalism. I suspected I was just part of the racket all the time. Now I am sure of it.” - Summary by John Greenman and https://www.americanswhotellthetruth.org/portraits/major-general-smedley-butler

From the preface: "For thirty years I have devoted myself to the practical problems of the glove industry, and my connection with one of the substantial firms of master-merchant-glovers in the world has taught me how little gloves are known or appreciated by the millions of persons who buy them and wear them. The pursuit of glove lore--the historic romance of the glove--has long since been with me a selfish recreation. Now I desire to share it, as well as the practical knowledge, with all men and women who have missed seizing upon the real relation which gloves bear to life."

“Prosperity, like a house, is a roof over a man’s head, affording him protection and comfort. A roof presupposes a support, and a support necessitates a foundation. The roof of prosperity, then, is supported by the following eight pillars which are cemented in a foundation of moral consistency: 1. Energy 2. Economy 3. Integrity 4. System 5. Sympathy 6. Sincerity 7. Impartiality 8. Self-reliance A business built up on the faultless practice of all these principles would be so firm and enduring as to be invincible.” - Summary by James Allen

From the close of trading on Tuesday, October 13, 1987, to the close of trading on October 19, 1987, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 769 points or 31 percent. On October 19, 1987, alone, the Dow fell by 508 points or 22.6 percent. Since the early 1920's, only the drop of 12.8 percent in the Dow on October 28, 1929 and the fall of 11.7 percent the following day, which together constituted the Crash of 1929, approached the October 19 decline in magnitude. The events of October demonstrated an unusual frailty in the markets...

This work is a scathing criticism of the economic and philosophical arguments of Pierre-Joseph Proudhon's The Philosophy of Poverty.

This is the second issue of a monthly agricultural magazine for the year 1820. From the introduction: "A leading object of the Rural Magazine will be to furnish correct views of the science of Agriculture, and the various improvements which are daily made or suggested in it. For this purpose the best and most recent European works on the subject will be consulted, and selections made from the American newspapers that are devoted or friendly to the cause. The best information on the subject will thus be condensed in a form less unwieldy than a newspaper, and more popular than in scientific books...

In 1916, the Cambridge historian, F.J. Foakes-Jackson braved the wartime Atlantic to deliver the Lowell Lectures in Boston. In these wide-ranging and engaging talks, the author describes British life between 1750-1850. There are John Wesley's horseback peregrinations over thousands of miles of English countryside. Next, Foakes-Jackson introduces the mordant rural poet, George Crabbe, who began life as a surgeon apothecary and ended up as a parish rector who made house calls. He gives us a female convict, assorted Cambridge University dons, Regency fops and rakes, and Victorian slices of life from Dickens and Thackeray...

This collection of essays by Scottish-American steel industrialist Andrew Carnegie, gathered from various periodicals and first published in book form in 1902, provides insight into one of history’s richest and most notable entrepreneurs/philanthropists. Carnegie shares his outlook on the economic situation in America at the turn of the 20th century, the state of the US oil, coal, rail, and steel industries, the relationship between capital and labour, individualism vs. socialism, the public/private sector partnership, the upward climb of humanity into prosperity, the importance of land and population, trade and the best uses of tariffs, etc...

Subtitled "Fifty Years' March of the Republic," this is steel tycoon Andrew Carnegie's love letter to America, first published in 1886, an impassioned celebration of the American success story, and a call for other nations to follow in America's footsteps. Through simple, direct discussions of the nature of the American character and her jobs and education, religion, industry, art and literature, foreign affairs, and more, Carnegie sets out a case for a brand of conservative democracy for the world to emulate...

The American Bee Journal is the “oldest bee paper in America established in 1861 devoted to scientific bee-culture and the production and sale of pure honey. .Published every Wednesday, by Thomas G. Newman, Editor and Proprietor” In this volume are short articles and correspondence on a variety of topics from Royal Jelly to the Honey and Beeswax Market. - Summary by Larry Wilson

As a precursor to Capital, Marx outlines his analysis of capitalism and critiques classical economic theories. - Summary by Tray

The American Bee Journal is the “oldest bee paper in America established in 1861 devoted to scientific bee-culture and the production and sale of pure honey. Published every Wednesday, by Thomas G. Newman, Editor and Proprietor” In this volume are short articles and correspondence on a variety of topics from Extracting Bees to Raspberry as a Honey Plant. - Summary by Larry Wilson

A vivid description of wealth and poverty in Russia in Tolstoy's day, an inquiry into the root causes of economic inequality, and a vision of a more just way of living.Tolstoy recounts his own disturbing encounters with extreme poverty in Moscow, his initial idea of making the problem disappear by generous financial contributions, and his subsequent realization that the problem of poverty was much more intractable than he had imagined. He concludes that poverty is fundamentally linked with the luxurious lifestyle to which he and his class were accustomed, and that both are detrimental both to the rich and to the poor...

The American Bee Journal is the “oldest bee paper in America established in 1861 devoted to scientific bee-culture and the production and sale of pure honey. Published every Wednesday, by Thomas G. Newman, Editor and Proprietor” In this issues are topics from Colchian Honey and Honey-Producing in California to Early Importations of Italian Bees and Tardiness in Fecundity. - Summary by Larry Wilson

What is the proper mode of administering great wealth? It is to address this question that steel tycoon Andrew Carnegie's famous essay "Wealth", or more commonly known as "The Gospel of Wealth" was written . His answer – Philanthropy. Not just any philanthropy, but specifically, projects funded and overseen during the life of the magnate, for things that benefit the community and engage the public in maintaining long after the magnate is gone -- libraries, parks, universities, hospitals, medical labs, observatories, entertainment halls, swimming pools, etc...

"This book is intended as a sequel to Self-Help and Character. It might, indeed, have appeared as an introduction to these volumes; for Thrift is the basis of Self-Help, and the foundation of much that is excellent in Character. The object of this book is to induce people to employ their means for worthy purposes, and not to waste them upon selfish indulgences. Many enemies have to be encountered in accomplishing this object. There are idleness, thoughtlessness, vanity, vice, intemperance. . . ." Some of the advice is obsolete, such as discussion about military savings banks and penny banks, but the general principles still apply even today. - Summary from the Preface & TriciaG

In 1912 textile workers in Lawrence, Massachusetts, mostly immigrants, went on strike in response to a pay cut, speedups, and unsafe working conditions. Representatives from the Industrial Workers of the World came in to help organize the strike. The city declared martial law and a tense standoff went on for weeks. National newspapers provided breathless coverage of the strike and painted drastically different pictures of what was happening and who was to blame. When a woman was shot in ambiguous circumstances, strike leaders were tried for murder--not for shooting her, but for purportedly inciting mob violence leading to her death...

This is a brief account of the Comstock Lode silver mines, and description of the geographic features of the state of Nevada including the railroads. Silver not only defined Nevada, but influenced the opening of the American West as far as San Francisco. Dan De Quille wrote extensively on the history of mining in the area of Nevada, and published the larger work “The Big Bonanza” assisted by Mark Twain, both of whom were part of the Sagebrush School of writers. - Summary by Larry Wilson

The American Bee Journal is the “oldest bee paper in America established in 1861 devoted to scientific bee-culture and the production and sale of pure honey. Published every Wednesday, by Thomas G. Newman, Editor and Proprietor” In this issues are topics from Management of Bees in Winter to Artificial Queens, and a special tribute to James T. Langstroth. - Summary by Larry Wilson

Money and Trade Considered, With a Proposal for Supplying the Nation with Money was so much more than a mere proposal for a note-issuing bank. It was a staggeringly original work of genius which not only included proposals for new systems of banking, and the issuing of paper money as a means to stimulate the economy, but also revealed, for the first time, several of the most significant economic concepts ever devised; concepts which would later be espoused by economists such as Adam Smith and John Maynard Keynes without acknowledgement...

The American Bee Journal is the “oldest bee paper in America established in 1861 devoted to scientific bee-culture and the production and sale of pure honey. Published every Wednesday, by Thomas G. Newman, Editor and Proprietor” In this issues are topics from "Selling Extracted Honey at Retail" to "Danger in Climbing for Swarms" - Summary by Larry Wilson

Theodore Roosevelt became the 26th president of the United States when president William McKinley was assassinated in 1901. As the youngest president, Roosevelt advanced the progressive Republican program known as the “Square Deal” focused on conservation of natural resources, control of corporations, and consumer protection. Expanding on this theme, “The matter contained is this book has been carefully prepared from the many addresses by the President, the aim being to bring under each specific head the ideas expressed on many occasions, by Horace Markle.” Topics range from The Farmer to World Peace, and The Essence of Christian Character. - Summary by Larry Wilson

This book is a treatise on advertising as it was in the United States in 1911. "This book is the first attempt, as far as I know, to apply the principles of Scientific Management to the problems of Sales and Advertising. "When we remember that the total advertising in the United States amounts to two million dollars a day, and that the total sales, in the home market alone, amount to one hundred millions a day, we can realize the tremendous importance of efficiency in the selling and advertising of goods...

"The History of the Fabian Society" describes the growth of Socialist theory in England, and the influence of Socialism on the political thought of the last thirty years - Summary by Robert Morel