"The letters of Hon. William Bradley, Ex-Governor and former veteran of practical politics, written to his friend and protege Ned who is still busy 'carving a career back in the old state.'" This is a novel filled with humorous political anecdotes by the main character, the Honorable William Bradley, told for the benefit of his protege, Ned. It conveys a sense of the ironic and humorous side of politics in Washington and back in their home state.

This is the fourth and final novel by Fanny Burney, the author of Evelina, Cecilia, and Camilla. "Who is "Miss Ellis?" Why did she board a ship from France to England at the beginning of the French revolution? Anyway, the loss of her purse made this strange "wanderer" dependent upon the charity of some good people and, of course, bad ones. But she always comforts herself by reminding herself that it's better than "what might have been..." This is not only a mystery, not at all. It's also a romance which reminds readers of novels by Jane Austen...

This is the story of Iola Leroy, a free-born, mixed-race woman who passed as white. Her true racial identity eventually discovered, she was kidnapped and sold into slavery. Later freed by the Union Army, she journeyed to find others of her family who had been disunited from each other and strewn across the south by the forces of slavery. In the process she also struggled to improve the economic and social station of African Americans. Iola Leroy is a story about race and gender roles during the antebellum and post-Civil War eras, "passing" and the associated socio-political consequences.

The novel begins with the arrival of a family staking a claim in the black delta of the Deep South. Whitlaw is a brutish sort who bullies his cowering wife into working herself to death. Shortly after giving birth to a strapping man-child, the wife, Portia, dutifully dies. Her sister-in-law, Clio, takes over the responsibilities of raising the young Whitlaw and tending to every need and whim of her brother. Jonathan Jefferson grows up to be shrewd, conniving, and sly, driven – as Trollope thought most Americans were – by a compulsion for financial success...

What were the lower Mississippi River, Gulf Coast regions, and Appalachians of North America like in the earliest colonial days? Full of untamed forests, wild animals, nuts, berries, and Indians. Chateaubriand spent many years exploring the area, and this early novella was inspired by his years spent with various Indian tribes, , primarily the Natchez. Amongst these natives, as the story goes, was a blind old patriarch named Chactas, revered for his wisdom and knowledge of the affairs of life, including many years spent learning the ways of Europeans...

The book which now appears before the public may be of interest in relation to a question which the late agitation of the subject of slavery has raised in many thoughtful minds, viz. — Are the race at present held as slaves capable of freedom, self-government, and progress. The author is a coloured young man, born and reared in the city of Philadelphia. This city, standing as it does on the frontier between free and slave territory, has accumulated naturally a large population of the mixed and African race...

Here are six stories, each one describing a disaster afflicting London, that were popularly serialized during 1903-1904 in Pearson’s Magazine. The tales depict a deep freeze and unprecedented snowfall; a heavy, blinding, paralyzing blanket of fog; a widespread killer virus; a fraudulent scheme causing financial panic; a minor electrical accident in a tunnel that spirals into catastrophe; and most of the city’s water supply, reportedly contaminated with deadly bubonic bacillus, puts the population in great fear of plague. Is the word “doom” in the book's title accurate, or is it just hyperbole?

One of the first novel-length pieces of nautical fiction, MR. MIDSHIPMAN EASY (1836) is a funny and easygoing account of the adventures of Jack Easy, a son of privilege who joins the Royal Navy. The work begins as a satire on Jack’s attachment to “the rights of man” that may try the listener’s patience. But despair not, for the story soon settles down as the philosophical midshipman begins his many triumphs over bullies, foul weather, and various damned foreigners of murderous intent.Caveat audiens: This novel employs racial/ethnic epithets and religious stereotypes, as well as taking a rather sunny view of supply-side economics...

This is a quite amusing nautical tale of the British Navy of the around the year 1700. While, as with much early 'humor', it is somewhat heavy-handed, the sympathies of the author are clear and good, and cruelty is often averted by good fortune or background characters. First published under the title 'The Dog Fiend', the primary characters are an evil captain of a cutter and his dog. The dog seems indestructible, as is the poor cabin boy who is the butt of the captain's ill humor, and who often is chewed on by the dog...

Ivan Matveich, the most ordinary person you might hope to meet, is swallowed alive by a crocodile at a sideshow. Finding life inside the belly of the beast quite comfortable, he makes a home for himself there. His disquisitions on the state of the world from inside the crocodile make him quite a name for himself; while all the while the discussion rages outside as to whether the beast is going to be cut open to release him or not, its value as a sideshow attraction having massively increased owing to the presence of the human voice buried inside it. One of Jorge Luis Borges' seven most favourite stories. - Summary by Tony Addison

In the Hands of the Cave-Dwellers is a classic adventure where the hero is an American sailor who saves a young Mexican from thugs. The story spreads to an Indian attack, the loss of the heroine to cave dwellers, her rescue, and the eventual happiness of hero and heroine who have overcome adversity. - Summary by Publisher

Independent Kate Bates resents the fact that, as the youngest of a large family, she is expected to stay at home and help her parents while her brothers and sisters are free to pursue their desires. When she defies her family and leaves home, she finds that the path to independence is paved with hardships.

Threatened with isolation in a sanitorium for tuberculosis, a young soldier escapes and finds himself healing in a paradisal bee-garden by the ocean, tending bees which he knows nothing about, and other unlikely charges who in their circuitous ways, challenge him to discover love.

The world knows the fate of the classic lovers Cleopatra and Mark Antony, so there is no need to announce a spoiler alert. Georg Ebers was a German Egyptologist who deftly applied his comprehensive knowledge of Rome and Egypt into a fictionalized account of the ill-fated romance between the Egyptian Queen and her Roman lover Mark Antony.

During the reign of King Alfred, Danish forces have invaded the English countryside. Although the English try to repulse these attacks, they are overrun by the savagery and sheer numbers of the Danes.One of those deeply touched by these attacks is young Edmund. As a boy, he watched as his father was slain in battle fighting the Danes. Although young, he was intelligent, and noted the mistakes made on the battlefield. As he grew into a man, he put that knowledge into use and created a uniquely trained group of soldiers and built a new, stronger ship called the Dragon...

Set in the days of the religious wars of Europe, St. Bartholomew’s Eve is the tale of the Huguenot’s desperate fight for freedom of worship in France. As the struggle intensifies the plot thickens, culminating in the dreadful Massacre of St. Bartholomew’s Eve. Henty, “The Boy’s Own Storyteller” weaves the life and adventures of Philip Fletcher and his cousin, Francois DeLaville, into the historical background with thrilling battles, sieges and escapes along the way (not to mention a fair damsel in distress!).

The story begins in a grim feudal castle in Normandie. The times were troublous, and soon the king compelled Lady Margaret de Villeroy, with her children, to go to Paris as hostages. Guy Aylmer went with her.Paris was turbulent. Soon the guild of the butchers, adopting white hoods as their uniform, seized the city, and besieged the house where our hero and his charges lived. After desperate fighting, the white hoods were beaten and our hero and his charges escaped from the city, and from France. (Summary from the original back cover)

This book tells the story of the American war of Independence from the side of the British. The old flag mentioned in the title is the flag of England. This is a book for young readers, but - as a good book should be - everybody can enjoy it".

A tale set in England in the time of Cressy and Pointiers. A child of noble birth whose parents have fallen foul of the current royalty is taken by his dying mother and placed in hiding. He grows up with a bowyer and then apprenticed to an armourer just outside the gates of the City of London, becomes accomplished in arms and joins the campaign in France.A tale of heroism and 14th century viciousness. Great fun.

A tale of Victorian-style romance, maritime battles and even the penultimate Napoleanic battle - Waterloo. (Introduction by Mike Harris)