A social satire, Main Street became a best-seller soon after its publication, fascinating readers with its biting humor and realistic portrayal of small-town communities. Published in 1920, the novel follows Carol Milford as she moves to a conventional small town, where she encounters its conceited residents characterized by their ignorance, hypocrisy, and smugness, while simultaneously being the target of their careless ridicule. Furthermore, the novel efficiently exemplifies the dividing line between the sophisticated urban setting and the conventionally governed small-town, as it tackles issues of embracing differences, social class, disillusionment, feminism, and community...

By 1348 the House of Loring has fallen on hard times. Together, the Black Death and the greedy monks of Waverley have bled away all of the Loring wealth. Even the manor house will have to go to pay their debts.Then a chance encounter with the King of England provides Nigel, the last of the Lorings, with the chance to seek his fortune in the constant wars with France. But more importantly for Nigel it also means that he may be able to do the "three small deeds" that will show he is worthy to ask for the hand of the Lady Mary in marriage.Filled with chivalry, humour, and high romance, Sir Nigel is simply a rattling good yarn.

In the course of May 1916, the Italian authorities expressed a desire that some independent observer from Great Britain should visit their lines and report his impressions. It was at the time when our brave and capable allies had sustained a set-back in the Trentino owing to a sudden concentration of the Austrians, supported by very heavy artillery. I was asked to undertake this mission. In order to carry it out properly, I stipulated that I should be allowed to visit the British lines first, so that I might have some standard of comparison...

A woman and her daughter take refuge in a cabin deep in the Canadian forest. This is a tale of survival from the land, friendship and love. - Summary by Czandra

This work is Edward Creasy's best known fundamental work of history. It describes in detail 15 battles of world history, beginning with the Battle of Marathon of 490 BC and ending with the Battle of Waterloo of 1815. Each chapter is illustrated with rich historical detail and a timeline of events.

Despite its brevity, this Little Blue Book #142 by the Oxford historian, Sir F.M. Powicke, provides a valuable overview of the political history of Germany from medieval to modern times, culminating in the career of Otto von Bismarck , the Prussian Junker who masterminded the unification of Germany and served as its first Chancellor. - Summary by Pamela Nagami, M.D.

“Never before in the history of archaeological inquiry has any event excited such immediate and world-wide interest as Mr. Howard Carter's discovery of Tutankhamen's tomb in November 1922. It gives us a new revelation of the wealth and luxury of Egyptian civilization during its most magnificent period. In beauty and design and perfection of craftsmanship, Tutankhamen's funerary equipment is indeed a new revelation of the ancient Egyptians' artistic feeling and technical skill.” “At the time of Tutankhamen the great peoples that had built up civilization were losing their dominant position...

Sir Henry Morton Stanley is famously quoted for saying “Dr Livingstone, i Presume?”. Born in Wales, he migrated over to the United States at the age of 18, and eventually became an overseas correspondent for the New York Herald. In 1869 Stanley was told by James Gordon Bennett Jr to find Livingstone, a scottish missionary and explorer, who was lost in central Africa. When Stanley commented on the cost Bennett’s reply was: “Well, I will tell you what you will do. Draw a thousand pounds now; and when you have gone through that, draw another thousand, and when that is spent, draw another thousand, and when you have finished that, draw another thousand, and so on; but, FIND LIVINGSTONE.

A biography of Sir John A. Macdonald, the first Prime Minister of Canada. It was written by the man who served as Macdonald's private secretary from 1882 to 1891.

Rob Roy is a historical novel by Walter Scott. It is narrated by Frank Osbaldistone, the son of an English merchant who travels first to the North of England, and subsequently to the Scottish Highlands to collect a debt stolen from his father. On the way he encounters the larger-than-life title character of Rob Roy MacGregor. Though Rob Roy is not the lead character (in fact the narrative does not move to Scotland until half way through the book) his personality and actions are key to the development of the novel.

An Elizabethan era historical novel by Scotland’s master of fiction, Sir Walter Scott. With a cast of historical and created characters, including the Queen herself, Scott presents the sad history and tragic consequences of the secretive marriage of young Amy Robsart and the Earl of Leicester. (Summary by SK)

During the turbulent moment in English history involving King James 1 and 6, Nigel Olifaunt, a Scottish lord, seeks to protect his family home and holdings, but meets with recalcitrance and treachery, which eventually results in his imprisonment. But there are forces of good that help to set him free and right injustices.

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

"Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio" is a collection of nearly five hundred mostly supernatural tales written by Pu Songling during the early Qing Dynasty. It was written in Classical Chinese rather than Vernacular Chinese. Pu is believed to have completed the majority of the tales sometime in 1679, though he could have added entries as late as 1707. He borrows from a folk tradition of oral storytelling to put to paper a series of captivating, colorful stories, where the boundary between reality and the odd or fantastic is blurred...

"Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio" or "Strange Tales of Liaozhai" is a collection of nearly five hundred mostly supernatural tales written by Pu Songling during the early Qing Dynasty. It was written in Classical Chinese rather than Vernacular Chinese. Pu is believed to have completed the majority of the tales sometime in 1679, though he could have added entries as late as 1707. He borrows from a folk tradition of oral storytelling to put to paper a series of captivating, colorful stories, where the boundary between reality and the odd or fantastic is blurred...

"And God tempted Abraham and said unto him: take Isaac, thine only son, whom thou lovest and go to the land Moriah and sacrifice him there on a mountain which I shall show thee. Genesis 22:1" Soren Kierkegaard wondered how Abraham made the movement of faith that made him the father of faith mentioned in the New Testament . Fear and Trembling is the product of his wonder. Work out your salvation in fear and trembling . One-third of "Fear and Trembling" was translated in 1923 by Lee Hollander in the University of Texas Bulliten. This book has already been read in parts in the Short Nonfiction Collection but I think some might be interested in listening to it as a complete reading.

This short book is part of the Philosophies Ancient and Modern series, which attempts to make Western philosophy more accessible to the general public. In this volume, George Stock provides a concise primer on Stoicism, the ancient philosophy that maintained that the universe is governed entirely by fate, and that humans can achieve happiness only by cultivating a calm acceptance of the vicissitudes of life. Among the Stoics of the Greek and Roman world were its founder, Zeno, the former slave Epictetus, and the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius...

On June 8, 1765 James Otis, supported by the Massachusetts Assembly sent a letter to each colony calling for a general meeting of delegates. The meeting was to be held in New York City in October. Representatives from nine colonies met in New York. Though New Hampshire, Virginia, North Carolina and Georgia did not send delegates, the Assemblies of those missing colonies nonetheless agreed to support the works of the Congress. The meetings were held in Federal Hall in New York, and the delegates assembled on October 2...

The 19th century was the Golden Age of Nationalism in Europe. By the end of the century many countries achieved their national self-determination. But the asunder of the territories was still a cause of dispute which led to the Great War in 1914. Ukrainian nationalism reached its peak in the early years of the 20th century. The Great War was the opportunity of the nation to obtain its unification and liberty from Russian Empire and Austria-Hungary which kept Ukraine under their reign for decades...

A history of the pirating activities along and around the "Barbary coast" between the 15th and 19th centuries, from the time of the pirate, Ujra Barbarossa, to the French control of Algeria in 1830. Although piracy had plagued all the world's waterways from the first time man decided to trade by boat or ship, authors Lane-Poole and Kelley tell mainly of the origins and "Golden Age" of the Moor pirates who rampaged the Mediterranean Sea from ports of call along the north coast of Africa.

Although Cairo is most famous for the ancient Egyptian pyramids of Giza located at its outskirts, the city as we know it today dates back only to 969. Since then, numerous rulers of different Muslim dynasties built fortifications, mosques and other buildings that earned Cairo the name "city of a thousand minarets". In this book, Stanley Lane-Poole traces the history of Cairo from the early Muslim period to the British Invasion of 1882. While doing so, he gives vivid descriptions of many of the mediaeval buildings that shape Cairo's cityscape to this day. This book is part of the "Mediaeval Town" series published in the early 20th century. Proof listeners: SaraHale and MrsHand

Rev. Stephen D Peet describes the fatal railroad disaster on December 29, 1876 in Ashtabula, Ohio due to a bridge failure. He was a resident of the town and at the scene on the night of the disaster. This book is based upon his work at the crash site, interviews with survivors, information from the press and the coroner's jury, His intent is not to describe the disaster but rather to focus on "the religious lessons of the occasion" and to provide the reader with "comfort from a view of the lovely characters and the Christian hopes which span this dark cloud with a bow of promise". - Summary by mleigh

This lengthy political essay by noted Canadian humourist Stephen Leacock was written while he was professor of political economy at McGill University. He argues for a middle ground between individualism/capitalism and pure socialism. Listeners in the early 21st century may find this 90-year old essay oddly topical.

This 1911 history of the public health revolution that transformed New York City in the nineteenth century is also about every city and town of the world and the sanitary challenges that each encountered. Stephen Smith was an American surgeon and a pioneer in public health. “The story of a great life-saving social revolution, the mightiest in the nineteenth century and one of the most momentous in the history of civilization, is told here for the first time. It is told from the standpoint of the transformation of the City of New York, by a chief actor in the event.” Chapter four, New York The Unclean, is the heart of this work.

"As the noblest attribute of man, family pride had been cherished time immemorial by the noble race of Rossville. Deep and incurable, therefore, was the wound inflicted on all its members by the marriage of the honorable Thomas St. Clair, the youngest son of the Earl of Rossville, with the humble Miss Sarah Black, a beautiful girl of obscure origin and no fortune." And so the stage is set for our plot, which focuses on the implications and complications of the return from France to Scotland of the Rossville widow and her daughter-heiress Gertrude, who must suffer the onslaught of relations and suitors as well as a mysterious, threatening stranger who plagues her mother...

'Roughing It In the Bush' is Susanna Moodie's account of how she coped with the harshness of life in the woods of Upper Canada, as an Englishwoman homesteading abroad. Her narrative was constructed partly as a response to the glowing falsehoods European land-agents were circulating about life in the New World. Her chronicle is frank and humorous, and was a popular sensation at the time of its publication in 1852.

Imperium in Imperio is a historical fiction novel by Sutton Griggs, published in 1899. The novel covers the life of Belton Piedmont, an educated and disciplined black man in the Jim Crow south and his role in a shadow government of black men operated out of a college in Waco, Texas.

Buried amid the sublime passes of the Sierra Nevada are old men, who, when children, strayed away from our crowded settlements, and, gradually moving farther and farther from civilization, have in time become domiciliated among the wild beasts and wilder savages — have lived scores of years whetting their intellects in the constant struggle for self-preservation; whose only pleasurable excitement was found in facing danger; whose only repose was to recuperate, preparatory to participating in new and thrilling adventures...

“Among other qualities which have been supposed to belong to a dead man’s hand, are its medicinal virtues, in connection with which may be mentioned the famous ‘dead hand,’ which was, in years past, kept at Bryn Hall, Lancashire… Thus the case is related of a woman who, attacked with the smallpox, had this dead hand in bed with her every night for six weeks, and of a poor lad living near Manchester who was touched with it for the cure of scrofulous sores.” Though not all chapters have such gruesome subjects as The Dead Hand, all are full of a curious mixture of superstition and local history that will delight and amuse the modern listener.

History and customs of the Irish and Ireland. A word of warning to the listener: The Wild Irishman contains the biased, uncomplimentary opinions of Englishman, Thomas Crosland. Remember this was written in the late 1800's and published in 1905. Crosland was hyper critical of Irishmen and women at a time when American cities often posted signs, "No Irish Need Apply." If you are Irish, as am I, try to not be overly offended or simply walk away. - Summary by John Brandon

The historical works of Tacitus are a history of the period from A.D. 14 to 96 in thirty volumes. Although many of the works were lost (only books 1-5 of the Histories and 1-6 and 11-16 of the Annals survive), enough remains to provide a good sense of Tacitus’s political and moral philosophy. Tacitus recognized the necessity for strong rulers but argued that more should be done to manage the succession of power and allow for the ascension of talent. He asserted that it was the dynastic ambitions of Rome’s many emperors that caused the decline of moral and political life and precluded the possibility of recruiting leaders of real ability...

Explanations of Western European trends in men and women's fashion from prehistoric times to the Victorian Era.

Athelstan King is a British Secret Agent stationed in India at the beginning of WWI. He is attached to the Khyber Rifles regiment as a cover, but his real job is to prevent a holy war. "To stop a holy war single-handed would be rather like stopping the wind--possibly easy enough, if one knew the way." King is ordered to work with a mysterious and powerful Eastern woman, Yasmini. Can King afford to trust her? Can he afford not to? (Introduction by Brett W. Downey)

This poem celebrates Christmas by exploring the mystery of Christ's mission on earth: his death, resurrection, and second coming as judge of all human souls. Sir Gawain is cast in the role of Everyman. At the feast of the New Year, an unarmed green giant rides his green horse into the banqueting hall of King Arthur and challenges any member of the assembled company to behead him with a huge axe and then to submit to the same treatment from his victim the next year. Gawain volunteers to prevent Arthur from accepting this challenge, fairly confident that the challenger will be unfit to return the blow...

The first volume in a series of Catholic Church history books written for children. Volume 1 covers the time period from after Our Lord's death till the 5th Century.

Bede's Ecclesiastical History of England is a work in Latin by Bede on the history of the Christian Churches in England, and of England generally; its main focus is on the conflict between Roman and Celtic Christianity. It is considered to be one of the most important original references on Anglo-Saxon history. It is believed to have been completed in 731, when Bede was approximately 59 years old. Divided into five books, it covers the history of England, ecclesiastical and political, from the time of Julius Caesar to the date of its completion (731)...

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...

Roosevelt’s popular book Through the Brazilian Wilderness describes his expedition into the Brazilian jungle in 1913 as a member of the Roosevelt-Rondon Scientific Expedition co-named after its leader, Brazilian explorer Cândido Rondon. The book describes all of the scientific discovery, scenic tropical vistas and exotic flora, fauna and wild life experienced on the expedition. One goal of the expedition was to find the headwaters of the Rio da Duvida, the River of Doubt, and trace it north to the Madeira and thence to the Amazon River...

Somewhat detailed history of naval engagements between the United States and England during the War of 1812, from a decidely American perspective. Completed by the author as a young man at age 24. After 120 years, it remains a standard study of the war.

This book is a collection of Theodore Roosevelt’s published commentaries and public addresses on the general theme of the requirements for individual and collective success in the personal, civic, political, and social arenas. (Introduction by Bob Neufeld)

The phrase "The Hatfields and McCoys" conjures up images of feudal warfare and Appalachian backwardness even to this day. This is a sensationalized account of the feud between the Hatfields and McCoys along the mountainous border of Kentucky and West Virginia in the late 1800s. At the height of the feud in 1888, yellow journalist T. C. Crawford interviewed Anderson "Devil Anse" Hatfield in person at his headquarters in West Virginia. Crawford's stories were serialized in a New York newspaper and later published in book form...

Hailed more as a literary masterpiece than an accurate account of historical facts, The History of England from the Accession of James the Second by Thomas Babington Macaulay is an admirable mix of fact and fiction. Modern day readers may find much that is offensive and insensitive in this five volume work which covers a particular period in the long and eventful history of Britain. However, it is certainly a book that leads the reader on to further research into the events and people mentioned...