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By: Frank Harris | |
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Oscar Wilde: His Life and Confessions
Consumers of biography are familiar with the division between memoirs of the living or recently dead written by those who “knew” the subject more or less intimately, and the more objective or scholarly accounts produced by later generations.In the case of Wilde, as presented to us by Frank Harris, we are in a way doubly estranged from the subject. We meet with Oscar the charismatic talker, whose tone of voice can never be reproduced – even if a more scrupulous biographer had set down his words accurately – and we are perhaps already aware of him as Wilde the self-destructive celebrity who uneasily fills the place of the premier gay icon and martyr in our contemporary view... |
By: Frank Henderson | |
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Six Years in the Prisons of England
A Merchant talks about daily life inside prisons of England, describes routines and how prisoners are treated. He notes stories of how fellow prisoners came to be in prison, and his ideas about the penal system, its downfalls and ways to improve it. The reader can see similarities to the problems we still have in regarding "criminals" today. (Introduction by Elaine Webb) |
By: Frank Lewis Dyer and Thomas Commerford Martin | |
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Edison, His Life and Inventions
One of the most prolific and multi-talented geniuses the world has ever seen, Thomas Alva Edison's life is indeed an inspiration for each new generation. Today we live in a world that would not have been possible if not for several of his important inventions – the electric light bulb, the motion picture camera, electric power distribution, the phonograph, and a host of other things that we take for granted today. In fact, he still holds the world record for the maximum number of patents, numbering 1093 in all! Edison – His Life and Inventions by Frank Lewis Dyer and Thomas Commerford Martin, published in 1910 was in fact a biography commissioned by Edison himself... | |
By: Frank Mundell (1870-1932) | |
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Story of Edison and The Wonders of Electricity
Despite not having attended conventional school for more than a few months during his childhood, Thomas Alva Edison received a good grounding in the essential subjects of reading, writing and arithmetic at home from his mother . Edison took the knowledge gained from these subjects and combined it with an insatiable curiosity, a fascination with all aspects of technology, an indomitable spirit and a passion to overcome any problem or seize any opportunity that circumstance might present him with to eventually become one of the finest inventors the world has ever seen... |
By: Frank Puterbaugh Bachman (1871-1934) | |
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Great Inventors and Their Inventions
This book is about Great inventors and what they created. It has different stories like Alexander Bell, Wrights, Morse, Gutenberg, and Edison. ON August 17, 1807, a curious crowd of people in New York gathered at a boat landing. Tied to the dock was a strange-looking craft. A smokestack rose above the deck. From the sides of the boat, there stood out queer shaped paddle wheels. Of a sudden, the clouds of smoke from the smokestack grew larger, the paddle wheels turned, and the boat, to the astonishment of all, moved... |
By: Frank W. Boreham (1871-1959) | |
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Handful of Stars
This is the second of a five volume series called "Texts That Made History". As with the first volume, "A Bunch of Everlastings", each chapter tell a brief biography with emphasis on the text from scripture that was significant in the life of each. It is biography and Bible study expertly woven together to produce interesting and inspirational stories. | |
Bunch of Everlastings
A collection of brief biographies and the text from scripture that was significant in the life of each. It is biography and devotional Bible study expertly woven together to produce interesting and inspirational stories. |
By: Franklin Benjamin Sanborn (1831-1917) | |
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Henry D. Thoreau
A biography of the famous and popular poet-naturalist, author, philosopher, historian, written by a family friend who spent time with Thoreau almost daily during the last seven years of his life and who knew and talked with members of his family. Written shortly after his death, it was immediately popular and this later edition gained a new audience. |
By: Franz Hoffmann (1814-1882) | |
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Mozart's Youth
This short account of the young Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is part of the “Life Stories for Young People” series. It is written in an engaging dialogue format beginning with the young Mozart’s first notes on the piano keyboard at age three to his admission to membership in the Accademia Filarmonica at Bologna, Italy, ten years later. This child prodigy astounded the musical world of Europe to become one of the most cherished of all classical composers. |
By: Franz Blei (1871-1942) | |
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Recollections of Oscar Wilde
This 1906 collection of memories of Oscar Wilde is by friends. Wilde said that his genius was his life; only his talent was in his works. |
By: Fred Kelly (1882-1959) | |
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Wright Brothers
This is a biography of the Wright Brothers as told by the American humorist and newspaperman Fred Kelly, a personal friend of the Wrights. It is described in reviews as "fascinating and highly readable." - Summary by Ciufi Galeazzi |
By: Frederick Adams Woods (1873-1939) | |
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Mental and Moral Heredity in Royalty. A Statistical Study in History and Psychology
Frederick Adams Woods examined the biographical records and family trees of the great dynasties of Europe, judging and comparing their moral standards and intellectual aptitude to their reputation as rulers. The summarised family histories are produced after a painstaking search including portrait galleries, family lineage, comparisons of reputation, and the origin of allegations of madness and moral bankruptcy, all collated within a single volume. - Summary by Leon Harvey |
By: Frederick Bridge (1844-1924) | |
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Twelve Good Musicians: From John Bull to Henry Purcell
Brief sketches of the lives and music of 12 well-known musicians. - Summary by KevinS |
By: Frederick Douglass (1818-1895) | |
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Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
Frederick Douglass was born into slavery on a Maryland plantation. He faced hardship as a child, but later encountered owners who were relatively liberal and allowed him to learn to read, write and be in contact with freed slaves. At the age of 20, he escaped from the plantation and made his way to New York. Though he remained a fugitive, he married and changed his name to avoid being caught. He continued his education and became involved in the Abolitionist Movement. He began touring the country, speaking passionately about the unjust, cruel and inhuman practice of slavery... |
By: Frederick James Furnivall (1825-1910) | |
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Shakespeare: Life and Work
William Shakespeare: actor, poet, playwright. He is often called England's greatest writer, the Bard of Avon, a national treasure. But who was he? An average boy, born to an average family of the period; a romantic and dreamer, tempted away from his rural home by the sights and sounds of the big city. To commemorate the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare's death, here is one of the many studies of the bard's life and works. |
By: Frederick Trevor Hill (1866-1930) | |
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Lincoln, The Lawyer
This biography of Abraham Lincoln focuses on his practice as a lawyer. |
By: Frederick Wedmore (1844-1921) | |
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Four Masters of Etching
Frederick Wedmore presents short vignettes of influential artists of the 19th century who were noted for their mastery of etching: Seymour Haden, Jules Jacquemart, J. A. M. Whistler, and Alphonse Legros. - Summary by Larry Wilson |
By: Frederick Winthrop Hutchinson | |
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Men Who Found America
This Book is about the Men Who Found America and how it started - Summary by Elijah |
By: Frederika Richardson Macdonald | |
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Secret of Charlotte Brontë
Twenty years ago, now, I attempted (but was not especially successful in the task) to establish upon the personal knowledge that my own residence as a pupil in the historical Pensionnat in the Rue d'Isabelle, at Bruxelles gave me of the facts of Charlotte Brontë's relationships to Monsieur and Madame Heger, right impressions about the experiences and emotions she underwent between 1842 and 1846, and that supply the key and clue to the right interpretation of her genius. Every opinion I then ventured... |
By: Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) | |
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Case of Wagner / Nietzsche Contra Wagner / Selected Aphorisms
A collection of three of Nietzsche's writings concerning the music of Wagner. In particular, he relates Wagner's music as degenerate, unrefined and unintelligent and relates it to a gradually degenerating German culture and society. The translator provides a detailed introduction. |
By: G. F. Young (1846-1919) | |
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Medici, Volume 1
This work relates the history of the Medici family through three centuries and eleven generations, from its rise from obscurity, to its zenith of power and influence, to its eventual decay and ruin. It outlines their history in conjunction with the major events of Europe and dwells much on the artists and artworks patronized by the Medici - the impetus of the Renaissance. This first volume brings to life the Renaissance and how Florence, through the Medici, was the epicentre of the movement that spread new learning throughout Europe... | |
Medici, Volume 2
This work relates the history of the Medici family through three centuries and eleven generations, from its rise from obscurity, to its zenith of power and influence, to its eventual decay and ruin. It outlines their history in conjunction with the major events of Europe and dwells much on the artists and artworks patronized by the Medici - the impetus of the Renaissance. This second volume begins in 1537 and highlights Catherine, the last of the elder branch, then follows the younger branch to the eventual extinction of the family in 1743. - Summary by TriciaG |
By: G. K. Chesterton (1874-1936) | |
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Charles Dickens
G. K. Chesterton was a great admirer of Charles Dickens, and wrote a noted critique of Dickens’ works expressing his opinion in his own inimitable style. | |
George Bernard Shaw
Chesterton and Shaw were famous friends and enjoyed their arguments and discussions. Although rarely in agreement, they both maintained good-will towards and respect for each other. However, in his writing, Chesterton expressed himself very plainly on where they differed and why. In Heretics he writes of Shaw: “After belabouring a great many people for a great many years for being unprogressive, Mr. Shaw has discovered, with characteristic sense, that it is very doubtful whether any existing human being with two legs can be progressive at all... | |
St. Francis of Assisi (Version 2)
Saint Francis of Assisi grew up in a wealthy family and his early life was characterized by splendor, riches and a lavish lifestyle. During an illness, he supposedly had a vision, after which he became disillusioned with his lifestyle and began giving everything away to beggars. His conversion was gradual, but after a pilgrimage to Rome, he supposedly hid in a cave to avoid his father's anger and then began to live a life of poverty and contrition. He is forever associated with simplicity and nature. - Summary by Lynne Thompson | |
St. Francis of Assisi
For Chesterton, Francis of Assisi is a great paradoxical figure, a man who loved women but vowed himself to chastity; an artist who loved the pleasures of the natural world as few have loved them, but vowed himself to the most austere poverty, stripping himself naked in the public square so all could see that he had renounced his worldly goods; a clown who stood on his head in order to see the world aright. Chesterton gives us Francis in his world-the riotously colorful world of the High Middle Ages, a world with more pageantry and romance than we have seen before or since... | |
Twelve Types
Short biographical essays of twelve persons central to European culture. - Summary by KevinS |
By: Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus (c75 - c160 AD) | |
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The Lives of the Twelve Caesars
The Twelve Caesars is a set of twelve biographies of Julius Caesar and the first 11 emperors of the Roman Empire. The work was written in 121 during the reign of the emperor Hadrian, while Suetonius was Hadrian’s personal secretary. On the Life of the Caesars concentrates on the acts and personalities of the Julio-Claudians and their immediate successors. Together with Tacitus’ Annals, this work is a major source for the historical details in Robert Graves’ novels “I Claudius” and “Claudius the God”. |
By: Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1343-1400) | |
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The Canterbury Tales
Anyone who has ever been on a package tour with a group of strangers who soon become friends, and passed time swapping stories with them, would instantly identify with this timeless classic of English literature. The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer recounts twenty different stories recounted by a diverse group of pilgrims who gather at The Tabard Inn in Southwark, near London, before setting out for the shrine of Thomas Becket in Canterbury. The Host of the inn proposes that they entertain themselves by telling stories along the route and the one who tells the best tale would win a prize – a meal at Bailey's tavern, sponsored by the losers... |
By: George Bethune English (1787-1828) | |
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A Narrative of the Expedition to Dongola and Sennaar
As a second lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps during the War of 1812 assigned to Marine Corps headquarters, English sailed to the Mediterranean, and was among the first citizens of the United States known to have visited Egypt. Shortly after arriving in Egypt he resigned his commission, converted to Islam and joined Isma'il Pasha in an expedition up the Nile River against Sennar in 1820, winning distinction as an officer of artillery. He published his Narrative of the Expedition to Dongola and Sennaar (London 1822) regarding his exploits. (Introduction adapted by obform from Wikipedia) |
By: George Brinton McClellan (1826-1885) | |
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McClellan's Own Story
Memoirs of General George Brinton McClellan, commanding general of the Army of the Potomac during the early years of the American Civil War. The work covers the time that McClellan commanded the Army of the Potomac, including the Peninsula Campaign, the Seven Days' Battles, and the Battle of Antietam. |
By: George Bruce Malleson (1825-1898) | |
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Life of Prince Metternich
Klemens von Metternich first foreign minister, and then chancellor of the Austrian Empire was a great diplomat: crafty, manipulative, and single-minded in his determination to overthrow Napoleon and his revolutionary ideals and to reestablish the European monarchical system. In this short 1888 biography, the British officer, Colonel G. B. Malleson, describes how the charming, aristocratic Metternich devoted countless hours to winning Napoleon's trust and to buying time for his country, until a rearmed Austria, at the head of the Sixth Coalition, was able to defeat the still-formidable Corsican... |