This collection is dedicated to recordings of short mythical or legendary works which are in the Public Domain. The stories tell of legends, heroes, myths, and ancient lore from many different cultures.

Short Stories in Prose and Verse” is Henry Lawson’s first published book ; his first published poem appeared in 1887. The volume is a snapshot of his writing style up to the start of his career. His first published poem appeared at age 20, his first published book at age 27. This volume is a good sample of Henry Lawson’s poetry and prose and makes a good stepping-stone towards the enjoyment of his later works. Summary by Chris Greaves

Hawai'i: land of wonder and beauty and a culture rich in history and mythology. Dr. Westervelt settled in Hawai'i as a young man and collected stories and myths from his adopted home. Here we have a collection dedicated to the largest city, Honolulu. - Summary by Lynne Thompson

A fictionalized biography of the famous frontiersman aimed at a juvenile audience.

Campbell Stuart, a Canadian, was involved in British efforts of propaganda during the two World Wars. His most active work was done during the first World War. This book is a detailed and illustrated account of his work during WWI, and more generally the efforts of British persons to direct propaganda campaigns against Germany and their allies with the intent of weakening German morale and shortening the war. Translations of some of the propaganda materials appear in the appendix and are read . - Summary by Patrick McHaffie

Buffalo Bill Cody is one of the most colorful figures of the early American West. In these adventures we find Billy Cody at age 13 earning a man’s wage as an extra on a wagon train when he meets Davy, two years younger. Together they are in one adventure after another, fighting with Indians, and pressing on to Pike's Peak. They both prove themselves courageous in the face of danger as they ride side-by-side and grow into manhood. - Summary by Larry Wilson

James Green was a Methodist minister who was a chaplain to Australian troops in the Boer War and in the Australian Imperial Force in World War I. This memoir was published 1917, while the war was on-going. “In spite of necessary suppression, or vagueness of names of localities, my comrades of the Fifty-fifth Battalion, to which I was attached, will recognize many of the incidents described, and I can only hope that reading what the padre has to say may cheer them in some lonely places, or help them to be happy though miserable in some indifferent billets...

“…I have charged Dame M. Columban to give a detailed account of all that has befallen the Community, since the coming of the Germans to Ypres till our safe arrival at Oulton Abbey. I can therefore certify that all that is in this little book, taken from the notes which several of the nuns had kept, is perfectly true, and only a simple narrative of our own personal experiences of the War.” The Abbey of the Irish Dames of Ypres was established in 1665. It was a favorite Abbey for the daughters of Irish nobility and was supported by influential Irish families living in exile...

The Counter-Reformation, also called the Catholic Reformation, and remembered for its infamous Inquisition, was the period of Catholic resurgence which was initiated in response to the Protestant Reformation. Adolphus Ward writes, that it was "a movement pursuing two objects...the regeneration of the Church of Rome, and the recovery of the losses inflicted upon her by the early successes of Protestantism...The onset of the combat is marked by the formal establishment of the Jesuit Order as a militant...

The author of this work was the daughter of the British ambassador to Russia. She was in St. Petersburg from before World War I to after the Bolshevik Revolution, leaving in January 1918. Rather than a dry retelling of the history of this period, the author gives a more personal view of the events, as she lived through them. - Summary by TriciaG

This collection is dedicated to recordings of short mythical or legendary works which are in the Public Domain. The stories tell of legends, heroes, myths, and ancient lore from many different cultures.

One of the earliest histories of the Cossacks to appear in English, with an emphasis on the exploits of famous Cossack leaders and Cossack struggles for political autonomy. Originally published in 1919. From the Foreword: "It is the proudest boast of the Cossacks of today -- as of their forbears of the Ukraine -- that they have never been classed as serfs nor for a moment lost their freeman's instinct for the principles of liberty. While the peasants of North Russia were bowed in shameful submission...

Gildas was a well-informed and definitely opinionated 6th century commentator on the topic of the era of the Roman occupation of Britain beginning in AD 43, the subsequent desertion of Britain by the legions in AD 410, and then invasions by the Scots, Picts and Saxons. Gildas was critical of his fellow Britons, accusing them of unwarranted rebellion against the beneficial rule of Roman law, and of then pusillanimously calling upon Rome to help them defend against the invading Picts and Scots from the north...

A short history of Ukrainian national aspirations, written by one of the most prominent Ukrainian historians. Published in the early months of World War I. - Summary by Kazbek

In 1837, the Danish Royal Society of Sciences offered a prize to any essayist who could satisfactorily answer the question, "Is the fountain and basis of Morals to be sought for in an idea of morality which lies directly in the consciousness , and in the analysis of the other leading ethical conceptions which arise from it? Or is it to be found in some other source of knowledge?" The Basis of Morality is the essay submitted in 1840 by German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer. In it, he first mercilessly...

An account of the origins of the wine industry in Victoria, Australia. Born in Neuchatel, Switzerland, Hubert de Castella was one of a number of friends of Governor Latrobe's wife to emigrate to Victoria. Finding the soil and climate suited to the production of fine wines, de Castella pioneered the growth of the wine industry in the state. - Summary by Philip Benson

This recording comprises two narratives. One is by Cora Mitchel who in 1861 was a girl in her mid-teens. Her Unionist family escaped the Confederacy from their home in south Georgia to Rhode Island. This is her story written about 1916. The second narrative is by Charlotte St. Julien Ravenel of South Carolina, a contemporary journal written in the closing months of the civil war in 1865. - Summary by David Wales

A children’s book that describes the life of ten boys in different historical time periods. The book shows the reader what the daily life of an average boy living in these various time periods would have been like, with descriptions of the kinds of houses they lived in, the food they ate, their education, clothing, religion, cultural customs, etc. The book begins in the ancient Indus River Valley, and moves along chronologically all the way up to the modern industrial era. - Summary by Virginia Neville

The book is dedicated to the island of Guernsey, where Victor Hugo spent 15 years in exile. Hugo uses the setting of a small island community to convert seemingly mundane events into drama of the highest caliber. Set just after the Napoleonic Wars, Toilers of the Sea deals with the impact of the Industrial Revolution upon the island. The story concerns a Guernseyman named Gilliatt, a social outcast who falls in love with Deruchette, the niece of a local shipowner, Mess Lethierry. When Lethierry's ship is wrecked on a perilous reef, Deruchette promises to marry whoever can salvage the ship's steam engine...

A fairly scholarly, short survey of religious sexual symbols and practices from ancient times to the near-present, and within various countries and religions. The essay is coloured by liberality and acceptance of common themes between different religions. Note: "phallic" in the context of this work refers to both male and female genitalia.

Colonel Archibald Gracie was the first survivor of the sinking of the Titanic to die, and this first-hand account was published posthumously. He attempts to dispel some of the rumors surrounding the tragic event and gives his personal observations and an account of his survival clinging to the hull of an overturned collapsible lifeboat after helping many others to escape safely. A large portion of the book is given to personal accounts of other survivors from both the American and British boards of inquiry, boat by boat. - Summary by Larry Wilson

David Hume justly takes rank as the most distinguished member of that brilliant circle of literary men whose names gave such a lustre to the second half of the eighteenth century in Scotland. His speculations were the most profound, and, with the possible exception of Adam Smith in a particular department, his influence was the widest and most deeply felt, of any. But even his warmest friends could scarcely have predicted the influence he was destined to exercise, or the important results that were to spring from his thoughts...

The Appeal grabbed readers’ attention in as dramatic a manner as Walker could have possibly imagined. In her book, Maria W. Stewart and the Roots of Black Political Thought, Kirsten Waters writes about how the pamphlet itself was viewed as dangerous by pro-slavery forces, while Walker actively worked to get his text in the hands of Black readers. He did not direct his writing to White audiences, and in the third edition added a special message to Black readers, saying that: It is expected that...

This delightful little book is one of many titles in The Little Cousin Series. The author narrates details in the life of a fictional Russian girl named Petrovna. In doing so she introduces children to Russian life and culture at the turn of the 20th century. - Summary by Marie Christian

A history of the Longest March of Military in History. The Mormon Battalion was the only religious unit in United States military history in federal service, recruited solely from one religious body and having a religious title as the unit designation. In 1847, as the Mormons were in Iowa heading West, after being driven out of their homes in Nauvoo, Illinois, the U.S. Army requested 500 volunteers to assist in the Mexican-American War effort. From July 1847 to July 1848 the battalion made a grueling march of nearly 2,100 miles from Council Bluffs, Iowa, to San Diego, California...

This collection is dedicated to recordings of short mythical or legendary works which are in the Public Domain. The stories tell of legends, heroes, myths, and ancient lore from many different cultures.

Written in the aftermath of Word War I, Viscountess Snowden recounts her travels in post war Europe in, as she describes it, "an attempt to do what one person might do, or at least attempt, to restore good feeling between the nations and the normal course of life as quickly as possible." An outspoken pacifist, socialist, and feminist who nonetheless strongly denounced the Bolsheviks, Snowden was a controversial and polarizing figure. whose views and observations offer a unique perspective on Europe in the '20s. - Summary by Ciufi Galeazzi

Harriet Robinson was a frequent contributor to the famous monthly periodical, "The Lowell Offering", which featured poetry, essays and fiction written between 1840-1845 by the young female textile workers known as Lowell Mill Girls, living in the innovative Lowell, Massachusetts textile mills communities. Articles published therein describe their living conditions, where they came from, how they felt about their jobs, challenges met, bosses, new experiences and education they received. Rev. A.C...

An overview of the life of Shri Dnyaneshwar and his devoted family. Dnyaneshwar was a 13th-century Indian poet and yogin. He commentated the Bhagavad Gita in a timeless manner while in his teens, and wrote an original book of verse. He was an inspirational speaker with many followers. - Summary by Czandra

This novel investigates the black urban community of the early twentieth century, highlighting the base degradation and violence there. But the story also focuses on the white man's obsession with black women. The issue of miscegenation is at the center of the plot, involving the two central characters, both black, but light skinned. They are Sydney Wyeth and Mildred Latham. Sydney is the author of a book that he tries to sell to members of the black community, especially, because he is interested in advancing the race through education...

“We are not the same nation with Russian people,” the statement which all Ukrainians wish to convey to the whole world for centuries. The striving for freedom and independence is what these people shed much of their blood on Ukrainian lands for. “The Ukraine” by Bedwin Sands describes Ukrainian problem, which exacerbated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, by looking back at the Ukrainian history, the development of Ukrainian literature and its influence, and by considering its relations with Austria and Russia.

This book consists of simple biographies of the first 23 Presidents of the United States written chiefly in words of one syllable. Books such as this one were popular around the turn of the 20th century as a way to help children learn to read. A book like this could also be useful for ESL learners as well. - Summary by Mark Dykshoorn