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George Stephenson did not invent the steam engine, that was due to Newcomen and later to James Watt. He did not invent the steam locomotive, that was due to a number of people including Cugnot, Trevithick and others. He did not invent the Railway. Railways or tramways had been in use for two hundred years before Stephenson.The reason why Stephenson was known as ‘The father of the steam locomotive’ was that he took a primitive, unreliable and wholly uneconomic device and turning it into an efficient machine not very different to those which ran until fifty or so years ago, married it with the iron rail and alone, and against considerable opposition,began, via the Stockton and Darlington Railway, the Liverpool and Manchester Railway and then the London and Birmingham Railway, the development of steam railways in England and the world.George Stephenson began life in 1781 in the worst and poorest of all circumstances, he did not learn to read until he was twenty years old, but he, together with his son Robert, became the foremost engineers in the railway world.If, in the middle years of the nineteenth century you wanted to build a railway, then, if you wanted it big bold and imaginative you might go to Mr. Brunel. If you wanted it to pay however, you would go to the Sephensons. (Summary by AJM)

George and Robert Stephenson

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". (Summary adapted from Wikipedia by Karen Merline.)

Lives of the Twelve Caesars

Theodoric the Great (~454-526) was king of the Ostrogoths during the time of the terminal decline of the Western Roman Empire. After wandering with his people through the Balkans, at times allied with the Eastern Empire, and at others, its enemy, he was invited by the Emperor Zeno to invade and conquer Italy on behalf of the Empire. He defeated the Germanic king Odovacar, who had himself deposed the last Emperor of the West, and established the Ostrogothic Kingdom in Italy. He became known as "King of the Goths and Romans in Italy", ruling according to the principle of civilitas. His reign was a time of stability and prosperity. ( Patrick Eaton)

Theodoric the Goth

The Autobiography of Thomas De Witt Talmage, he was one of the most prominent religious leaders in the United States during the mid 19th century. His sermons which have been put into writing are convicting, informative and well worth reading or listening to, just as his life is. Full of the spirit of God his life is a testimony and encouragement even today, years after his death. This book was written by himself and his wife, Eleanor McCutcheon Collier Talmage. The first 17 chapters written by Mr. Talmage and the last five were written by his wife.( fiddlesticks)

T. De Witt Talmage As I Knew Him

Short Biographies of some of the most influential engineers who developed the modern manufacturing methods behind the Industrial Revolution. Engineers and designers tend to be fairly anonymous figures in history – content to make things rather than write about them. At the time Smiles wrote “Industrial Biography” the whole of British society was undergoing massive changes driven by developments in the High Technology of the day – Mechanical Engineering. Much of the knowledge we have of the brilliant mechanical engineers who developed the iron and machine tools of the nineteenth century was gathered and recorded by Smiles from the men themselves and from their students. Without Bramah, Maudslay, Nasmyth , and others Brunel would not have been able to build his railways, bridges and steamships. And many of their machine tools are still in use 200 years later: my own lathe looks very similar to one made by Maudslay in 1800 and almost identical to Whitworth lathes from the 1830s. Smiles’ most famous work is “Self Help” published in 1859: the book that defined the Liberal Victorian response to the poor. In "Industrial Biography", written only four years later, the virtues of thrift, hard work, and self-improvement are woven through the stories of the great mechanical engineers, most of whom raised themselves from very humble beginnings. In some ways Industrial Biography and the other engineering biographies published by Smiles can be seen as examples to illustrate “Self Help”. (Summary by Clive Catterall)

Industrial Biography: Iron Workers and Tool Makers

The Confessions outlines Augustine's sinful youth and his conversion to Christianity. It is widely seen as the first Western autobiography ever written, and was an influential model for Christian writers throughout the following 1,000 years, through the Middle Ages. It is not a complete autobiography, as it was written in his early 40s, and he lived long afterwards, producing another important work (City of God). It does, nonetheless, provide an unbroken record of his development of thought and is the most complete record of any single person from the 4th and 5th centuries. It is a significant theological work, featuring spiritual meditations and insights. It begins:"GREAT art Thou, O Lord, and greatly to be praised; great is Thy power, and Thy wisdom infinite. And Thee would man praise; man, but a particle of Thy creation; man, that bears about him his mortality, the witness of his sin, the witness, that ]Thou, O God, resistest the proud: yet would man praise Thee; he, but a particle of Thy creation. Thou awakes us to delight in Thy praise; for Thou madest us for Thyself, and our heart is restless, unless it repose in Thee.” (Summary from Wikipedia and Book I, Chapter I.)

Confessions (Pusey translation)

James P. Beckworth, born in Virginia at the dawn of our Nation, moved with his family to eastern Missouri settling a few miles below what is now St. Charles. Still young, James began his education in the character of the Indian nations where he gained first hand knowledge of the Indian tactics and at times, their brutality. At the young age of 19, he became a member of the famed company known as Ashley's hundred. Working along side some our countries most revered adventurers. Hugh Glass, Jim Bridger, Kit Carson and of course, General Ashley himself. After many adventures working for the American Fur Company, James began his journey to becoming Chief of the great Crow Nation. Proving his courage on the field of battle time and again, the Crow Nation grew to respect his character. Through the fur trade, James' knowledge and experience helped provide the Crow Nation with wealth they never experienced before. For this, they grew to appreciate his intellect. Rising through the ranks of warriors and consistently earning their admiration, the great council named him Chief. But after fourteen years of living among the Great Plains Indians, James grew weary and longed to rejoin the society in which he was raised. Leaving his adopted family behind, James set off for even more adventure. First with the United States Army, fighting once again, an Indian Nation in Florida. His skill was called upon in California, participating in the first battles of California's independence. Yet again, his knowledge and experience were put to use in the Mexican-American war. Finally, after years of military campaign and hardship, James settled in a valley nestled in the peaks of the Sierra Nevada mountain range. Here, he established the great Beckworth's Pass. Bringing emigrants directly to central California. To this day, just west of Lake Tahoe, traveling west on Route 70, at the border of California and Nevada, a town, highway and even a mountain peak bear his name. A reminder to all Americans of a man who's magnificent life helped to forge our great Nation. Summary by cstew64

Life and Adventures of James P. Beckwourth

This is a moving and deeply felt biography of abolitionist John Brown, which defends its subject against the popular notion of him as a delusional fanatic. The author, W.E.B. DuBois, was a renowned author, scholar, sociologist, socialist, and civil rights activist, and one of the founders of the N.A.A.C.P.. - Summary by Ciufi Galeazzi

John Brown

A study of the black patriots of the American Revolution, with introductions by Harriet Beecher Stowe and Wendell Phillips.

Colored Patriots of the American Revolution

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

Medici, Volume 2

On Modern Library's list of 100 Best Non-Fiction books, "Eminent Victorians" marked an epoch in the art of biography; it also helped to crack the old myths of high Victorianism and to usher in a new spirit by which chauvinism, hypocrisy and the stiff upper lip were debunked. In it, Strachey cleverly exposes the self-seeking ambitions of Cardinal Manning and the manipulative, neurotic Florence Nightingale; and in his essays on Dr Arnold and General Gordon, his quarries are not only his subjects but also the public-school system and the whole structure of nineteenth-century liberal values.

Eminent Victorians

Written in three volumes, this fictionalized biography of Richelieu is supposedly based on a manuscript that fell into the author's hands and written by someone intimately acquainted with the facts. Cardinal Richelieu was a powerful French statesman and there is still some debate as to whether he was a great statesman or a cunning fiend. Maybe he was a bit of both. He rose to power under the regency of Mary de Medici and contrived to keep Louis XIII subservient and powerless. He was famous for his foreign policy, but also his scheming to maintain domestic disharmony and bring about the destruction of the aristocracy. It was a time of lawlessness in the country, a situation he overlooked, or maybe even encouraged. This is James's most famous work. - Summary by LynneT

Richelieu: A Tale of France

In all the region of autobiography, so far as I know it, I do not know quite the like of Mr. Garland's story of his life, and I should rank it with the very greatest of that kind in literature. . . . It is the poet who sees the vast scale of human struggle with nature or the things she will withhold unless they are forced from her by man's tireless toil and mighty mechanism, and in the vision he knows a battle-joy as distinctive of this Son of the Middle Border as his fidelity to the sordid and squalid details of the campaign, or his exultation of the beauty of the West which he has so passionately hated and finally so passionately loves. As you read the story of his life you realize it the memorial of a generation, of a whole order of American experience; as you review it you perceive it an epic of such mood and make as has not been imagined before.(Introduction by William Dean Howells, New York Times review, August 26, 1917)

Son of the Middle Border

A Small Boy and Others is a book of autobiography by Henry James published in 1913. The book covers James's earliest years and discusses his intellectually active family, his intermittent schooling, and his first trips to Europe. (Summary from Wikipedia)

Small Boy and Others

In 1869, the Atlantic published Stowe's article, The True Story Of Lady Byron's Life, a brief exposé of the famous poet Lord Byron's sordid private life which had led to a separation from his wife and drove him out of England, as told to her by Lady Byron herself before her death. Stowe wrote this article long after Lady Byron's death, when Lady Byron‘s impeccable reputation was being smeared across Europe by Byron's influential literary friends, and her trustees were doing nothing to defend her. Criticism against the article raged in the American and European press and damaged the Atlantic's circulation, but Stowe remained confident, and the following year, she expanded her article into this full-length exposé. Sprinkled throughout with Byron's biting poetry, Lady Byron's and other notable correspondence, and Stowe's outrage at the way women were belittled and treated as property during the Victorian period, the invectives in this book are, even by modern standards, intense! (Summary by Michele Fry, Soloist)

Lady Byron Vindicated

Jacob Riis was an esteemed reporter and documentary photographer in New York City. In his autobiography he movingly recounts his early life and unrelenting attempts at courtship in Denmark followed by his later experiences in the United States, first as a struggling itinerant immigrant and later as a journalist. He describes how he became a reporter and how his work in lower Manhattan’s teeming, squalid immigrant communities sparked his passion and activism for social reform. In his opening note he writes: “To those who have been asking if they are made-up stories, let me say here that they are not.” NOTE: Elizabeth's letter (In Chapter 7) is read by Ann Boulais. – Lee Smalley

Making of an American

This Autobiography of Goethe has a lengthy introduction and short biography of Goethe's life by Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) and was translated by John Oxenford (1812-1877) in 1848, which was a year of revolutions in Europe. Johann Goethe was a literary celebrity by the age of 25 and was ennobled by the Duke of Saxe-Weimar, Carl August in 1782 after first taking up residence there in November of 1775 following the success of his first novel, The Sorrows of Young Werther (available on Librivox). He lived in Germany from 1749-1832. This period corresponds to the same time as the Seven Years' War, and the French and American Revolutions (1754-1815). Goethe was a member of the Sturm und Drang literary movement. This group of writers believed that literature should shock the audience in order to produce extreme emotions as a counterbalance to the rationalist movement which promoted detachment in the sciences. This is the first part of his autobiography, which he called Truth and Fiction or Truth and Poetry depending on the translator. Goethe wrote poems, such as, The Sorcerer's Apprentice, as well as plays, novels and some scientific works. He wrote the play Faust which is also available on Librivox. He was an Anti-Enlightenment writer. Margaret Fuller (1810-1850) assisted with the 1839 English translation of Johann Peter Eckermann's Conversations with Goethe in the Last Years of his Life.One reader, Barbara, submitted the following after reading a little of the book. "The publisher, J. H. Moore, seems to have cobbled his book together from sources which are not properly acknowledged if at all. For instance, the "Introduction" merely pinches an essay by Thomas Carlyle which was published in 1828. Google gives the publication date of "The Autobiography of Goethe" as "1901?" (Summary by Wikipedia and Craig Campbell)

Autobiography of Goethe Volume 1

François-Dominique Toussaint L’Ouverture (1743-1803) rose to fame in 1791 during the Haitian struggle for independence. In this revolt, he led thousands of slaves on the island of Hispañola to fight against the colonial European powers of France, Spain and England. The former slaves ultimately established the independent state of Haiti and expelled the Europeans. L’Ouverture eventually became the governor and Commander-In-Chief of Haiti before recognizing and submitting to French rule in 1801. In June of 1802, L’Ouverture was arrested by French forces and taken to France where he was imprisoned at Joux. There he penned his autobiography “. . . to render to the French government an exact account of my conduct.” L’Ouverture died in prison on April 7, 1803 from pneumonia. Although L’Ouverture died a captive of the French, the revolution he led was historically perhaps the most significant world event opposing slavery. It precipitated a re-examination--among the major European powers as well as those in the new world--of the right of all mankind to be free and self-governing. John Relly Beard, an English minister, wrote The Life of Toussaint L’Ouverture and published it in London in 1853. Ten years later, the biography was re-published and augmented to include L’Ouverture’s 35-page translated autobiography--along with other documents and contributions by public officials--and was re-published in Boston. This reconstituted edition was titled, Toussaint L’Ouverture: A Biography and Autobiography. (Introduction by James K. White)

Toussaint L’Ouverture: A Biography and Autobiography

There is, so far as I have been able to ascertain, no biography of Augustus Caesar - a most curious fact when one considers the extraordinary success of his career and the enormous importance of the work which he accomplished. Perhaps the reason of this apparent neglect may be found in the circumstance that his character is one of the most puzzling of antiquity. In this volume I have attempted to give a clear account of what Augustus achieved in the establishment of the Roman Empire, and at the same time to reveal the man, in so far as he reveals himself by his actions. - Summary Adapted from the Preface

Augustus Caesar and the Organisation of the Empire of Rome

I desire, to place before the colored youth, of my class, another concrete proof of the fact that, even in the United States, where the handicap of color and former restrictions are so much in evidence, ambition, united with reasonable endeavor, will surely win success, along some worthy line. (Summary by the author)

Fact Stranger than Fiction

Letters and excerpts of journals of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley were given to Florence Marshall by her son, Sir Percy Shelley in order to create an accurate biography of this famous writer. Although most famously known for her novel Frankenstein, she also wrote travel books, biographies, and was a political radical. Summary by PhyllisV.

Life and Letters of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Volume 2

Moncure Daniel Conway was an American abolitionist, Unitarian, clergyman and author. This second volume of his autobiography covers the years from the US Civil War to roughly 1904. (Summary by JoeD)

Autobiography Memories and Experiences, Volume 2

An in depth look into the life of one of the greatest ever composers and musicians. Mozart was truly a gifted individual and this is an interesting look at both his family life and his musical career. Summary by Michele Eaton

Life of Mozart Volume 1

Robert Sherard was Oscar Wilde's friend of 20 years and first biographer. The Life of Oscar Wilde was the second of his four biographies of the Irish playwright and wit. - Summary by Rob Board

Life of Oscar Wilde

These volumes of slave narratives are the product of the Federal Writers Project sponsored by the Library of Congress and the Work Project Administration. They consist of verbatim records of personal interviews with former slaves conducted during 1936-1938 "These life histories, taken down as far as possible in the narrators' words, constitute an invaluable body of unconscious evidence or indirect source material, . . . The narratives belong to folk history—history recovered from the memories and lips of participants or eye-witnesses,” This is Volume Tern, comprising 74 narratives, for the state of Missouri, in a series of 34 volumes. - Summary by Larry Wilson

Slave Narratives

She is also known as St. Thérèse of Child Jesus. She was born at Alençon, France, 2 January 1873; died at Lisieux 30 September 1897. When she was fifteen she applied for permission to enter the Carmelite Convent, and being refused by the superior, went to Rome with her father, as eager to give her to God as she was to give herself, to seek the consent of Pope Leo XIII, then celebrating his jubilee. He preferred to leave the decision in the hands of the superior, who finally consented and on 9 April 1888, at the unusual age of fifteen, Thérèse Martin entered the convent of Lisieux where two of her sisters had preceded her. The account of the eleven years of her religious life, marked by signal graces and constant growth in holiness, is given by Soeur Thérèse in her autobiography, written in obedience to her superior and published two years after her death. In 1901 it was translated into English, and in 1912 another translation, the first complete edition of the life of the Servant of God, containing the autobiography, "Letters and Spiritual Counsels", was published. Its success was immediate and it has passed into many editions, spreading far and wide the devotion to this "little" saint of simplicity, and abandonment in God's service, of the perfect accomplishment of small duties. The fame of her sanctity and the many miracles performed through her intercession caused the introduction of her cause of canonization only seventeen years after her death, 10 June 1914. Thérèse was beatified on 29 April 1923 and canonized on 17 May 1925, by Pope Pius XI, only 28 years after her death. (Summary by Wikipidia)

Story of a Soul (Version 2)

Giuseppe Garibaldi (1807-1882) was an Italian general and politician who played a large role in making of what Italy is today. He is known as one of Italy's "fathers of the fatherland". Garibaldi was a central figure in the Italian Risorgimento (Resurrection), and led the famous Expedition of the Thousand on behalf and with the consent of Victor Emmanuel II. The volunteers under his command wore red shirts as their uniform and became known in the popular stories as, "The Red Shirts."He gained his military expertise from his experiences in Brazil, Uruguay as well as Europe. Because of his international notoriety the United States and the UK helped in his cause, both financially and militarily. Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas, and George Sand, intellectuals of the time, greatly admired him. - Summary by kirk202NOTE: There in no Appendix I.

Garibaldi and the Making of Italy

The Lives of the Most Excellent Italian Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, from Cimabue to Our Times (in the original Italian, Le Vite de' più eccellenti pittori, scultori, e architettori da Cimabue insino a' tempi nostri) is a collection of biographies of Italian artists written by the 16th-century Italian painter and architect Giorgio Vasari. The Vite or "Lives" is a valuable witness of the thought about art at the times now known as Renaissance by one of its actors: Vasari is mostly known for being the mind behind the revitalization of the Uffizi, in Florence. The Lives are a fundamental work for art historians. - Summary by Leni

Lives of the Most Eminent Painters, Sculptors and Architects Vol 6

”This book, the rather unpremeditated production of several months’ work, is by a man who is not a novelist and who is therefore entirely unfitted to write about women who are novelists.” The author is a literary reporter and from that perspective he offers a short biographical sketch “of all the living American women novelists whose writing, by the customary standards, is artistically fine . . . [or] whose writing has attained a wide popularity.” This book was published in 1918. (Summary taken from the Introduction by MaryAnn)

Women Who Make Our Novels

These stories are gathered from many sources including biographies, letters, journals and musical history. The life story of 25 of the most celebrated musicians is presented. The author has aimed to make the story-sketches interesting to young people in hopes that they may prove valuable to musical readers of all ages. Students of piano, violin or other instruments need to know how the great composers lived their lives. In every musical career described in this book, from the old masters represented by Bach and Beethoven to the musical prophets of our own day, there is a wealth of inspiration and practical guidance for the artist in any field. Through their struggles, sorrows and triumphs, divine melody and harmony came into being, which will bless the world for all time to come. - Summary taken from the Foreword of the author

World's Great Men of Music: Story-Lives of Master Musicians

The Education of Henry Adams records the struggle of Bostonian Henry Adams (1838-1918), in early old age, to come to terms with the dawning 20th century, so different from the world of his youth. It is also a sharp critique of 19th century educational theory and practice. In 1907, Adams began privately circulating copies of a limited edition printed at his own expense. Commercial publication had to await its author's 1918 death, whereupon it won the 1919 Pulitzer Prize. (Introduction by Wikipedia)

Education of Henry Adams

Boswell's famous work on the life of his admired friend Johnson, the formidable poet, essayist, moralist, literary critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer, is a milestone in the development of biographical writing, a treasure-house of Johnson's witticisms and opinions, and a window on his social circle that is packed with incidental detail of 18th-century life and concerns.This second of four volumes covers the years 1764-1776. (Summary by Philippa)

Life of Samuel Johnson, Vol. II

"It is hard to be an Emperor under such a Chancellor." lamented Wilhelm I, the first emperor of the German Empire. Otto von Bismarck is probably the most fascinating or the most boring statesman throughout German history depending on one's perspective. He led 3 victorious wars (against Denmark, Austria and France) and achieved unification of Germany. However, he tried very hard to avoid unnecessary wars. His vision of European political system led to more than 40 years' peace and prosperity of Europe or to World War I, also depending on one's perspective. - Summary by SS Kim

Bismarck and the Foundation of the German Empire

"It has long been a desideratum to have in English the early narratives, of the discovery and exploration of the Mississippi. Marquette's map and voyage have indeed appeared, but the narrative varies in no small degree from the authentic manuscript, and the map is not at all a copy of that still preserved, as it came from the hand of the great explorer. These published from original manuscripts, and accompanied by the narratives of the missionaries in La Salle's expedition, are now first presented in an accessible shape, and complete the annals of the exploration.The life of Marquette, and the history of the exploration itself, are the result of many years study of the early Spanish and French authorities, both printed and manuscript, some of which have never before been consulted." - Summary by the Author

Discovery and Exploration of the Mississippi Valley

While the Mark Twain Project has created and released a three-volume Mark Twain autobiography with extensive annotations, in the 21st century, this two-volume autobiography was published in 1924 and contains many works never before released. It came 14 years after Twain's death and so, "speaking from the grave", he felt he could be "as frank and free and unembarrassed as a love letter". The autobiographical chapters that he published years earlier in the North American Review, were selected more for their acceptability and potential popularity than for their completely true reflection of his inner thoughts. With the publication of Mark Twain's Autobiography in 1924, the world was introduced to a much more frank and less restrained Twain than had heretofore been seen or heard. This partial Autobiography, in two volumes, consisting of about two-fifths of his known material, was compiled by a personal friend and literary executor Albert Bigelow Paine, who at the time had exclusive access to Twain's papers. - Summary by John Greenman and Wikipedia

Mark Twain's Autobiography: With An Introduction by Albert Bigelow Paine - Volume II

Here are thirteen biographical sketches of physicians penned by one of the founders of modern medicine, William Osler, published in 1908. "Sir William Osler, one of the best-loved and most influential teachers of his time, was born in Canada in 1849…. Wherever he worked his gifted and unique personality was a center of inspiration… one would like to see his honorable place as a man of letters more generally understood. His generous wisdom and infectious enthusiasm are delightfully expressed in his collected writings…. His lucid and exquisite prose, with its extraordinary wealth of quotation from the literature of all ages, and his unfailing humor and tenderness, put him in the first rank of didactic essayists…. Rich in every gentle quality that makes life endeared, his books are the most sagacious and helpful of modern writings…" - Summary by Christopher Morley, Modern Essays, 1921, and David Wales

Alabama Student And Other Biographical Essays

George Armstrong Custer (December 5, 1839 – June 25, 1876), one of the most mythologized figures in American history, was an United States Army officer and cavalry commander in the American Civil War and the Indian Wars. He eventually met his fate in the battle of Little Big Horn in one of the most notable defeats of American armed forces.My Life on the Plains is an autobiographical first-hand account of the Indian Wars of 1867-1869, detailing the winter campaign of 1868 in which Custer led the 7th US cavalry against the Cheyenne Indians. The book is a historical document of the perspectives and attitudes of it's age and author as well as an account of army life during the expeditions of the Indian Wars. Expect a fair amount of masculine bravado, historical fact-bending and quite a few stomach-turning descriptions of violence from both the Indians and the cavalry. (Summary by Illiterati)

My Life on the Plains

William Booth, together with his wife Catherine founded a small mission in London which eventually expanded to become a global movement, carrying the Christian gospel message of salvation and holiness under the banner of the Salvation Army. While never losing his sharp focus on personal transformation that saved men and women from the depths of despair, Booth put faith into action by caring for the temporal needs of society wherever the Army gained a foothold. George Scott Railton was the first Commissioner in the Salvation Army and second in command, working closely and intimately with Booth, and traveling extensively around the world. He presents here a comprehensive biography of the man who changed history; Included are many tributes to the General after his death, and further chapters on the spirit of the Army and its work. - Summary by Larry Wilson

Authoritative Life of General William Booth

Volume 1 of Ida Tarbell's biography of Lincoln covers his life from his boyhood to his election to the presidency in 1860. Tarbell, in addition to her famous work in investigative journalism (in particular, her influential expose of The Standard Oil Company), was a noted Lincoln scholar. Her writings on Lincoln, originally published as articles in McClure's Magazine, were highly acclaimed. - Summary by Ciufi Galeazzi LIfe of Abraham Lincoln, Volume 2

Life of Abraham Lincoln, Volume 1

Joseph Warren was one of the popular leaders of Boston during the early stage of the American Revolution. He grasped its basis idea of civil freedom, and aimed to impress on the public mind its dignity and glory. By ten years of devotion to the patriot cause, he rose to be the head of public affairs in Massachusetts, and became one of the most prominent characters of New England. Warren, through life, was a man of action, whose words were deeds. To repel the aggressions of arbitrary power, and to maintain the principles of liberty, he wrote in the political journals, was zealous in the private clubs, and was a leader in the public meetings. - Summary by Richard Frothingham

Life and Times of Joseph Warren

A book written by Theodore Dreiser detailing a history of his life and how he became a writer. - Summary by Michele Eaton

Book About Myself

His life was like a full five-act play—prophetic prologue and stately epilogue, and swelling scene imposed upon swelling scene, until the tallow chandler's son, rising from the humblest levels of human fortune to the highest by uninterrupted gradations of invincible success, finally becomes the recipient of such a degree of impressive homage as has rarely been paid to anyone by the admiration and curiosity of mankind. (from Introduction)

Benjamin Franklin: Self-Revealed, Volume 2

These volumes of slave narratives are the product of the Federal Writers Project sponsored by the Library of Congress and the Work Project Administration. They consist of verbatim records of personal interviews with former slaves conducted during 1936-1938. "These life histories, taken down as far as possible in the narrators' words, constitute an invaluable body of unconscious evidence or indirect source material, . . . The narratives belong to folk history—history recovered from the memories and lips of participants or eye-witnesses,” This is volume two for the state of North Carolina. - Summary by Larry Wilson

Abraham Lincoln: A History is an 1890 ten-volume account of the life and times of Abraham Lincoln, written by John Nicolay and John Hay, who were his personal secretaries during the American Civil War. Volume 5 chronicles Lincoln's life from November 1861 through August 1862. (Summary adapted from wikipedia by Ann Boulais)

Abraham Lincoln: A History (Volume 5)

Abraham Lincoln: A History is an 1890 ten-volume account of the life and times of Abraham Lincoln, written by John Nicolay and John Hay, who were his personal secretaries during the American Civil War. Volume 7 chronicles Lincoln's life from 1862, including the major battles in the American Civil War that year. (Summary adapted from wikipedia by Ann Boulais)

Abraham Lincoln: A History (Volume 7)

This is this story of William Duncan, an English missionary, who established a colony among the Tsimshian people of the Pacific Northwest. He worked there from 1856 until his death in 1918 at the age of 86. - Summary by Fritz

Top Podcasts / Page 46403

George and Robert Stephenson

Lives of the Twelve Caesars

Theodoric the Goth

T. De Witt Talmage As I Knew Him

Industrial Biography: Iron Workers and Tool Makers

Confessions (Pusey translation)

Life and Adventures of James P. Beckwourth

John Brown

Colored Patriots of the American Revolution

Medici, Volume 2

Eminent Victorians

Richelieu: A Tale of France

Son of the Middle Border

Small Boy and Others

Lady Byron Vindicated

Making of an American

Autobiography of Goethe Volume 1

Toussaint L’Ouverture: A Biography and Autobiography

Augustus Caesar and the Organisation of the Empire of Rome

Fact Stranger than Fiction

Life and Letters of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Volume 2

Autobiography Memories and Experiences, Volume 2

Life of Mozart Volume 1

Life of Oscar Wilde

Slave Narratives

Story of a Soul (Version 2)

Garibaldi and the Making of Italy

Lives of the Most Eminent Painters, Sculptors and Architects Vol 6

Women Who Make Our Novels

World's Great Men of Music: Story-Lives of Master Musicians

Education of Henry Adams

Life of Samuel Johnson, Vol. II

Bismarck and the Foundation of the German Empire

Discovery and Exploration of the Mississippi Valley

Mark Twain's Autobiography: With An Introduction by Albert Bigelow Paine - Volum...

Alabama Student And Other Biographical Essays

My Life on the Plains

Authoritative Life of General William Booth

Life of Abraham Lincoln, Volume 1

Life and Times of Joseph Warren

Book About Myself

Benjamin Franklin: Self-Revealed, Volume 2

Slave Narratives

Abraham Lincoln: A History (Volume 5)

Abraham Lincoln: A History (Volume 7)

Apostle of Alaska: The Story of William Duncan of Metlakahtla

Memoirs of the Lady Hester Stanhope, Vol III

Life of Philip Melanchthon

Autobiography Memories and Experiences, Volume 1

Ordeal of Mark Twain