A series of poetically written meditations on the seasons and other nature subjects. Or “ …Minstrel Weather, a series of open-air vignettes which circle the zodiac with the attentive eye of a naturalist and the enchanted ardor of a poet.” - Summary by Christopher Morley, Modern Essays, 1921, and David Wales

Baron Friedrich von Hugel was a lay Catholic theologian whose work was influential during the rise of modernist thought. His Essays and Addresses on the Philosophy of Religion became a favorite work of later Christian writers C.S. Lewis and Flannery O'Connor. The book compiled previously written material into a single collection, divided into three parts: the first, on religion and theism in general; the second, on Christ's teachings and Christianity in general; the third, on the Catholic Church. - Summary by Dylan P. Straub

A selection of short works about Christmas.

Endymion is the largest work by John Keats and was composed between April and November 1817. When it was published in April 1818 the critical reception was almost universally hostile. Since that time, many readers have found the poem dense and inaccessible, and have preferred to focus on the occasional gems of poetic commentary for which it has become famous. Feeling that the poem was both undervalued and misunderstood, in 1919 Professor Clement Notcutt published a lengthy essay, which could be considered a “user’s guide” to Endymion...

Seventeen short nonfiction works in the public domain, independently chosen by the readers. Topics include Nature and Science--fall scenery, rose oil, large type books for low vision, the pulmotor, and the method of scientific investigation; Philosophy and Thought--Joseph Priestly, Kierkegaard, Rousseau, and A.C. Bradley on poetry; History and Travel--John Johnston founder of Sault St. Marie, eating in Berlin, and Sir John Mandeville's travels; a Japanese folk tale; a defense of Lady Bryon by Harriet Beecher Stowe, and a Virginia slave narrative by Minnie Fulkes. "Preparation for a Christian Life" was translated by Lee M. Hollander.

"Samuel Langhorne Clemens", "Mark Twain At Home", "Youth of Mark Twain" & "Mark Twain Gossip" Published in the June 16, 1888 edition of "Literature - An Illustrated Weekly Magazine" these four, early magazine articles about Mark Twain fill in and analyze areas of Twain's persona for the first time. "Mark Twain At Home" was originally published in the London, England "World".

Sixteen short nonfiction works in the public domain, independently chosen by the readers. Topics include Science and Exploration--a tribute to Egyptologist Amelia Edwards, and discourses on gravitation and relativity by Georges-Louis Le Sage and Ralph Sampson; Sociology and Society--Julio Guerrero on the Mexican character, reflections on life from Kierkegaard's Diapsalmata, Immanuel Kant on religious education, the fate of romance in the King of Siam's harem, nickelodeons, and the tragic results...

This book was called Nachala i Kontzy when first published in 1908 in Russian and has been titled Anton Tchekhov and other essays as well as Penultimate Words in English when published in 1916. Lev Shestov, like Soren Kierkegaard before him, liked to ask questions. He asks if its possible to disentangle the hidden meaning of Tchekhov's works. If Dostoevsky is doomed eternally to be 'on the eve'. What if every possibility should have been exhausted, and endless repetition should begin? He discusses writers and philosophers such as Schopenhauer, Ibsen, Dostoevsky, Kant, and the ancient Greek philosophers in this book...

The Atlantic was a popular periodical with a wide range of essays and stories. In an effort to remain current, many strong and valid submissions ended up being pushed aside. The Atlantic Classic was an experimental publication, drawing on some sixteen of these good but rejected essays. - Summary by Lynne Thompson

This is the first volume of the 15-volume series of The World’s Story: a history of the World in story, song and art, edited by Eva March Tappan. Each book is a compilation of selections from prose literature, poetry and pictures and offers a comprehensive presentation of the world's history, art and culture, from the early times till the beginning of the 20th century. Topics in Part I include China, Korea, Japan and the Islands of the Pacific. - Summary by Sonia Cast list for The Sorrows of...

This is a volume of essays by American author Brander Matthews. Matthews is today mostly remembered for his short pieces of speculative fiction, but his essays are also of enduring interest. This volume contains 15 essays on different topics, ranging from contemporary history over literature to philosophy. They are written in a very accessible style and will interest readers and listeners today as much as they must have interested readers when the book was published in 1922. - Summary by Carolin

Mabel Elizabeth Wotton, an author herself, moved in the literary circles of the late nineteenth century establishing many close friendships, She presents for us here, not literary criticism nor biographical sketches, but "word portraits," shore vignettes of a persons physical appearance and elements of behavior or personality. These are all drawn from many sources -- biographies, newspapers, or personal friends of the authors. Some descriptions are based on paintings or drawings, but the majority are derived from personal acquaintance. Thus, we have a unique view of these famous artists that we seldom read. - Summary by Larry Wilson

Thinking she would be ill for the rest of her life, Harriet Martineau wrote these partly autobiographical essays about life in the sickroom. Considered ground breaking, it asserted that the sickroom is the sick person's place and not the doctor's. Sick people were able and willing to decide what is best for them. In England and abroad, people declared that "a sick person cannot write a healthy book" and that Harriet Martineau was definitely out of her senses. It would be interesting to see how much has changed. - Summary by Stav Nisser and Wikipedia.

Mencken sharpens his pen and in a collection of short essays delivers acerbic opinions on issues and persons of the time. Among his targets in this volume are critics, H.G. Wells Thorstein Veblen, Arnold Bennett, William Dean Howells, Irvin S. Cobb. Mencken's critiques are delivered against a background of his own well known ethnic, racial, religious, and sectional prejudices. Not for the faint of heart, Mencken's prickly, yet unapologetic, prose reveals a window into American attitudes at the time they were written and their influences on the larger American culture. - Summary by DrPGould

An example of one of the leading literary magazines of the early 20th Century. Poetry by e.e. cummings and Louise Bryant , a short story by Sherwood Anderson, a memoir of the late poet James Flecker, theater and book reviews by Gilbert Seldes, and other critical works.

“[these essays on Shakespeare, Pepys, Restoration novels, and bohemianism]—the results of many hours of quiet but rather aimless browsing among books, and not of special investigations, undertaken with a view to definite scholastic ends. They are, moreover, as will readily be seen, completely unacademic in style and intention.” Published in 1897. Hudson was a prolific author, naturalist, and ornithologist. His most popular book in the early 20th century was Green Mansions.

This is the second volume of the 15-volume series of The World’s Story: a history of the World in story, song and art, edited by Eva March Tappan. Each book is a compilation of selections from prose literature, poetry and pictures and offers a comprehensive presentation of the world's history, art and culture, from the early times till the beginning of the 20th century. Topics in Part II include India, Siam, Afghanistan, Persia, Mesopotamia and Palestine. - Summary by Sonia Cast list for Sakoontala, or the lost ring: King: Tomas Peter First Attendant: Eva Davis Second Attendant: TJ Burns Child: lorda Sakoontala: Monika M...

This two-volume work includes heroines from the works of Eliot, Trollope, Hardy, Harte, Austen, Edgeworth, Scott, Dickens, Hawthorne, E. Bronte, Thackeray, and others. These studies of nineteenth-century literature were by a critical light of the time.

This is the sixteenth collection of our "coffee break" series, involving public domain works that are between about 3 and 15 minutes in length. These are great for study breaks, commutes, workouts, or any time you'd like to hear a whole story and only have a few minutes to devote to listening. The theme for this collection is "Crime", where crime or criminals are significant. readers have chosen a combination of social commentaries, newspaper reports of true crimes and criminals, letters, fictional accounts of the life of the criminal and short 'whodunnit' mysteries. - Summary by Lynne Thompson

Fifteen short nonfiction works in the public domain, independently chosen by the readers. Natural cataclysm is the subject of several readings: the 1899 Alaskan earthquake, which uplifted cliffs at Yakutat Bay 47 feet; a terrifying forest fire in Northern Wisconsin in 1899; the fiery sunsets which followed the volcanic eruption of Krakatoa in 1883; a storm at sea which sank the English frigate Anson in 1807; and the explosion of a hydrogen-filled dirigible over Chicago in 1919. Natural beauty, also a topic, includes a guide to the Antrim coast of Ireland, observations on Black Walnut trees and the communal life of Yellow-Jacket wasps, and an essay on how to paint reflections...

Mary Webb was a novelist and poet and two of her novels "Gone to Earth" and "Precious Bane" have been successfully adapted for film and television. She was passionate about nature and particularly the Shropshire countryside where she grew up and spent much of her life. At the age of 20, she was diagnosed with the autoimmune disease known as Graves' disease, a thyroid condition. She was often confined to her bed but came to believe that her love of and connection with nature helped in her healing...

This is the seventeenth Coffee Break Collection, in which readers select English language public domain works of about 15 minutes or less in duration -- perfect to listen to during commutes, workouts or coffee breaks. The topic for this collection is health and fitness... views on these, including physical activity, nutrition and sport, have changed drastically over the years. Readers have chosen selections on subjects ranging from judo and walking to advice for the nutrition and education of children, Summary by Lynne Thompson

Sixteen short nonfiction works in the public domain, independently chosen by the readers. Volume 59 contains an eclectic mix of readings, ranging from a description of a Coney Island elephant colossus to meditations on mental telepathy and baseball. Philosophical essays by Leibniz, Kierkegaard, Schopenhauer, Francis Bacon and William Blake touch on the topics of truth, prejudice, poetic genius, suicide, and preparation for a Christian life. An educator at a women's college in the early 1920's bemoans the decline in the way high school girls dress for school and recommends a "serge jumper dress, made with a washable under blouse...

Thirty four whimsical, tongue-in-cheek, and entertaining essays about not much in particular, published in 1902, by one of the most popular writers of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The American Gelett Burgess was an artist, art critic, poet, author, and humorist. Nonsense verse was a specialty. - Summary by David Wales

A Collection of 31 essays from G.K. Chesterton. “I have strung these things together on a slight enough thread; but as the things themselves are slight, it is possible that the thread may manage to hang together. These notes range over very variegated topics and in many cases were made at very different times. They concern all sorts of things from lady barristers to cave-men, and from psycho-analysis to free verse. Yet they have this amount of unity in their wandering, that they all imply that it is only a more traditional spirit that is truly able to wander.”

A collection of 35 essays by G.K. Chesterton originally published in his weekly columns in "The Illustrated London News" and the "New Witness". The subjects vary greatly from lamp posts to Jane Austen's Emma, from "On Pigs as Pets" to Mormonism and Christian Science.

This book records Bertrand Russell's impressions of the new regime after a 1920 visit to Russia following the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, including his meetings with Lenin, Trostky, and Gorky. It includes a chapter that was authored by Dora Black, educational theorist and feminist author, and Russell's spouse. This chapter was unfortunately removed in the second edition, which was issued after Dora and Bertrand divorced. This recording is dedicated to my darling wife, Jill. Happy Hanukkah and Happy 2020! - Summary by Landon D. C. Elkind

Dedications is an anthology of the forms used from the earliest days of book-making to the present time. My purpose in the following anthology of dedications has been to make a representative, rather than an exhaustive collection. My first idea was to take only beautiful dedications, and above all those which showed thought and originality. I next sought those which were quaint and curious, grave and gay, and then wandering through the wide field of English literature, tried to have each section of it represented...

Mark Twain and William Dean Howells were friends for 44 years. Their personal and professional relationship is considered by many to be one of the most important in American literature. Howells published his famous "My Mark Twain" in the same year Clemens died, 1910. A few years earlier, Clemens wrote this "remembrance" and "appreciation" of the man who stuck with him through the ups and downs of his long literary journey.

We have felt that the most fitting tribute that we, of the Anti-Caste movement, can pay to the memory of this noble and faithful life is to issue broadcast—as far as the means entrusted to us will allow—his last great appeal for justice . A slanderous charge against Negro morality has gone forth throughout the world and has been widely credited. The white American has had his say both North and South. On behalf of the accused, Frederick Douglass claims, in the name of justice, to be heard.

The Coffee Break Collections are themed anthologies, selected and read by readers. Each short piece is fifteen minutes long, or less -- perfect for coffee breaks, commutes and work outs. Essays, prose, fiction, non-fiction, poetry -- who knows what gems will be uncovered? Spring is the time we see plants and flowers, dormant over the cold winter months, burst into life; and they make their appearance here. - Summary by Lynne Thompson

The Coffee Break Collections are themed anthologies, selected and read by readers. Each short piece is fifteen minutes long, or less -- perfect for coffee breaks, commutes and work outs. Essays, prose, fiction, non-fiction, poetry -- who knows what gems will be uncovered? In this collection, we explore old age -- grandparents, retirement, wisdom, decline. It is an opportunity to reflect on mortality and depth of experience. - Summary by Lynne Thompson