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

Jerry McAuley was a missionary and founder of the Water Street Mission , the first rescue mission in the United States. This book is a collection of his writings regarding his waywardness, his conversion and his missional work in New York both at the Water Street Mission and later at the Cremorne Mission.

Margaret Sanger, an advocate for birth control rights, chronicles the story of her struggles, including her times in jail and in exile, in order to legalize birth control options for women. She details the uphill battles of not only convincing lawmakers, but of doctors as well. Her relentless pursuit is told against the backdrop of courtrooms, her personal life, and her travels across the globe, giving a glimpse into the world during and post-WW I. This riveting account is a must read for those interested in a key moment in woman’s history and reform.

Holland 's provides us with an engaging history of the Unification of Italy by exploring the lives of some of its most important figures: Alfieri, Manzoni, Gioberti, Manin, Mazzini, Cavour, Garibaldi, and Victor Emmanuel. - Summary by Ciufi Galeazzi

The early nineteenth century was a period of great discovery and advancements in science. Here we have a snapshot of some of those whose names have gone down in history, such as Brunel, Congreve, Davy, Telford and Jenner, along with some of those who made less of an indelible mark, but who were, nonetheless, pioneers of their time. - Summary by Lynne Thompson

In concluding an earlier volume on the mistresses of the western Roman Empire I observed that, as the gallery of fair and frail ladies closed, we stood at the door of “the long, quaint gallery of the Byzantine Empresses.” It seemed natural and desirable to pass on to this more interesting and less familiar series of the mistresses of the eastern Roman Empire, and the present volume will therefore tell the story of the Empresses, or Queens, as they preferred to be called, who occupied the throne set up by Constantine in New Rome, or ancient Byzantium.

Col. Ingersoll begins his lectures on famous people as follows: "It is hard to overstate the debt we owe to the men and women of genius. Take from our world what they have given, and all the niches would be empty, all the walls naked—meaning and connection would fall from words of poetry and fiction, music would go back to common air, and all the forms of subtle and enchanting Art would lose proportion and become the unmeaning waste and shattered spoil of thoughtless Chance." One of the most famous...

Written by the Superintendent of the Jerry McAuley Water Street Mission, "Down in Water Street" is intended to share some of the experiences the writer had during his sixteen years of service to the Mission. Hadley's intent was to show "how some success has been achieved, and also mention some of our defeats; for we found long years ago that we often learn more in defeat than in victory." - Summary by Kristin Hand with a quote from the Preface

St. Hilarion was an anchorite who lived most of his life in the desert after the example of St. Anthony the Great . He is considered to be the founder of Palestinian monasticism and venerated as a saint by the Orthodox and Roman Catholic Church. He was born in Gaza to pagan parents. After successfully studying rhetoric in Alexandria, he converted to Christianity. After which, he shunned the pleasures of his day, the theatre, circus and arena, and spent his time going to church. Upon hearing of St. Antony and his way of life he purposed to become a monk, first spending time in Egypt and then returning to Gaza. - Summary summarized from Wikipedia

The legacy of Booker T. Washington has inspired leaders for racial equality for over a century. He rose from a slave family to be adviser to presidents. As an educator founded the Tuskegee Institute and championed higher education to those who were denied such based on race. Booker T. Washington gives us this autobiography of his life and work. - Summary by Larry Wilson

A.M. Hills, theologian and preacher in the Wesleyan holiness tradition, gives us a detailed biography of Charles G. Finney, one of the most influential revivalists of the nineteenth century. Charles G. Finney was a key figure in initiating the Second Great Awakening in the United States. His preaching was passionate an powerful and his very presence would often bring conviction on those around him. Although his background was Baptist and Presbyterian, he vigorously promoted the doctrine of entire sanctification and the infilling of the Holy Spirit. Finney also left his mark on education as president of Oberlin College in Ohio. - Summary by Larry Wilson

The Ordeal of Mark Twain analyzes the literary progression of Samuel L. Clemens and attributes shortcomings to Clemens' mother and wife. The Encyclopaedia Britannica says, Brooks' work "was a psychological study attempting to show that Twain had crippled himself emotionally and curtailed his genius by repressing his natural artistic bent for the sake of his Calvinist upbringing." Also, Brooks says, his literary spirit was sidelined as "...Mark Twain was inducted into the Gilded Age, launched, in defiance of that instinct which only for a few years was to allow him inner peace, upon the vast welter of a society blind like himself, like him committed to the pursuit of worldly success...

Short biographical essays of twelve persons central to European culture. - Summary by KevinS

Saint Gerard Majella was an Italian lay brother of the Redemptorists. His only ambition was to be like Jesus Christ in his sufferings and humiliations. St. Alphonsus considered him a miracle of obedience. Although weak in body, he did the work of three, and his great charity earned for him the title of Father of the Poor. He was a model of every virtue, and so drawn to Our Lord in the tabernacle that he had to do violence to himself to keep away. An angel in purity, he was accused of a shameful crime; but he bore the calumny with such patience that St...

A biography of a woman who advocated for the humane treatment of people with mental illness. As a young woman travelling overseas, Dorothea Dix met with people who were interested in reforming how the mentally ill were treated. Returning to America, she pushed for changes and proper care for these individuals, meeting with strong resistance. Her work ultimately resulted in social reform and the creation of asylums. Dorothea Dix was a tireless crusader and instrumental in important social reforms in the United States and the world. - Summary by Phyllis Vincelli

This is a collection of 135 brief biographies by St. Jerome of his forebears and contemporaries. It is often cited as a primary source of information on ancient Christian authors and their writings. The biographies start with the apostles and end with Jerome himself. They also include respected non-Christians such as Josephus, and Philo of Alexandria. In general, this work provides a quick overview of all the respected writers in the early centuries and their writings, which would be of interest to Christians. - Summary by ancientchristian

Joseph Wright, commonly called "Wright of Derby", was an English landscape and portrait painter. In this book, something of an academic study of Joseph Wright, the author is trying to restore his name's fame. We catch glimpses from the painter's personal and professional life, his character and conduct, mainly through letters of correspondence.Prefaced by Cosmo Monkhouse. - Summary by Rapunzelina

In 1916, the Cambridge historian, F.J. Foakes-Jackson braved the wartime Atlantic to deliver the Lowell Lectures in Boston. In these wide-ranging and engaging talks, the author describes British life between 1750-1850. There are John Wesley's horseback peregrinations over thousands of miles of English countryside. Next, Foakes-Jackson introduces the mordant rural poet, George Crabbe, who began life as a surgeon apothecary and ended up as a parish rector who made house calls. He gives us a female convict, assorted Cambridge University dons, Regency fops and rakes, and Victorian slices of life from Dickens and Thackeray...

As one of the first two bishops of the Methodist church in America and one of the most well-known circuit riders during the spread of Methodism, Francis Asbury kept a journal of his travels and activities. His journal begins with his prayerful decision to come to America in 1771 and continues to December of 1815, a few months before his death. In the meantime, we travel with Rev. Asbury across the ocean, over mountains, through rivers, and up and down the whole length of the fledgling United States of America. - Summary by Devorah Allen

Up from Slavery is the autobiography of American educator Booker T. Washington, describing his personal path up from the position of a slave child during the Civil War to his work at founding schools to help children from black or other disadvantaged groups learn skills that would give them the chance to work to pull themselves up by the bootstraps.

This Mark Twain Memoir by Elizabeth Wallace paints an idyllic portrait of his time in Bermuda, not long before his death in 1910. Wallace and Twain met in Bermuda in 1908, became fast friends, and shared time together on the island and regular correspondence until 6 weeks before Twain's death. According to one academician, "Wallace’s deep affection for Twain is evident in her writings, so she also may have wished to burnish his legacy. As a result, Happy Island is a popular treatment in a breezy, occasionally sentimental style. It portrays Twain as a fun and caring friend but only hints at weightier matters." - Summary by John Greenman

This biography of Franklin was written for young people, but can be enjoyed by anyone. The author Robin McKown, is known for her young adult historical fiction and historical biographies. - Summary by Ciufi Galeazzi

In this book, Walter W. Bryant traces the history of astronomy through the ages. We start at the very beginning, where astronomy was an occupation of priests, move with the help of the Arabs through the middle ages to the discovery of the heliocentric system by Copernicus, Brahe, Kepler, and Galileo. A discussion of Newton and his laws follows as well as a description of the biographies and works of successors like Halley, Herschel, and Bessel. The second half of the book deals with recent discoveries with respect to our solar system and the comets, meteors, and stars beyond.

The Desert Fathers were early Christian hermits, ascetics, and monks who mainly lived in the Scetes desert of Egypt. The most famous was St. Anthony the Great, who moved to the desert in 270 AD and became known as both the father and founder of desert monasticism. By the time Anthony died in AD 356, thousands of monks and nuns had been drawn to Anthony's example of living in the harsh conditions of the inner desert, praying the psalms, meditating on scripture, eating rarely, and working with their hands making baskets or mats. This work is a collection of stories from the lives of these early monks and nuns. - Summary by ancientchristian

Abraham Lincoln came to the presidency under a heavy shroud of uncertainty, not only about his threatened life but, of course, the very existence of the United States, which was already falling apart. Ward Hill Lamon was, in effect, his first Secret Service agent, his security guard and this biography, heavily edited by his daughter, Dorothy Lamon sets down for posterity many details surrounding Lincoln's near-fatal journey to his inauguration, how he dealt with day to day presidential decisions and a wide range of interpersonal relationships with the visionaries, schemers and power brokers surrounding him. - Summary by John Greenman

This third collection of the correspondence of Oscar Wilde includes the letters Wilde wrote from prison. It begins with notes of thanks to the friends who stood by him after his arrest, and ends with discussions of his plans for after his release. De Profundis, the long letter Wilde wrote to his lover, Lord Alfred Douglas, is represented by the expurgated 1913 edition as well as suppressed portions that were later published elsewhere. The letters are sourced from auction catalogues, biographies, and other texts in the public domain...

Clarissa Harlowe Barton was a pioneering American nurse who founded the American Red Cross. She was a hospital nurse in the American Civil War, a teacher, and a patent clerk. Since nursing education was not then very formalized and she did not attend nursing school, she provided self-taught nursing care. Barton is noteworthy for doing humanitarian work and civil rights advocacy at a time before women had the right to vote. She was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 1973. Volume 1 ends during the years just after the end of the Civil War.

This shorter book on Erasmus might be considered a companion to Huizinga's most famous work, The Waning of the Middle Ages. While in his magnum opus he presented a study of the forms of life and thought in France and the Netherlands in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, in this one the subject is the central intellectual figure of the next generation after the period which Huizinga called the waning, or rather the autumn, of the Middle Ages. It was first published in 1924, and so belongs to the same period of the author. Erasmus was, as it appears from many of pages, a man for whom Huizinga had a very special sympathy. - Summary by Leni

A radical is a person who holds extreme or unconventional convictions and who advocates fundamental political, economic, or social reforms. In this volume, the Scottish philosopher, John MacCunn, presents the life and thought of Jeremy Bentham, John Stuart Mill, Richard Cobden, Thomas Carlyle, Giuseppe Mazzini, and Thomas Hill Green-- six radical thinkers whose influence produced fundamental and progressive change in 19th century society. - Summary by Pamela Nagami, M.D.

The Desert Fathers were early Christian hermits, ascetics, and monks who mainly lived in the Scetes desert of Egypt. The most famous was St. Anthony the Great, who moved to the desert in 270 AD and became known as both the father and founder of desert monasticism. By the time Anthony died in AD 356, thousands of monks and nuns had been drawn to Anthony's example of living in the harsh conditions of the inner desert, praying the psalms, meditating on scripture, eating rarely, and working with their hands making baskets or mats. This work is a collection of stories from the lives of these early monks and nuns. - Summary by ancientchristian

Bosanquet was secretary or amanuensis to James from 1907 to his death in 1916. She wrote this essay eight years after his death as part of the series Hogarth Essays by the Hogarth Press. It is a narrative of her experience of his methods, values, and life. - Summary by David Wales

Vesalius is one of the foundation stones of modern medicine. Forsaking the study of anatomy by reading the ancients, he instead dissected bodies and drew detailed illustrations of his observations. He was enormously influential in the development of modern medicine. This 1910 biography opens up his life admirably. The printed book contains many illustrations taken from his works. The listener will want to be aware that modern historians of medicine are much more positive about the contributions of medieval Arabic medical teachers than the author of this book. - Summary by David Wales

He says about this work: "I have tried to record the events that have given character and colour to my own life, and at the same time to reflect upon the impressions made upon my mind by experiences that I could not always reconcile with what I had learned of American ideals and standards." - Summary by author in the preface

Clarissa Harlowe Barton was a pioneering American nurse who founded the American Red Cross. She was a hospital nurse in the American Civil War, a teacher, and a patent clerk. Since nursing education was not then very formalized and she did not attend nursing school, she provided self-taught nursing care. Barton is noteworthy for doing humanitarian work and civil rights advocacy at a time before women had the right to vote. She was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 1973.Volume 2...

The Desert Fathers were early Christian hermits, ascetics, and monks who mainly lived in the Scetes desert of Egypt. The most famous was St. Anthony the Great, who moved to the desert in 270 AD and became known as both the father and founder of desert monasticism. By the time Anthony died in AD 356, thousands of monks and nuns had been drawn to Anthony's example of living in the harsh conditions of the inner desert, praying the psalms, meditating on scripture, eating rarely, and working with their hands making baskets or mats. This work is a collection of stories from the lives of these early monks and nuns. - Summary by ancientchristian

The Desert Fathers were early Christian hermits, ascetics, and monks who mainly lived in the Scetes desert of Egypt. The most famous was St. Anthony the Great, who moved to the desert in 270 AD and became known as both the father and founder of desert monasticism. By the time Anthony died in AD 356, thousands of monks and nuns had been drawn to Anthony's example of living in the harsh conditions of the inner desert, praying the psalms, meditating on scripture, eating rarely, and working with their hands making baskets or mats. This work is a collection of stories from the lives of these early monks and nuns. Summary by ancientchristian

Born in 1133, King Henry II of England reigned from 1154 until his death in 1189. Before he was forty, he controlled England, large parts of Wales, the eastern half of Ireland and, thanks to his marriage with Eleanor of Aquitaine, the western half of France. He famously fought with his former friend, Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury, with Eleanor, and with his rebellious children. But Henry was one of England's greatest kings. He replaced feudal anarchy with strong central government, laid the foundations of British common law and the jury system, and greatly increased the efficiency of the Exchequer.

This work is actually two "essays" which circulated together, one addended to the other. The first, Indian converts: or, Some account of the lives and dying speeches of a considerable number of the Christianized Indians of Martha's Vineyard, in New-England, is written by Experience Mayhew. Experience was one in a long line of missionary ministers to the Wampanoag Indians on Martha's Vineyard. This work is essentially a treasure trove of small biographies of Native Americans and their amazing faith in God, despite enormous persecution by their fellow man...

In this book, writer Henry James gives wonderful and probing insights into the lives and works of many famous and interesting writers, some known personally by him. We see into the creative workings of Ralph Waldo Emerson, George Eliot, Anthony Trollope, Robert Louis Stevenson, Constance Fenimore Woolson, Alphonse Daudet, Guy De Maupassant, Ivan Turgenieff and George du Maurier.

A brief history of the life Henry the Fifth. - Summary by KevinS

Hypatia is John Toland's biography of the one he calls "a most beautiful, most vertuous, most learned, and every way accomplish’d lady, who was torn to pieces by the clergy of Alexandria, to gratify the pride, emulation, and cruelty of their Archbishop, commonly but undeservedly stiled St. Cyril." - Summary by Leni

"THE author of this volume desires . . . to say . . . that it is his earnest hope that this record of a hero may be an aid to brave and true living in the Republic, so that the problems knocking at its door for solution may find the heads, the hands, and the hearts equal to the performance of the duties imposed by them upon the men and women of this generation. William Lloyd Garrison was brave and true. Bravery and truth were the secret of his marvelous career and achievements. May his countrymen and countrywomen imitate his example and be brave and true, not alone in emergent moments, but in everyday things as well."

Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour was an Italian statesman and a leading figure in the movement for Italian unification. A nobleman born in Turin, Cavour founded the political newspaper "Il Risorgimento." An ardent admirer of Britain's constitution monarchy, with whose statesmen he forged strong diplomatic ties, he rose to become prime minister of Piedmont-Sardinia under King Victor Emmanuel II. By skillful maneuvering, Cavour enlisted the military support of Emperor Napoleon III of France in freeing the Italian states from Austrian tyranny, and in an uneasy alliance with the military leader Giuseppe Garibaldi, he forged the modern Italian state. - Summary by Pamela Nagami, M.D.

In this Little Blue Book Number 512, Will Durant describes François-Marie Arouet, the writer, historian, and philosopher known as Voltaire as "unprepossessing, ugly, vain, flippant, unscrupulous, even at times dishonest" and "tirelessly kind, considerate, ...as sedulous in helping friends as in crushing enemies." "My trade is to say what I think," wrote Voltaire, and he did so in ninety-nine "sparkling and fruitful" volumes. He advocated for freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and for the separation of church and state...

This little Blue Book No. 39, by Will Durant, deals with Aristotle , a Macedonian pupil of Plato, who became the teacher of Prince Alexander. While his pupil went off to conquer the world, Aristotle returned to Athens and founded his school, the Lyceum. There he amassed the first great collection of plants and animals and laid the foundations of biology, logic, literary theory, ethics, and political science. Departing from abstract Platonic universals, Aristotle described such natural processes as the developing embryo of the chick...

It is a remarkable fact that little attention, if any, has been given to the study of the careers of distinguished women, and the question has often been asked why short biographies should not be prepared, in order that the pupils in our schools might become familiar with the noble and unselfish lives of the many remarkable women whose influence has been inspiring and uplifting. It is hoped that those who read the stories of the lives of the women whose names appear in this volume will find in them an incentive to guide their own lives into useful channels. - Summary by Edith Horton

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.

John Locke was an English philosopher and physician who, after Sir Francis Bacon, was one of the first of the British empiricists and an important contributor to Social Contract Theory. In this fine biography, Thomas Fowler writes of Locke's influence on the history of progress and of civilization. "In an age of excitement and prejudice, he set men the example of thinking calmly and clearly...At a time when the chains of dogma were far tighter, and the penalties of attempting to loosen them far more stringent, than it is now easy to conceive, he raised questions which stirred the very depths of human thought...

I believe that the good Bishop of Salisbury's account of the last days of poor young Rochester would, if carefully read, make more impression on the mind of a fast young man than a hundred sermons from the pulpit would effect. Can anything, indeed, be sadder than that one so highly gifted with intellect, courage, and good looks as Wilmot Lord Rochester, should have left a name almost proverbial for all that is most dissipated and abandoned; and that a career which might have rivalled in the reign of Charles II...

Joseph Addison was an English essayist, poet, playwright, and Whig politician. Today he is most famous for his contributions, with Richard Steele, to the "The Spectator" magazine. In this essay, Macaulay portrays the life and work of this quiet, compassionate man, who amidst the cut and thrust of bitter political and literary rivalries, was always a gentleman, loved by his friends and, in the person of the Spectator, by posterity, as well.

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

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 , 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

Success! Alluring, fascinating, informative. Why are some people successful while others languish on the scrap heap of life? Hard work? Luck? Nepotism? Genius? Here we have the Life Stories of Successful Men Told by Themselves. 22 people who made their mark on their chosen field, some of whom have gone down in history... Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Edison, Andrew Carnegie. Others were no less successful in their day, but whose names have not made their mark to such an extent. - Summary by Lynne Thompson

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

In my Volume on Aristotle in this series, I tried to give an account of ancient, classical, and social Education; in the present volume I have endeavored to set forth the nature of modern, romantic, and unsocial Education. This education originates with Rousseau. With much reluctance I have been obliged to dwell, at considerable length, on the facts of his life, in order to show that his glittering structure rests, not upon any broad and firm foundation of well-generalized and well-sifted experience, but upon the private tastes and preferences of an exceptionally capricious and self-centered nature...

John Milton was an English poet, classicist, and fearless advocate for civil liberty, who served the Commonwealth of England under Oliver Cromwell. He is best known for his epic poem "Paradise Lost" , a work of sublime imagery and hidden heresy. In this long essay, Macaulay combines literary criticism with political history, writing that to Milton, almost alone among his contemporaries, belonged "the glory of the battle which he fought for, the species of freedom which is the most valuable, and which was then the least understood, the freedom of the human mind."

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...

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

Titus Salt was a British manufacturer, politician and philanthropist, renounde for having built Salt's Mill, a large, innovative textile mill, together with the attached village of Saltaire, where he provided cleaner air, better housing, schooling, banking, churches, recreation, shorter hours and higher wages for over 4000 employees. Salt's tireless work and innovation with alpaca thread lead him to fame and fortune. He was awarded a baronetsy by the British Crown in 1869. It is estimated that over 100,000 people attended his funeral...

This engaging book is an inestimable resource for any student of the merry monarch, Charles II. "Odd's fish," he said "I am an ugly fellow!" Yet, as Airy writes, "his power of imagination, his intuitive perception of character, his faculty of statecraft, enabled him to gauge the strength or weakness of an opponent or the frailty of an adherent, and to slip by difficulties which it was inconvenient to meet." But alas, Charles's moral languor led to the dominance of French gold in English affairs, and to parliamentary factions and courtly intrigues, which culminated in the judicial murders of the Popish Plot.