Johan August Strindberg was a Swedish playwright who has had many of his works read into Librivox by volunteers. From his earliest work, Strindberg developed forms of dramatic action, language, and visual composition so innovative that many were to become technically possible to stage only with the advent of film. He is considered the "father" of modern Swedish literature. The Growth of a Soul is Strindberg's own literary autobiography and recreation of the spirit of the times at Upsala University and his attempts to become a literary artist...

An English Girl's First Impressions of Burmah, by Beth Ellis, is a well-edited, turn-of-the-century journal documenting a young woman’s visit to Burma. The account documents her ocean voyage to Rangoon, and her stay in a small, jungle-embedded, European community in Remyo. The author, who travelled to Asia alone to visit her brother, is quick to laugh at her own exaggerated fears. She gives us a glimpse into the less-than-glamorous lives to Myanmar’s British occupiers. The book was published in 1899, just thirteen years after the conclusion of the third Anglo-Burmese war, when Britain took formal control of Myanmar and made it a province of India.

A literary celebrity by the age of 25, Goethe was ennobled by the Duke of Saxe-Weimar, Carl August in 1782 after first taking up residence there in November 1775 following the success of his first novel, The Sorrows of Young Werther. He was an early participant in the Sturm und Drang literary movement. During his first ten years in Weimar, Goethe served as a member of the Duke's privy council, sat on the war and highway commissions, oversaw the reopening of silver mines in nearby Ilmenau, and implemented a series of administrative reforms at the University of Jena...

“We had spent almost all our money for toll, ferrying and other expenses on the road. It might be a serious matter to be in a strange place without money . . . There is nothing we can spare so well as Dick. . . . It would not do to be sentimental under existing circumstances.” This is the practical pioneer woman Sarah Raymond Herndon writing in her journal about selling her horse to finance the final days of her family’s trek across the plains to Montana. However, when her brother, Hillhouse, actually sells her beloved pony, Sarah is distraught...

This "as told to" autobiography of Jules Turnour is based on a popular article that appeared in the Saturday Evening Post in 1909. Turnour relates through Marcosson his personal history and that of the circus, both in Europe and the United States. By recounting touching, amusing, and heartbreaking events that he experienced or witnessed, he demonstrates his love of circus life and his craft. "As soon as I hear the music of the band...and the indescribable movement of the crowd toward the big tent...

Saint Rose of Lima, T.O.S.D. (April 20, 1586 – August 24, 1617), was a Spanish colonist in Lima, Peru, who became known for both her life of severe asceticism and her care of the needy of the city through her own private efforts. A lay member of the Dominican Order, she was the first person born in the Americas to be canonized by the Catholic Church.

April 14-15th, 2015, is the 150th year anniversary of President Abraham Lincoln’s assassination. This is a collection of pieces to mark that occasion. Whitman’s poems, written shortly after the death, express his intense grief. Here are prose pieces that Whitman composed in the years following. Included too are three other eulogies regarded by Lincoln scholars as among the best, as well as a narrative from one of the doctors who attended the dying president and two speeches in the British Parliament. And finally three of the President’s finest compositions. (

Written as a tribute to Colonel Robert G. Ingersoll after his death, by Isaac Newton Baker, his secretary of 14 years, and presented to the Ingersoll family. Later expanded and published by the family so the world could learn more about the public and private life, personality, work, thoughts and ideals of the most famous orator of the late 1800's, also dubbed "The Greatest Agnostic Of the Century".

From the Deep Woods to Civilization is the sequel to Indian Boyhood. Charles Eastman (Ohiyesa) gives his account of what it was like to transition from the ways of his Inidan life to that of the white man. His father, long thought dead, had converted to Christianity and wished the same for his son as well as receiving education in the white man's school. At the age of 15, Ohiyesa must learn to balance the old familiar life of the American Indian with that of the new in the world of the white man, one of his first acts being the cutting of his long hair and attending school...

This volume contains the thirteen letters of the poet Dante Alighieri translated from their original Latin, including the famous and controversial letter to his patron Cangrande della Scala. The letters provide a good deal of context for the reader of Dante regarding his political and philosophical positions. In the final letter, the authenticity of which has been hotly contested by scholars, the author dedicates the Paradiso to the Veronese Cangrande, explains his Divine Comedy's title (then just Comedy), and discusses much of the work's content.

Saint Benedict of Nursia (c. 480 – 543 or 547) is honoured by the Catholic Church as the patron saint of Europe and students. Benedict founded twelve communities for monks at Subiaco, Italy (about 40 miles (64 km) to the east of Rome), before moving to Monte Cassino in the mountains of southern Italy. One of his most well known achievement is his "Rule of Saint Benedict", containing precepts for his monks. He is often called the founder of western monasticism.

A biography of Jesse James as told by his son, Jesse James, Jr. We are treated to inside tales of Jesse's childhood and home life; what drove him to become a Confederate guerrilla during the Civil War; his life after the war and how he became a wanted man. Since it was written by his son, it is a little biased and we are not told anything about any crimes Jesse and his gang committed. Some of the stories of Jesse's war adventures are a little hard to believe, but a good read nonetheless.

This is a short introduction to Franz Schubert’s life and works. “…to give the casual radio listener a slight idea of Schubert’s inundating fecundity and inspiration. Like Bach, like Haydn, like Mozart, Schubert’s capacity for creative labor staggers the imagination… Volumes would not exhaust the wonder of his myriad creations. If this tiny book serves to heighten even a little the reader’s interest in such songs, symphonies, piano or chamber works of Schubert as come to his attention over the air it will have achieved the most that can be asked of it.” This book was published by The Philharmonic Symphony Society of New York.

The poignant biography of Saint Macrina, by her brother, Saint Gregory of Nyssa. (The Reader)“The use of the word "philosophy" to designate Christianity is common in the writings of the fourth century, ... It is employed in a twofold sense, of the Christian religion generally and of asceticism in particular.” (from the 2nd footnote of the narrated text.)

Written by Millicent Garrett, a noted British feminist, suffragist and intellectual writer, this volume is comprised of short biographical sketches of 23 influential women from Jane Austen and Elizabeth Barrett Browning to Queen Victoria and Queen Louisa of Prussia.

Benjamin F Hasson was a Union officer in the Civil War of the United States. After being captured by the Confederacy, he escaped from a prison train taking prisoners to the infamous Andersonville prison. The short book points up Hasson’s ingenuity in overcoming obstacles to his flight to Union lines but also shows an insight into the lives of Southern blacks, both slave and free. This oral version omits the last section of his book, which is a list of men captured from his regiment and their fates. ( david wales)

"Warren Hastings" is Chapter IV of Thomas Macaulay's Critical and Historical Essays, vol. III. It first appeared in the Edinburgh Review of October 1841 as a review of Memoirs of the Life of Warren Hastings, first Governor-General of Bengal. Compiled from Original Papers, by the Rev. G. R. Gleig, M. A. 3 vols. 8vo. London: 1841. This essay on is generally considered to be one of the finest by the great historian and great literary stylist, Thomas Babington Macalay. Macaulay himself served in India...

The poacher of these "Confessions" was no imaginary being. Following in his father's and forefather's footsteps, he learnt from an early age the practical skills of poaching and woodcraft. It was, however, Mother Nature that made old "Phil" a Poacher but she also made him a Sportsman and a Naturalist at the same time. Never did any man appear in closer sympathy with the wild creatures about him. Even when about eighty years of age, there was still some of the old erectness in his carriage; some of the old fire in his eyes...

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

Klemens von Metternich first foreign minister, and then chancellor of the Austrian Empire was a great diplomat: crafty, manipulative, and single-minded in his determination to overthrow Napoleon and his revolutionary ideals and to reestablish the European monarchical system. In this short 1888 biography, the British officer, Colonel G. B. Malleson, describes how the charming, aristocratic Metternich devoted countless hours to winning Napoleon's trust and to buying time for his country, until a rearmed Austria, at the head of the Sixth Coalition, was able to defeat the still-formidable Corsican...

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

Autobiography, written by David Crockett about 2 years before his death at the Alamo in March of 1836. - Summary by Bill2147

A Glimpse of India: being a collection of extracts from the letters Dr. Clara A. Swain, first medical missionary to India of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church in America. - Summary from the book's introduction

Plutarch's Lives is a series of fifty biographies of famous Greek and Roman men written around 100 AD. In Our Young Folks' Plutarch, Rosalie Kaufman has adapted these biographies for young readers. In the preface she writes, “The lives which we here present in a condensed simple form are prepared from those of Plutarch. Plutarch says, ‘It must be borne in mind that my design is not to write histories, but lives.’ This is why anecdotes, short sayings or a word or two of repartee are frequently recorded...

Ibn Battuta , was a Moroccan explorer. Over a period of thirty years, Ibn Battuta visited most of the known Islamic world as well as many non-Muslim lands. His journeys included trips to North Africa, West Africa, the Horn of Africa, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, South Asia, Central Asia, Southeast Asia and China. Battuta is generally considered one of the greatest travellers of all time. This is a journal/record of his travels, omitting the translator's note and preface. NOTE: The material contains racial terms and ideas that are objectionable today. The final section speaks of cannibalism with the natives as the victims, for example.

When Henry Stanley was in Africa , he met a king named Mutesa. This king had started believing his tribe's Ugandan traditions about spirits and devils. Then some Arabs came through and Mutesa converted to Islam. When Mr. Stanley came and told Mutesa about God, Mutesa became a Christian and asked Mr. Stanley to get the English to send back missionaries so he and his tribe could learn more about God. Alexander Mackay was one of those courageous men who answered the call.

This is a collection of broadsides from London. Broadsides are short, popular publications, a precursor to today's tabloid journalism. The collection contains sensationalist and sometimes comical stories about criminal conduct, love, the Royal Family, politics, as well as gallows' literature. Gallow's literature were often sold at the execution. As a collection these broadsides are a reminder of how important the printer was at this time -- it is surely no coincidence that the printers are printed at the end of every broadside, while the authors remain anonymous. - Summary by kathrinee

This Book is about the Men Who Found America and how it started - Summary by Elijah

Constantine Panunzio begins his autobiography by describing his childhood in Molfetta, Italy. At age 13, he left home as a sailor, landing in Boston in 1902. His trials finding work, learning English, and securing an education in the U.S. were many, but eventually, he became administrator of a social service agency in Boston. During WWI, he served as head of the YMCA on the Italian front. Concerned throughout his career with the treatment and assimilation of immigrants, Panuncio criticized the post world War I hysteria about alien radicals in his book The Deportation Cases of 1919-1920. - Summary by Sue Anderson

This recording contains two early biographies of Dante, both written by notable Florentine literati. Giovanni Boccaccio was an Italian poet, most famous for his monumental collection of tales, The Decameron. Like Dante, Boccacio was one of the first writers to use the Italian vernacular. Lionardo Bruni was an accredited historian and man of letters. His short biography was inspired by reading the version of Dante's life by Boccaccio, who he considered had mispresented Dante by over-emphasizing the influence of his association with Beatrice...

R. G. "Dick" Barlow was one of the most accomplished all-round cricketers of the late 19th Century. For many years he opened the batting with A. N. Hornby for Lancashire and England, often acting as a "stonewaller" who "carried his bat through the innings" while his teammates hit out for runs. He also excelled with the ball and delights in telling his readers how he dismissed his contemporary W. G. Grace more often than most. Barlow's 40 years in club, county, and test cricket are recounted with an attention to detail befitting a first class cricketer and umpire...

A history of Florence Nightingale , the founder of modern nursing. Here's the definitive biography, gleaned from a lifetime of her notes, letters and writings, that goes way beyond the mere legend of "The Lady With The Lamp", and the "Founder Of Modern Nursing". This well written saga covers the vastly more expanded story of her development into an intelligent woman with a high purpose, her social standing and family connections that opened many doors for her, her extensive work after the Crimean War working with governments to develop better health care delivery systems to the indigent in England and in India, and her voluminous writings on numerous topics...