Gilbert Patten, writing under the pen name of Burt L. Standish, wrote innumerable novels that were very popular in their time. His Frank Merriwell stories were later adapted for radio and these, too, were very popular. Frank is the All-American boy—scholar, athlete, gentleman—and always displays quick thinking and fairness in all that he does. – Summary by KevinS [chương_files]
An example of early dystopian science fiction written shortly after World War I, “City of Endless Night” imagines a future with a very different ending to the Great War. Set in 2151 and in an underground Berlin, our protagonist is Lyman De Forrest, an American chemist who enters the city to discover the hidden truths of a forbidden metropolis. The subterranean world hosts a highly-regimented society of 300,000,000 sun-starved humans. As the first outsider to enter, he’s horrified by what he finds, but will he accomplish his mission and escape the living tomb? – Summary by Kate Follis [chương_files]
“A regard for decency, even at the cost of success, is but the regard for one’s own dignity” was novelist Joseph Conrad’s take on fame, a quote from the preface to his autobiography A Personal Record (1912). Other lives chosen by readers to examine in vol. 085 include the Borgias; the Cynocephali; Hermann von Helmholtz; Edgar Allan Poe; John Burroughs; a pre-Revolutionary War magnate named Browne, who built a mansion on the ridge of a hill; women as a social class; and an 1821 rabies victim named Thomas, who exhibited hydrophobia. Political history receives scrutiny in Some Materials and a Possibility; The House Famine; Cracow; The Dutch East India Company; and Across Africa by Air and Rail. The art of Japanning illuminates an ancient craft. Literature, by Irvin Cobb, is welcome humor. And for hungry souls, there are recipes for ice cream and for Army chow! Summary by Sue Anderson. [chương_files]
Two essays/articles by G.K. Chesterton, published in ‘The Bibliophile’ magazine in 1908. (Summary by Maria Therese) [chương_files]
A. A. MILNE: …was best known for the perennially popular Pooh (Winnie the), arguably one of his lesser contributions to the literature of his day. He was highly acclaimed for dozens of popular plays. Moreover, he was both a contributor to and editor of Britain’s famous Punch Magazine; and for Punch, The Atlantic Monthly and dozens of other internationally acclaimed journals he wrote hundreds of essay, sketches and poems. THE WORLD WARS: Milne argued aggressively against the many enemy atrocities characterizing both World Wars, and also fought in both. All four years of the Great War he spent primarily in the trenches, sustaining the greatest dangers of the new warfare at close range. His war experiences are forcibly captured in some of the poems in this collection and others. INFLUENCE ON THE STYLE OF BRITISH HUMOR: His immense popularity doubtless helped influenced the very basis of British wit and humor: His gentle, often self-deprecatory but always kind style of humor lured readers and publishers away from the more ironic, cynical, and acerbic humorous works of recent decades. – Summary by Kirsten Wever [chương_files]
A collection of essays by Virginia Woolf, some of which originally appeared in the Times Literary Supplement or the Dial, and others were originally published for the first time in this volume. “Anything that Virginia Woolf may have to say about letters is of more than ordinary interest, for her peculiar intelligence and informed attitude set her somewhat apart. She possesses the happy faculty simultaneously of enjoying and accepting the work of Daniel De Foe and James Joyce, of Joseph Addison and T.S. Eliot, of Jane Austen and Marcel Proust. Many of these essays are excellent examples of that type of writing which reveals the reactions, nuances, twisting and adventuring threads of thought and surmise which spring from the perusal and spiritual acquisition of other work.” Excerpts from the New York Times Book Review of The Common Reader, May 31, 1925 [chương_files]
A series of five essays by G.K. Chesterton, published in “Black and White” magazine in 1903, under the heading “The Creed of a Credulous Person”. (Summary by Maria Therese) [chương_files]
Wilhelm Stekel was an Austrian physician and psychologist and one of Freud’s earliest followers. This title, originally published in 1921, was the author’s favorite of his own work. Covering a variety of topics he takes a psychoanalytic look into The Depths of the Soul. [chương_files]
A love and adventure story with the West African jungle as the main backdrop. We gain some insight into the spiritual influence of African social institutions and conditions of African inner life. (kirk202) [chương_files]
Abigail Mott was a Quaker and abolitionist from New York who, along with fellow Quaker M. S. Wood, has compiled a provocative collection of stories of “Colored Americans.” They range from well-known figures such as Phillis Wheatley and Sojourner Truth to the common men and women who give poignant insights of their life. Selections consist of short anecdotes, essays, stories, letters and poetry. Many have strong religious and spiritual themes. – Summary by Larry Wilson [chương_files]
Copyright © 2024 | FreeAudible
