Showing results by author "ciesse" in All Categories

The Peppers are a family of three boys, two girls, and Mamsie. They are poor, living in their "Little Brown House", but they always manage to be happy. This book comprises the adventures of Joel, the middle Pepper child and the most mischievous. Among other things, Joel encounters a snake, a thief, and a nail pile; puts on a circus; rides on a stagecoach; and gets into a fight on Strawberry Hill! (Summary by Rachel)

THREE great names stand forth conspicuous in the annals of America, those of Washington, Bolívar, San Martin. Of Washington, the great leader of the Democracy of the North; of Bolívar and of San Martin, who were the emancipators of the southern half of the continent. The story of the life-work of the latter of these two is the Argument of this book.The scene of action passes on a vast theatre, a territory extending for more than fifty degrees of latitude, from Cape Horn to the Tropic of Cancer, and occupies twenty years of strife. The starting-point of this history is the Argentine ...

Herbert Allen Giles (1845-1935) spent several years as a diplomat in China and in 1897 was appointed Cambridge University’s second professor of Chinese. His published works cover Chinese language and literature, history and philosophy.This series of lectures, published as “China and the Chinese”, was given at Columbia University in 1902, to mark the establishment of a Chinese professorship there. The lectures were not intended for the specialist, more to urge a wider and more systematic study of China and its culture, and to encourage new students into the field.While many of the ...

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 (1815-1898), the Prussian Junker who masterminded the unification of Germany and served as its first Chancellor. - Summary by Pamela Nagami, M.D.

This 1866 book was published in a time of great change in the Church of England. Trollope began as a High Church adherent and then worked his way to a Broad Church stance, a theological liberalism (toleration of belief and interpretation, regard for the individual conscience, a willingness to tolerate the ambiguity of finding truth in the extremes as well as the middle). This book deals with a crisis of faith and a crisis of structural form in the Victorian Church of England. It possesses all the interesting attributes of the novelist’s style. Note on the final chapter: John William Colenso ...

A fifteenth-century Arabic sex manual and work of erotic literature. The book presents opinions on what qualities men and women should have to be attractive, gives advice on sexual technique, warnings about sexual health, and recipes to remedy sexual maladies. It gives lists of names for the penis and vagina, has a section on the interpretation of dreams, and briefly describes sex among animals. Interspersed with these there are a number of stories which are intended to give context and amusement. (Summary by Wikipedia)

Many librarians have felt the need and expressed the desire for a select collection of children's Christmas stories in one volume. This book claims to be just that and nothing more. Each of the stories has already won the approval of thousands of children, and each is fraught with the true Christmas spirit. It is hoped that the collection will prove equally acceptable to parents, teachers, and librarians. (Summary from Book Preface)

This Podcast includes works by Dante Alighieri in Italian, English, Spanish, German and Dutch.All contents are taken from librivox.org and in the Public Domain.

The experiences in public school, Sandhurst and military life in India of Major George Cotter together with his adventures in the dream world he discovers and frequents. (Summary by Liam Neely)

Born on Christmas Day, little Carol Bird is a gentle soul who touches every life around her. Despite physical illness, Carol is loved by everyone who knows her. This year, she is going to make Christmas extra special for her family and the little Ruggles children who live nearby. (Introduction by Andrea Boltz)

This is the biography of Abraham Lincoln, written by two of his private secretaries. (Summary by ashleighjane)

Sixty-two short pieces, many/most of them originally published in The Pansy, a magazine for children. The topics are many and varied, but mostly involve children and teach a moral lesson. (Summary by TriciaG)PARENTAL WARNING: A couple stories, such as "Gertie's Sober Talk" and "Old Jack", are about animals that die or are put down, and who don't have souls.

Elements of Geology is one in a Series of First Books of Natural History Prepared for the Use of Schools and Colleges. This succinct little textbook from 1846 presents an introduction to geology. The information, albeit not current, is still interesting and of use as a general overview of the subject as well as interesting look into the period. Please note that some of the information has changed considerably since this time. The author was a surgeon in the U.S. Navy and president of the Academy of Natural Sciences. - Summary by Amy Gramour

Twenty-three stories of the history of early Oregon plus an appendix: A Brief Summary Of The History Of The Old Oregon Country From Original Sources. OLD OREGON was a mighty sweep of country, and a most romantic one. From the northern border of Mexican California to near Sitka in Russian America it stretched, nearly eight hundred miles. Eastward it stretched over a country of mighty mountain … until the limits of the Oregon country, at the crest of the main range of the Rockies…. The romance ever lingers…. I have given four years of devoted study to Oregon history, three of them among ...

This recording comprises two narratives. One is by Cora Mitchel who in 1861 was a girl in her mid-teens. Her Unionist family escaped the Confederacy from their home in south Georgia to Rhode Island. This is her story written about 1916. The second narrative is by Charlotte St. Julien Ravenel of South Carolina, a contemporary journal written in the closing months of the civil war in 1865. - Summary by David Wales

This year is the 9th anniversary of our illustrious community, and readers have found and recorded 99 items with a connection with the number nine... neuf... neun... nueve...nove... девять...εννέα... There are short stories, poems, bible readings, non-fiction articles and songs.The items are mostly in English, but this year we have one or more contributions in ten other languages: Ancient Greek, Dutch, German, Japanese, Latin, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian and Ukrainian. (Summary by RuthieG)

Published in 1812, “The Absentee” by Maria Edgeworth examines social injustice in 19th-century Britain. At that time, the management of many Irish estates suffered from the absenteeism of their Anglo-Irish landlords. We meet Lord and Lady Clonbrony. Lord Clonbrony struggles with debt, while Lady Clonbrony tries to shed her Irish connections and earn status in London’s high society (known as “the ton.”) Meanwhile, their son, Lord Colambre, is wary of the entanglements of that society and escapes to the family estate in Ireland, where he discovers the abuses that have arisen in the ...

La traduzione di Grazia Deledda di Eugénie Grandet di Honoré de Balzac nella lettura di Valerio Di Stefano.

The Donner Party was a group of California-bound American settlers caught up in the "westering fever" of the 1840s. After becoming snowbound in the Sierra Nevada in the winter of 1846–1847, some of the emigrants resorted to cannibalism. Although this aspect of the tragedy has become synonymous with the Donner Party in the popular imagination, it actually was a minor part of the episode.The author was about 4 at the time. The first part of the book accounts the tragic journey and rescue attempts; the last half are reminiscences of the child orphan, passed from family to family while growing ...

Here are some classic, short Christmas stories from Charles Dickens, who, one may easily argue, was the greatest Christmas storyteller to date. In this season, may we do as Dickens' asked: "Welcome, everything! Welcome, alike what has been, and what never was, and what we hope may be, to your shelter underneath the holly, to your places round the Christmas fire, where what is sits open-hearted!" Happy Holidays! - Summary by jvanstan