Essays & Short Works
- Philosophical Travelogues
- Essays on Society and Culture
- Essays for Personal Growth
- Explorations in Science and Thought
- Explorations in Psychology
- Political Essays and Reflections
- Political Essays and Manifestos
- Philosophical Essays on Existence
Stories I Told Myself
Funny, moving and always exquisitely well-produced, this collection of short stories and essays from the award-winning Seanachai podcast is …
Perpetual Peace
This essay, written in 1795, puts forth a plan for a lasting peace between nations and peoples. Kant puts forth necessary means to any peace…
Selected Essays
Voltairine de Cleyre (1866–1912) was, according to Emma Goldman, "the most gifted and brilliant anarchist woman America ever produced.&…
The Awful German Language
This long essay is a work of mock philology, one of several appendices to Twain’s travel novel, A Tramp Abroad. In it, Twain explains, compl…
Crime
Clarence Darrow was an American lawyer. He remains notable for his wit and agnosticism, which marked him as one of the most famous American …
An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals
David Hume, an eminent Scottish philosopher, historian, and essayist, explores the nature and foundation of Morals in this book, which was w…
The Letters of a Post-Impressionist
“Being the Familiar Correspondence of Vincent Van Gogh ... [Van Gogh's] art was appreciated during his life only by a very few and it is but…
Areopagitica
A prose tract or polemic by John Milton, published November 23, 1644, at the height of the English Civil War... Milton, though a supporter o…
Sacred Meditations
Meditationes Sacrae, was first published in Latin in 1606 when Gerhard was only twenty-two years old. It consists of 51 brief meditations on…
Tea-table Talk
As the New York Times said in 1903, this lesser-known work by Jerome K. Jerome does not display "the wit of Congreve or even the glitte…
The Book of Tea
The Book of Tea was written by Okakura Kakuzo in the early 20th century. It was first published in 1906, and has since been republished many…
The Golden Age
The Golden Age is a collection of reminiscences of childhood, written by Kenneth Grahame and originally published in book form in 1895, in L…
A Miscellany of Men
Gilbert Keith Chesterton was among the world's most prolific writers who incorporated relentless logic, wonderful humor, and a clear view of…
My Path to Atheism
My Path to Atheism is a remarkable document in many ways, not least that it was written by a woman in Victorian England, not the most open f…
The Seven Lamps of Architecture
The Seven Lamps of Architecture, published in May 1849, is an extended essay written by the English art critic and theorist John Ruskin. The…
Essays
Michel Eyquem de Montaigne is one of the most influential writers of the French Renaissance, known for popularising the essay as a literary …
The Moral Equivalent of War
The Moral Equivalent of War, the last public utterance of William James, is significant as expressing the opinions of a practical psychologi…
The Appetite of Tyranny
In The Appetite of Tyranny, G. K. Chesterton explores the complex interplay between individual actions and the broader societal consequences…
The Prophet
The prophet Al Mustafa, before leaving the city where he has been living twelve years, stops to address the people. They call out for his wo…
The Relations of Saint Teresa of Avila
The Relations of Saint Teresa of Avila offers a profound glimpse into the spiritual journey of one of Christianity's most revered mystics. I…