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
Common Sense
Common Sense, Paine's pro-independence monograph published anonymously on 10 January 1776, spread quickly among literate colonists. Within t…
A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
Wollstonecraft (1759-1797) is best known for A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, in which she argued that women are not naturally inferior…
Other People's Money
Other People's Money and How the Bankers Use It is a collection of essays written by Louis Brandeis published as a book in 1914. The book at…
The Devil's Dictionary
The Devil's Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce is a sharp and witty exploration of language and human nature, presented in the form of a satirical…
Travels with a Donkey in the Cevennes
A classic of travel writing, this book recounts Stevenson's adventures on an extended walk through uplands and mountains in south-western Fr…
Some Rambling Notes of an Idle Excursion
Some Rambling Notes of an Idle Excursion captures the whimsical spirit of Mark Twain as he recounts a journey to Bermuda with friends. This …
Nature
First published anonymously in 1836, Nature marks the beginning both of Emerson’s literary career and the Transcendentalist movement. Asking…
Anticipations
Wells considered this book one of his most important, a natural follow-up to such works as his Man of the Year Million and The Time Machine.…
Secret Chambers and Hiding Places
“Secret Chambers and Hiding Places” is a collection of concealments and their uses, almost all within England, although a very few passages …
The Speaking Voice
From the Preface of The Speaking Voice: principles of training simplified and condensed: "This book offers a method of voice training w…
A Room of One’s Own
This feminist essay argues for both a literal and figural space for women writers within a literary tradition dominated by patriarchy. First…
Sadhana, The Realisation of Life
A collection of essays on the Hindu/Buddhist view of humankind's place in the universe. As the author says in his introduction: "in the…
Sadhana, the Realisation of Life
Rabindranath Tagore was a Bengali poet, philosopher, visual artist, playwright, composer, and novelist whose work reshaped Bengali literatur…
New Discoveries at Jamestown
Chances are, you are reading this because you are aware that Jamestown, Virginia, celebrated its 400th birthday in 2007. It was the first &q…
In the Line of Battle
“A COLLECTION OF absolutely authentic accounts by privates and non-commissioned officers.... We see a great simplicity and directness of obs…
The Book of Life
Faith and reason, love and virtue, morality and mortality! In these two short volumes the famous novelist, essayist, and playwright, Upton S…
Walking
This was originally a lecture given by Thoreau in 1851 at the Concord lyceum titled "The Wild" . He revised it before his death an…
Mark Twain's Journal Writings
This second collection of essays by Mark Twain is a good example of the diversity of subject matter about which he wrote. As with the essays…
The Fun of Getting Thin
In this short, amusing book, subtitled "How to Be Thin and Reduce The Waist Line," Samuel G. Blythe explains how he was able to lo…
A Discourse Upon the Origin and the Foundation of the Inequality Among Mankind
This work presents Rousseau's belief in the profoundly transformational effects of the development of civilization on human nature, which Ro…