Abraham Lincoln raved that this series of historical biographies gave him "just that knowledge of past men and events which I need. I have read them with the greatest interest. To them I am indebted for about all the historical knowledge I have." Considered what we would now call "young adult" literature, this collection, first published between 1848 and 1871, was designed to present a clear, distinct, connected narrative of the lives of the great figures of world history, those people who have been most influential, at least as American author and educator ...

He was cursed, it seemed, with a fatal fascination. Women might be practically engaged to other men; they might be at the altar's hinges; but he could not stroll among them with his devilish gift without scattering ruin amid the troths. If he was not openly rude to them, they took it as direct encouragement; if he was civil, from him they viewed it as wooing; and when actually crowned with the deliberate kiss... -from Angela's Business Would he be seduced by the ultrafeminine wiles of old-fashioned Angela Flower? Or would writer and oh-so modern man Charles ...

From 1842 to 1844, German philosopher FRIEDRICH ENGELS (1820-1895) lived in Manchester, England, and witnessed firsthand the impact of the nation's burgeoning Industrial Revolution on the poor. In this classic treatise, Engels documents, in what is today his best-known work, the terrible working conditions, rampant disease, overcrowded housing, child labor, and other horrors of the time. Originally intended for a German audience and translated for American readers in 1885 by American socialist, suffragette, and civil rights activist FLORENCE KELLEY WISCHNEWETZKY ...

If I were to say that in looking over my life as a pastor, it seemed to me that I had but one charge, and that was in Schenectady, I might be doing injustice to my fellow-Christians in Boston and Ithaca, who were co-workers with me; and yet I should not be far from the truth in uttering my feelings thus; for, apart from the freshness of first love, there was, between the edifice itself and my boyhood dreams, a providential link of endearment of which I shall tell. -from "In the Home Land Again-Schenectady" Cosy and intimate, these recollections of a life ...

Hero to environmentalists and ecologists, and an insightful thinker on humanity's happiness, Henry David Thoreau was one of the strongest shapers of the American character in the 19th century. The writer himself once said, "I am eager to report the glory of the universe," and in this delightful work-not published till 1865, after his death-he regales us with tales of his time on Massachusetts' Cape Cod, to where he journeyed four times between 1849 and 1857. While still profoundly philosophical, this is Thoreau's lightest work, full of amusing and reflective ...

One of the most prominent abolitionists of his era, Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton campaigned ceaselessly for the end of what he termed "a commerce which [has] produced more crime and misery, than perhaps any other single course of guilt and iniquity." In his deeply influential treatise The African Slave Trade and Its Remedy, published in 1840, he set out to demonstrate the cultural and economic folly of the slave trade-for both the African nations and those who did business with them-and to enlist the support of the general public and the British government for ...

A drive across a dull, marshy plain brings one to a delightfully wild district of downs... amid which three great tumuli, standing close together, are said to mark the graves of Odin, Thor, and Freya... -from "In Sweden" English aristocrat Augustus J.C. Hare filled his days with trips to the Continent, and returned home to share his journeys with eager readers-and the journals of his travels still enjoy a cultishly devoted readership today. Here, in this 1884 publication, Hare waxes lyrical on a trek through Holland, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, describing: · low-lying ...

Philip Schaff's The Creeds of Christendom is a massive set, originally published in three volumes and here reproduced across five volumes, cataloging and explaining the many different creeds from the myriad Christian denominations. The differences in belief between Calvinists, Lutherans, and Presbyterians, for example, can often be subtle, so a thorough examination of the particulars as well as an explanation for how those different beliefs result in a different worldview is necessary. Volume One: Part I covers: . creeds in general . the Ecumenical creeds . ...

Subconscious and the Superconscious Planes of Mind, written by W.W. Atkinson in 1909, is a somewhat supernatural text on the different levels at which the mind works and functions. There are the sub-conscious (below normal), conscious (normal), and super-conscious (above normal) levels, which Atkinson describes in detail. He also covers the elements of each level-for example, in the subconscious our memory works and resides. While based in hard facts, Atkinson uses the mind theories to justify instances such as telepathy and mind reading, in which he strongly ...