American Literature

The Young Miner; Or, Tom Nelson in California

Horatio Alger, Jr.

The Young Miner is a nineteenth‑century adventure novel that follows Tom Nelson, a sixteen‑year‑old son of a…

Two Years Before the Mast

Richard Henry Dana

The work is a first‑person memoir of Richard Henry Dana Jr., a Harvard‑educated lawyer who, after a bout of…

Holiday Tales: Christmas in the Adirondacks

W. H. H. Murray

Holiday Tales: Christmas in the Adirondacks is a short, rustic vignette that opens on a snow‑covered…

The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 17, No. 104, June, 1866 A Magazine of Literature, Science, Art, and Politics

Various

The Atlantic Monthly’s June 1866 issue presents a sprawling, episodic narrative that opens in the modest…

The Works of Edgar Allan Poe — Volume 4

Edgar Allan Poe

The piece is a short‑fiction narrative that opens with a tongue‑in‑cheek “historian’s” preface, in which the…

Kentucky in American Letters, 1784-1912. Vol. 1 of 2

John Wilson Townsend

John Wilson Townsend’s Kentucky in American Letters is a sweeping bibliographic survey that maps a century of…

Cane

Jean Toomer

Cane is a modernist work that blends poetry, short story, and drama to portray the lives of African‑American…

The Congo, and Other Poems

Vachel Lindsay

The volume The Congo, and Other Poems is a 1914 collection by Illinois poet Vachel Lindsay, assembled under…

The Christmas Story from David Harum

Edward Noyes Westcott

The Christmas Story from David Harum is a short, self‑contained episode taken from Edward Noyes Westcott’s…

O Pioneers!

Willa Cather

The novel is a work of historical fiction that places its story on the wind‑blown prairie of…

The American Diary of a Japanese Girl

Yoné Noguchi

The work is a first‑person diary that records a young Japanese woman’s preparations for and impressions of a…

The Wit and Humor of America, Volume X (of X)

The volume gathers a miscellany of American wit, ranging from a rustic verse about a diligent father and his…

Journal 01, 1837-1846 The Writings of Henry David Thoreau, Volume 07 (of 20)

Henry David Thoreau

This volume presents the seventh installment of Henry David Thoreau’s extensive diary, covering the years…

The Entire Project Gutenberg Works of Mark Twain

Mark Twain

This volume gathers the complete range of Mark Twain’s published output, organized by the bibliography of…

The Works of Edgar Allan Poe — Volume 3

Edgar Allan Poe

The volume gathers a selection of Poe’s early American tales that blend the uncanny with adventurous…

Venus in Boston: A Romance of City Life

George Thompson

The novel opens on a bitter Boston winter, where the bustling Washington Street is almost empty save for a…

The Luck of Roaring Camp and Other Tales With Condensed Novels, Spanish and American Legends, and Earlier Papers

Bret Harte

The volume gathers Bret Harte’s early Western sketches, condensed novels, and a selection of Spanish‑American…

A laugh a day keeps the doctor away

Irvin S. Cobb

Irvin S. Cobb’s A Laugh a Day Keeps the Doctor Away is a collection of short, anecdotal jokes that he treats…

Representative Plays by American Dramatists: 1856-1911: The New York Idea

Langdon Elwyn Mitchell

This volume presents Langdon Mitchell’s celebrated four‑act comedy The New York Idea, first staged at New…

The Financier: A Novel

Theodore Dreiser

The novel is a work of psychological fiction that follows the early life of Frank Algernon Cowperwood, a boy…

The Oxford Book of American Essays

The Oxford Book of American Essays is a curated anthology that seeks to showcase the distinctive voice of…

The Virginian: A Horseman of the Plains

Owen Wister

The Virginian is a Western set in the waning frontier of Wyoming between 1874 and 1890, a period Owen Wister…

The Angel of the Tenement

George Madden Martin

The Angel of the Tenement opens as a bustling, dialogue‑driven scene in a cramped urban dwelling, where a…

Talks To Teachers On Psychology; And To Students On Some Of Life's Ideals

William James

The work is a collection of public lectures William James delivered at the request of the Harvard Corporation…