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An account of World War I and the experience of filming it by an early cinematographer (and, after the war, successful director) who was there. (Summary by R. S. Steinberg)...

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Memoirs, History, War stories

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Arthur Guy Empey was an American who responded to the sinking of the Lusitania by enlisting with the British Army to fight in France. His experiences in the trenches, including his ultimate wounding and convalescence, became this book. When published in 1917, it was a major hit and helped the recruiting effort when America entered the Great War. If you've heard of the horror of trench warfare in WWI and want to see it from below dirt level, Empey offers it all here. Also included is Empey's popular Tommy's Dictionary of the Trenches which humorously demistifies the slang used by the British soldier. (Summary by Mark F. Smith)...

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Memoirs, War stories

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A companion volume to F.A. Bruton's 'The Story of Peterloo', the full title of this short collection is 'Three Accounts of Peterloo by Eyewitnesses, Bishop Stanley, Lord Hylton, John Benjamin Smith with Bishop Stanley's Evidence at the Trial'. The three contemporary accounts, each with a short introduction by the editor, give different perspectives on the events of 16 August 1819, when a troop of Hussars accompanied by the local Yeomanry rode into a peaceful reform rally at St. Peter's Fields, Manchester, leaving 18 dead and more than 700 injured. (Summary by Phil Benson)...

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History, Memoirs, Politics

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National Geographic Magazine Volume 1 Number 2 published in 1889. Topics of articles are: Africa, its Past and Future Reports on: Geography of the Land Geography of the Sea Geography of the Air Geography of Life (Summary by Guero)...

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Memoirs, Nature, Science

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Early in the summer of 1860, I had an attack of gold fever. In Chicago, the conditions for such a malady were all favorable. Since the panic of 1857 there had been three years of general depression, money was scarce, there was little activity in business, the outlook was discouraging, and I, like hundreds of others, felt blue. Thus Chalkley J. Hambleton begins his pithy and engrossing tale of participation in the Pike's Peak gold rush. Four men in partnership hauled 24 tons of mining equipment by ox cart across the Great Plains from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Denver, Colorado. Hambleton vividly recounts their encounters with buffalo herds, Indians, andthe returning army of disappointed gold seekers. Setting up camp near Mountain City, Colorado, Hambleton watched one man wash several nice nuggets of shining gold from the dirt and gravel, only to learn afterwards that these same nuggets had been washed out several times before, whenever a 'tenderfoot' would come along, who it was thought might want to buy a rich claim. Two years later, tired and disgusted with the whole business, Hambleton returned to Chicago, where he arrived a wiser i...

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Biography, Memoirs, Westerns

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Hiram Chase is a well liked Reverend in a small ministry in Utica. When his mental and physical health deteriorates, he is taken to Utica lunatic asylum. After his stay in the asylum, Hiram documents his experiences and those of other patients in the asylum. He describes his daily routine and the negative experiences he had, along with praising certain individuals whom he met during his Two Years and Four Months in a Lunatic Asylum. (Summary by Elaine Webb)...

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Memoirs, Psychology

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The Uncommercial Traveller is a collection of literary sketches and reminiscences written by Charles Dickens. In 1859 Dickens founded a new journal called All the Year Round and the Uncommercial Traveller articles would be among his main contributions. He seems to have chosen the title and persona of the Uncommercial Traveller as a result of a speech he gave on the 22 December 1859 to the Commercial Travellers' School London in his role as honorary chairman and treasurer. The persona sits well with a writer who liked to travel, not only as a tourist, but also to research and report what he found; visiting Europe, America and giving book readings throughout Britain. He does not seem content to rest late in his career when he had attained wealth and comfort and continued travelling locally, walking the streets of London in the mould of the flâneur, a 'gentleman stroller of city streets'. He often suffered from insomnia and his night-time wanderings gave him an insight into some of the hidden aspects of Victorian London, details of which he also incorporated into his novels....

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Essay/Short nonfiction, Memoirs

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Mary Boykin Miller Chesnut, a well-educated South Carolina woman who was the wife of a Confederate general, kept extensive journals during the Civil War. Mrs. Chesnut moved in elite circles of Southern society and had a keen interest in politics. Her diary is both an important historic document and, due to her sharp wit and often irreverent attitude, a fascinating window into Southern society of the time. This recording is of the first published edition of the diary, compiled from Mrs. Chesnut's revisions of her original journals. (Summary by Laurie Anne Walden)...

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History, Memoirs, War stories

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Son of John Westgarth, surveyor-general of customs for Scotland, was born at Edinburgh, in June 1815. He was educated at the high schools at Leith and Edinburgh, and at Dr Bruce's school at Newcastle-on-Tyne. He then entered the office of G. Young and Company of Leith, who were engaged in the Australian trade, and realizing the possibilities of the new land, decided to emigrate to Australia. He arrived in Melbourne, then a town of three or four thousand inhabitants, in December 1840. When the new colony was constituted Westgarth headed the poll for Melbourne at the election for the legislative council. He had had many activities during the previous 10 years. He revisited Australia in 1888 and was everywhere welcomed. When the Melbourne international exhibition was opened he walked in the procession through the avenue of nations alongside Mr Francis Henty, then the sole survivor of the brotherhood who founded Victoria. As a result of his visit two volumes appeared Personal Recollections of Early Melbourne and Victoria, in 1888, and Half a Century of Australasian Progress, in 1889. Returning to Great Britain Westgarth died suddenly at...

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History, Memoirs

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A first-hand account of the 1913-1919 campaign of American suffragettes, detailing their treatment at the hands of the courts, and the true conditions of their incarceration. (Summary by Sarah Jennings)...

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Memoirs, History, Politics

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volunteers bring you 15 recordings of The Hill by Rupert Brooke. This was the Weekly Poetry project for May 15, 2011. Rupert Chawner Brooke was an English poet known for his idealistic war sonnets written during the First World War (especially The Soldier). He was also known for his boyish good looks, which prompted the Irish poet William Butler Yeats to describe him as the handsomest young man in England. (summary from Wikipedia)...

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Poetry, Memoirs, Nature, Philosophy, Romance

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This book, with the subtitle Across the Continent of South America describes the scientific expedion of 1867 to the equatorial Andes and the Amazon. The route was from Guayaquil to Quito, over the Cordillera, through the forest to Napo, and, finally, on the Rio Napo to Pebas on the Maranon. Besides this record, the expedition - under the auspices of the Smithsonian Institute - collected samples of rocks and plants, and numerous specimen of animals. The scientists also compiled a vocabulary of local languages and produced a new map of equatorial America. James Orton (1830 - 1877) was Professor in Natural History in Vassar College, and corresponding member of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. (Summary by Availle, from the Preface)...

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Adventure, Memoirs, Nature, Science, Travel

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When you dive into Mark Twain’s (Samuel Clemens’) The Innocents Abroad, you have to be ready to learn more about the unadorned, ungilded reality of 19th century “touring” than you might think you want to learn. This is a tough, literary journey. It was tough for Twain and his fellow “pilgrims”, both religious and otherwise. They set out, on a June day in 1867, to visit major tourist sites in Europe and the near east, including Greece, Turkey, Lebanon, Syria, “the Holy Land”, and Egypt. What Twain records, in often humorous, sometimes grotesque but always fascinating detail, are the day-to-day ups and downs of discovering the truth about people and places. The truths they learn are often far different than their education and rumor have made them preconceive. This is a voyage of discovery. It’s long and, in places, tiresome. But it’s revelatory about so much. As with some of his other works, Twain includes popular prejudices of his time, which are today considered socially unacceptable. His references to “Indians”, “Negroes” and “infidels” come to mind. Beyond the lows, though, there are the highs of Twain’s cutting wit and insight a...

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Adventure, Memoirs

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Apollonius of Tyana (ca. 40-120 AD) was a Greek Pythagorean philosopher and teacher. He hailed from the town of Tyana in the Roman province of Cappadocia in Asia Minor. His date of birth is a matter of conjecture as some say he was roughly a contemporary of Jesus. After Apollonius' death his name remained famous among philosophers and occultists. In a novelistic invention inserted in the Historia Augusta, Aurelian, at the siege of Tyana in 272, was said to have experienced a visionary dream in which Aurelian claimed to have seen Apollonius speak to him, beseeching him to spare the city of his birth. In part, Aurelian said that Apollonius told him Aurelian, if you desire to rule, abstain from the blood of the innocent! Aurelian, if you will conquer, be merciful! By far the most detailed source is the Life of Apollonius of Tyana, a lengthy, novelistic biography written by the sophist Philostratus at the request of empress Julia Domna. Philostratus’ account shaped the image of Apollonius for posterity and still dominates discussions about him in our times. To some extent it is a valuable source because it contains data from older writi...

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Biography, Memoirs, Philosophy, Religion

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“Beasts, Men and Gods” is an account of an epic journey, filled with perils and narrow escapes, in the mold of “The Lord of the Rings.” The difference is: it’s all true. Ferdinand Ossendowski was a Pole who found himself in Siberia and on the losing side during the Bolshevik Revolution. To escape being rounded up and shot, he set out with a friend to reach the Pacific, there to take ship back to Europe. During his journey he fell in with dozens of other military men who shared the same objective… but nearly every one of them perished on the way. It’s up to you to decide whether Ossendowski was threatened most by the beasts, by the men, or by the gods, or indeed, by the severe and uncompromising landscapes of Siberia, Mongolia, and China. That he survived at all seems improbable. The mystical mysteries and magics of Buddhism, “The Yellow Faith”, were woven about and through his sojourn and had no little part in his survival. Time after time he was put in the delicate position of being the bargainer between warring groups, and ultimately, only incredible luck and his friendship with the Hutuktu of Narabanchi Monastery saw him through....

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History, Memoirs

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Maria W. Stewart was America's first black woman political writer. Between 1831 and 1833, she gave four speeches on the topics of slavery and women's rights. Meditations From The Pen of Mrs. Maria W. Stewart —published in 1879, shortly before her death—is a collection of those speeches as well as her memoir, some meditations and prayers. They are political, poetical and sermon all at the same time; but in the mileu in which she lectured, they were a critically important part of the abolitionist movement years before the contributions of others such as Frederick Douglass and Sojourner Truth. Her speeches and essays espoused a return to Christian values and morality, but also proposed fundamental changes in gender roles in the midst of tremendous public opposition to the rights of blacks and of women. (Introduction by James K. White)...

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Memoirs, Politics, Poetry, Religion

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Sara Burgerhart is een typisch boek voor de Verlichting, een literaire stroming in de achttiende eeuw. De hoofdpersoon Sara streeft in er in dit boek naar een zo goed mogelijke burger te zijn en daarnaast staat het 'zelf denken' van de mens centraal. Dit zorgt er dus voor dat dit boek kenmerkend is voor de Verlichting. Het boek bestaat uit 175 brieven geschreven door 24 personen....

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Memoirs, Psychology

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Wilhelm von Bode (* 10. Dezember 1845 in Calvörde; † 1. März 1929 in Berlin), gebürtig Arnold Wilhelm Bode, geadelt 1914, war ein bedeutender deutscher Kunsthistoriker und Museumsfachmann und gilt als der Mitbegründer des modernen Museumswesens. Bode war eine der zentralen Persönlichkeiten in der deutschen Kultur des späten 19. und frühen 20. Jahrhunderts. 1904 gründete er das Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum (heute Bode-Museum) auf der Museumsinsel in Berlin, war dort Generaldirektor der staatlichen Kunstsammlungen und schuf grundlegende Arbeiten zur Geschichte der deutschen, niederländischen und italienischen Malerei und Plastik. Aufgrund seines entscheidenden Einflusses auf die Entwicklung der Berliner Kunstsammlungen wurde er auch „Museums-Condottiere“ und „Bismarck der Berliner Museen“ genannt. 1889 bis 1914 leitete er ebenfalls die Neugründung der im deutsch-französischen Krieg vernichteten städtischen Kunstsammlungen der Stadt Straßburg. In seinem Buch Fünfzig Jahre Museumsarbeit gibt Wilhelm von Bode einen Überblick von der Entwicklung der Sammlungen in Zeit 1872 - 1922, soweit er sie erweitert oder selbst ins Leben gerufen hat. Pers...

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Memoirs, Art

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This surprisingly explicit sample of Victorian erotica follows the sexual awakening and subsequent adventures of its author, Kate Percival, the belle of the Delaware. Content warning: this one is definitely NC-17 rated. (Summary by wildemoose)...

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Erotica, Memoirs

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Philip Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield, was at one time Ambassador to the Hague, negotiated the second Treaty of Vienna, was a founding governor of London’s Foundling Hospital, Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, and Secretary of State. Having no legitimate children, his heir was his third cousin (another Philip) whom he adopted. Although known as a hard, calculating man, he is most well known for his letters to his natural son (i.e., illegitimate son) (also called Philip). When Philip died in 1768, the letters are addressed to his grandchildren (Philip’s two sons, Charles, and, yes, Philip!). (Sibella Denton) From the introduction: “The proud Lord Chesterfield would have turned in his grave had he known that he was to go down to posterity as a teacher and preacher of the gospel of not grace, but—the graces, the graces, the graces. Natural gifts, social status, open opportunities, and his ambition, all conspired to destine him for high statesmanship. If anything was lacking in his qualifications, he had the pluck and good sense to work hard and persistently until the deficiency was made up. Something remained lacking, and not all his consumm...

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Biography, Memoirs, Advice, Philosophy