booksthere

Subject

History

Chronicles, campaigns, and accounts of how a place changed. These are older histories, public domain as texts, which does not make every sentence in them true.


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Abraham Lincoln's First Inaugural Address

by Abraham Lincoln

History · Letters

Abraham Lincoln's first inaugural address was delivered as part of his taking of the oath of office for his first term as the sixteenth president of the United States. The speech, delivered at the United States Capitol, was primarily addressed to the people of the South and was intended to succinctly state Lincoln's intended policies and desires toward that section, where seven states had seceded from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America.

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Common Sense

by Thomas Paine

History · Science · Letters

Writing in clear and persuasive prose, Paine collected moral and political arguments to encourage common people in the Colonies to fight for egalitarian government. Common Sense was published anonymously at the beginning of the American Revolution and became an immediate sensation.

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A Journal of the Plague Year Being Observations or Memorials of the Most Remarkable Occurrences, as Well Public as Private, Which Happened in London During the Last Great Visitation in 1665. Written by a Citizen Who Continued All the While in London

by Daniel Defoe

History · Novel

A Journal of the Plague Year Being Observations or Memorials of the Most Remarkable Occurrences, as Well Public as Private, Which is an account of one man's experiences of the year, in which the bubonic plague struck the city of London in what became known as the Great Plague of London, the last epidemic of plague in that city, as part of the larger, centuries-long second plague pandemic.

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Master Humphrey's Clock

by Charles Dickens

History · Novel

Master Humphrey's Clock began with a frame story in which Master Humphrey tells about himself and his small circle of friends (which includes Mr. Pickwick), and their penchant for telling stories. Several short stories were included, followed by the novels The Old Curiosity Shop and Barnaby Rudge.

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The Story of the Treasure Seekers Being the Adventures of the Bastable Children in Search of a Fortune

by E. (Edith) Nesbit

Adventure · Children's books · History

The Story of the Treasure Seekers Being the Adventures of the Bastable Children in Search of a Fortune recounts Dora, Oswald, Dicky, Alice, Noel, and Horace Octavius (H. ) Bastable, and their attempts to assist their widowed father and recover the fortunes of their family.

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Maid Marian

by Thomas Love Peacock

1822 · Romance · Adventure · History

Peacock wrote all but the last three chapters of Maid Marian at Marlow. He wrote to Percy Bysshe Shelley that he did not find "this brilliant summer", "very favourable to intellectual exertion" but before it was quite over "rivers, castles, forests, abbeys, monks, maids, kings, and banditti were all dancing before me like a masked ball".

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Joe Wilson and His Mates

by Henry Lawson

1902 · Short stories · History

Joe Wilson and His Mates was released in hardback by William Blackwood in when Lawson was living in England, and features one of the author's better known stories in "The Loaded Dog". The collection contains twenty stories which are mostly reprinted from a variety of newspaper and magazine sources, with several published here for the first time.

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King Henry VI, Part 1

by William Shakespeare

Plays · History

King Henry VI, Part 1 is set during the lifetime of King Henry VI of England. Henry VI, Part 1 takes up the loss of England's French territories and the political machinations leading up to the Wars of the Roses, as the English political system is torn apart by personal squabbles and petty jealousy.

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Titus Andronicus

by William Shakespeare

Plays · History

The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus, often shortened to Titus Andronicus, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written. Titus Andronicus is thought to be Shakespeare's first tragedy and is often seen as his attempt to emulate the violent and bloody revenge plays of his contemporaries, which were extremely popular with audiences throughout the 16th century.

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King Henry IV, Part 1

by William Shakespeare

Plays · History

King Henry IV, Part 1 was composed in the later years of the reign of Elizabeth I, when questions of succession and political stability were prominent. Set in England in the early 1400s during the reign of Henry IV, the play depicts rebellion against the crown alongside the development of Prince Hal, the future Henry V, and examines themes of leadership and the formation of the heir apparent.

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King Henry IV, Part 2

by William Shakespeare

Plays · History

King Henry IV, Part 2 is the third part of a tetralogy, preceded by Richard II and Henry IV, Part 1 and succeeded by Henry V. The play is often seen as an extension of aspects of Henry IV, Part 1, rather than a straightforward continuation of the historical narrative, placing more emphasis on the highly popular character of Falstaff and introducing other comic figures as part of his entourage, including Ancient Pistol, Doll Tearsheet, and Justice Robert Shallow.

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King Henry V

by William Shakespeare

Plays · History

King Henry V recounts King Henry V of England, focusing on events immediately before and after the Battle of Agincourt during the Hundred Years' War. In the First Quarto text, it was titled The Cronicle History of Henry the fift, and The Life of Henry the Fifth in the First Folio text.

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Julius Caesar

by William Shakespeare

Plays · History

The Tragedy of Julius Caesar (First Folio title: The Tragedie of Ivlivs Cæsar), often shortened to Julius Caesar, is a historical tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written and first performed. The play portrays the political conspiracy that led to the assassination of the Roman dictator Julius Caesar and Rome's subsequent civil war.

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Cymbeline

by William Shakespeare

Plays · Romance · History

Although it is listed as a tragedy in the First Folio, modern critics often classify Cymbeline as a romance or even a comedy. Like Othello and The Winter's Tale, it takes up the themes of innocence and jealousy.

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Anabasis

by Xenophon

Adventure · History

Anabasis ( ə-NAB-ə-sis; Ancient Greek: Ἀνάβασις [anábasis]; lit. 'An Ascent') is the most famous work of the Ancient Greek professional soldier and writer Xenophon.

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The Apology

by Xenophon

Philosophy · History

The Apology of Socrates to the Jury (Ancient Greek: Ἀπολογία Σωκράτους πρὸς τοὺς Δικαστάς), by Xenophon of Athens, is a Socratic dialogue about the legal defence that the philosopher Socrates presented at his trial for the moral corruption of Athenian youth; and for asebeia (impiety) against the pantheon of Athens; judged guilty, Socrates was sentenced to death.

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The French Revolution: A History

by Thomas Carlyle

1867 · History

The French Revolution: A History was written by the Scottish essayist, historian and philosopher Thomas Carlyle. A massive undertaking which draws together a wide variety of sources, Carlyle's history—despite the unusual style in which it is written—is considered to be an authoritative account of the early course of the Revolution.

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Ion

by Plato

Philosophy · History

In Plato's Ion (; Ancient Greek: Ἴων) Socrates discusses with the titular character, a professional rhapsode who also lectures on Homer, the question of whether the rhapsode, a performer of poetry, gives his performance on account of his skill and knowledge or by virtue of divine possession.

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Menexenus

by Plato

Plays · Philosophy · History

The speakers are Socrates and Menexenus, who is not to be confused with Socrates' son Menexenus. The Menexenus of Plato's dialogue appears also in the Lysis, where he is identified as the "son of Demophon", as well as the Phaedo.

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Ramona

by Helen Hunt Jackson

Romance · History · Novel

Set in Southern California after the Mexican–American War and annexation of the territory by the United States, Ramona explores the life of a mixed-race Scottish–Native American orphan girl. Ramona was inspired by the marriage of Hugo Reid and Victoria Reid.

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Leviathan

by Thomas Hobbes

Philosophy · History · Science

Leviathan or The Matter, Forme and Power of a Commonwealth Ecclesiasticall and Civil, commonly referred to as Leviathan, is a work of social and political theory by the English empiricist philosopher and political theorist Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679), published in (revised Latin edition ).

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The Deerslayer

by James Fenimore Cooper

Adventure · History · Novel

The Deerslayer, or The First War-Path was James Fenimore Cooper's fifth and last novel published his Leatherstocking Tales. Its – time period makes it the first installment chronologically and in the lifetime of the hero of the Leatherstocking tales, Natty Bumppo.

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Antonina; Or, The Fall of Rome

by Wilkie Collins

1850 · History · Novel

Antonina; Or, The Fall of Rome was completed and, after the first two publishers refused to accept it, it was issued by Richard Bentley as a three-volume book early in 1850. Antonina; Or, The Fall of Rome is the only example of Collins writing a classical romance novel; and it was met, as Collins later recalled, "with such a chorus of praise as has never been sung over me since".

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Marius the Epicurean — Volume 1

by Walter Pater

History · Novel

Marius the Epicurean explores the intellectual development of its protagonist, a young Roman of integrity, in his pursuit of a congenial religion or philosophy at a time of change and uncertainty that Pater likened to his own era. The narration is third-person, slanted from Marius's point of view, added to which are various interpolated discourses, ranging from adaptations of classical and early Christian writings to Marius’s diary and authorial comment.

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The Adventures of Roderick Random

by T. (Tobias) Smollett

Adventure · History · Novel

The Adventures of Roderick Random is partially based on Smollett's experience as a naval-surgeon's mate in the Royal Navy, especially during the Battle of Cartagena de Indias. In the preface, Smollett acknowledges the connections of his novel to the two satirical picaresque works he translated into English: Miguel de Cervantes' Don Quixote (–15) and Alain-René Lesage's Gil Blas (–47).

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Barry Lyndon

by William Makepeace Thackeray

History · Humor · Novel

Thackeray, who based the novel on the life and exploits of the Anglo-Irish rake and fortune-hunter Andrew Robinson Stoney, later reissued it under the title The Memoirs of Barry Lyndon, Esq. Barry Lyndon is narrated by Lyndon himself, who functions as a quintessentially unreliable narrator.

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The Fortune of the Rougons

by Émile Zola

History · Novel

La Fortune des Rougon (The Fortune of the Rougons), originally published, is the first novel in Émile Zola's monumental twenty-volume series Les Rougon-Macquart. The Fortune of the Rougons is partly an origin story, with a large cast of characters - many of whom become the central figures of later novels in the series - and partly an account of the December coup d'état that created the French Second Empire under Napoleon III.

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Rob Roy — Complete

by Walter Scott

Adventure · History · Novel

Rob Roy is probably set, the year of the first Jacobite rising, and the social and economic background to that event are an important element in the novel, though it is not treated directly. The depiction of Rob Roy bears little relation to the historical figure: "there are two Rob Roys.

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The Treaties of Canada with the Indians of Manitoba and the North-West Territories Including the Negotiations on Which They Were Based, and Other Information Relating Thereto

by Alexander Morris

History

The Treaties of Canada with the Indians of Manitoba and the North-West Territories Including the Negotiations on Which They Were Based, explains about the treaties set by the North American Natives.

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Satanstoe; Or, the Littlepage Manuscripts. A Tale of the Colony

by James Fenimore Cooper

History · Novel

Satanstoe; Or, the Littlepage Manuscripts. A Tale of the Colony, sometimes listed with the alternate title The Family of Littlepage or The Littlepage Manuscripts, is the first of a three novel cycle, followed by The Chainbearer and The Redskins. Satanstoe; Or, the Littlepage Manuscripts. A Tale of the Colony is a fictional autobiography which explores the 18th century colony of New York.

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The Man of Adamant (From: "The Snow Image and Other Twice-Told Tales")

by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Short stories · History

The Man of Adamant (From: "The Snow Image and Other Twice-Told Tales") was first published in the edition of The Token and Atlantic Souvenir, edited by Samuel Griswold Goodrich. The Man of Adamant (From: "The Snow Image and Other Twice-Told Tales") later appeared in Hawthorne's final gathering of short stories The Snow-Image, and Other Twice-Told Tales, published by Ticknor, Reed & Fields.

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The Coquette, or, The History of Eliza Wharton A Novel: Founded on Fact

by Hannah Webster Foster

History · Novel

The Coquette, or, The History of Eliza Wharton A Novel: Founded on Fact was published anonymously, and did not appear under the author's real name until, 16 years after Foster's death. The Coquette, or, The History of Eliza Wharton A Novel: Founded on Fact was one of the best-selling novels of its time and was reprinted eight times.

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Cosmos: A Sketch of the Physical Description of the Universe, Vol. 1

by Alexander von Humboldt

History · Science

Cosmos: A Sketch of the Physical Description of the Universe began as a lecture series delivered by Humboldt at the University of Berlin, and was published in five volumes (the fifth was posthumous and completed based on Humboldt's notes). In the first volume, Humboldt paints a general "portrait of nature", describing the physical nature of outer space and the Earth.

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The False One: A Tragedy

by Francis Beaumont

Plays · History

The False One: A Tragedy was first published in the first Beaumont and Fletcher folio. This classical history tells of the meeting and romance of Julius Caesar and Cleopatra, and the betrayal and death of Pompey the Great at the hands of one of his own officers, the "false one" of the title.

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The lost hunter: A tale of early times

by John Turvill Adams

Adventure · History · Novel

The lost hunter: A tale of early times also set him on the path to establish the subgenre of New Journalism that he called "Gonzo", a style in which the writer becomes central to, and a participant in, the narrative. He became known for his intense dislike of Richard Nixon, who he claimed represented "that dark, venal, and incurably violent side of the American character".

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Franco-Gallia

by François Hotman

1573 · History

Franco-Gallia: Or, An Account of the Ancient Free State of France, and Most Other Parts of Europe, Before the Loss of Their Liberties is a French constitutional history treatise published by François Hotman in 1573 that argued for representative government and an elective monarchy.

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The Rifle Rangers

by Mayne Reid

1903 · Adventure · Children's books · History

The Rifle Rangers depicts the plight of American soldiers stationed in Mexico during the war and their effect on the native population. The Rifle Rangers stays with the life of protagonist Captain Jack Haller as he helms the newly formed American battalion, dubbed the "Rifle Rangers".

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Romola

by George Eliot

History · Novel

Romola is "a deep study of life in the city of Florence from an intellectual, artistic, religious, and social point of view". Romola takes place amidst actual historical events during the Italian Renaissance, and includes in its plot several notable figures from Florentine history.

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Religion in Japan

by George A. (George Augustus) Cobbold

1894 · History · Religion

Religion in Japan is manifested primarily in Shinto and in Buddhism, the two main faiths, which Japanese people often practice simultaneously. Syncretic combinations of both, known generally as shinbutsu-shūgō, are common; they represented Japan's dominant religion before the rise of State Shinto in the 19th century.

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Shirley

by Charlotte Brontë

History · Novel

Shirley was Brontë's second published novel after Jane Eyre (originally published under Brontë's pseudonym Currer Bell). Shirley is set in Yorkshire, during the industrial depression resulting from the Napoleonic Wars and the War.

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The Red City: A Novel of the Second Administration of President Washington

by S. Weir (Silas Weir) Mitchell

1908 · History · Novel

The Red City: A Novel of the Second Administration of President Washington is set in Philadelphia in the 1790s, during the second term of George Washington's Presidency when the city served as the temporary capital of the United States. Its general theme is of the city's "greatness" during this era.

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The Battle of Gettysburg

by Franklin Aretas Haskell

1908 · History

The Battle of Gettysburg was fought in the American Civil War between the Union and Confederate armies and around Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The battle, won by the Union, is widely considered the Civil War's turning point, leading to an ultimate victory of the Union and the preservation of the nation.

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The History of the Five Indian Nations of Canada Which are dependent on the Province of New-York, and are a barrier between the English and the French in that part of the world

by Cadwallader Colden

History

The History of the Five Indian Nations of Canada Which are dependent on the Province of New-York, and are a barrier between the English was first published in New York and a second edition was published in London.

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The Impending Crisis of the South: How to Meet It

by Hinton Rowan Helper

1860 · History

The Impending Crisis of the South: How to Meet It was written mostly in Baltimore, but, as he pointed out, it would have been illegal to publish it there. The Impending Crisis of the South: How to Meet It was a strong attack on slavery as inefficient and a barrier to the economic advancement of the South in general and the non-slaveholding whites of the South in particular.

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Antonio Stradivari

by Horace Petherick

1900 · History

Antonio Stradivari ( also US:, Italian: [anˈtɔːnjo stradiˈvaːri]; c. – 18 December ) was an Italian luthier and a craftsman of string instruments such as violins, cellos, guitars, violas and harps. The Latinized form of his surname, Stradivarius, as well as the colloquial Strad are terms often used to refer to his instruments.

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The Comic History of Rome

by Gilbert Abbott À Beckett

1850 · Fantasy · History · Humor

The Comic History of Rome was published by Bradbury and Evans, with text by the English humorist Gilbert Abbott à Beckett and comic illustrations by John Leech, famous for his illustrations for the novella A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. In his introduction, à Beckett wrote that, "The writer of this book is animated by an earnest wish to aid, as far as he is able, in the project of combining instruction with amusement.

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In the Arctic Seas A Narrative of the Discovery of the Fate of Sir John Franklin and his Companions

by Francis Leopold, Sir M'Clintock

Adventure · History · Travel

In the Arctic Seas A Narrative of the Discovery of the Fate of Sir John Franklin and his Companions: Rear-Admiral Sir John Franklin was a British Royal Navy officer, explorer and colonial administrator. During his third and final expedition, an attempt to traverse the Northwest Passage, Franklin's ships became icebound off King William Island in what is now Nunavut, where he died in June.

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The Survey of London

by John Stow

History · Travel

The Survey of London was founded by Charles Robert Ashbee, an Arts-and-Crafts designer, architect and social reformer and was motivated by a desire to record and preserve London's ancient monuments. The first volume was published, but the completion of the series remains far in the future.

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Confessions of a Thug

by Meadows Taylor

Mystery · History · Novel

Confessions of a Thug was a best-seller in 19th-century Britain, becoming the British Empire's most sensational ethnographic fiction in the first half of the 19th century; its avid readers included Queen Victoria. Confessions of a Thug was one of the best-selling crime novels of the 19th century, and was the most influential novel about India prior to Rudyard Kipling's Kim.

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Boscobel; or, the royal oak: A tale of the year 1651

by William Harrison Ainsworth

History · Novel

Boscobel; or, the royal oak: A tale of the year 1651 first appeared as a serial in The New Monthly Magazine before being published in three volumes by the London publishing house Tinsley Brothers. Boscobel; or, the royal oak: A tale of the year 1651 marked a return to the historical subjects he was best known for, after producing three novels with contemporary settings such as Old Court and Myddleton Pomfret.

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Kirkcaldy of Grange

by Louis A. Barbé

1897 · History

Sir William Kirkcaldy of Grange (c. – 3 August ) was a Scottish politician and soldier who fought for the Scottish Reformation. He ended his career holding Edinburgh castle on behalf of Mary, Queen of Scots and was hanged at the conclusion of a long siege.

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The Oregon Question

by Albert Gallatin

History

The Oregon boundary dispute or the Oregon Question was a 19th-century territorial dispute over the political division of the Pacific Northwest of North America between several nations that had competing territorial and commercial aspirations in the region.

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The Prince

by Niccolò Machiavelli

Philosophy · History · Science

Many commentators have viewed that one of the main themes of The Prince is that immoral acts are sometimes necessary to achieve political glory. From Machiavelli's correspondence, a version was being written, using a Latin title, De Principatibus (Of Principalities).

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The Battle of Talavera

by John Wilson Croker

1816 · Poetry · History

It was written in commemoration of the Battle of Talavera, where Sir Arthur Wellesley led an Allied force of British, Portuguese and Spanish troops to a victory over the French in the Peninsular War. The victory led to popular celebrations in Britain and Wellesley was made Lord Wellington.

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History of biology

by L. C. (Louis Compton) Miall

History · Science

The history of biology traces the study of the living world from ancient to modern times. Although the concept of biology as a single coherent field arose in the 19th century, the biological sciences emerged from traditions of medicine and natural history reaching back to Ayurveda, ancient Egyptian medicine and the works of Aristotle, Theophrastus and Galen in the ancient Greco-Roman world.

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A vindication of the rights of men, in a letter to the Right Honourable Edmund Burke; occasioned by his Reflections on the Revolution in France

by Mary Wollstonecraft

Philosophy · History · Letters

A Vindication of the Rights of Men, in a Letter to the Right Honourable Edmund Burke; Occasioned by His Reflections on the Revolution in France is a political pamphlet, written by the 18th-century British writer and women's rights advocate Mary Wollstonecraft, which attacks aristocracy and advocates republicanism.

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The Red Man's Rebuke

by Simon Pokagon

History · Letters

The Red Man's Rebuke, later titled The Red Man's Greeting, was an essay written by Simon Pokagon (Potowatomi, c. 1830–1899) which he distributed to those attending the World's Columbian Exposition. The Red Man's Rebuke was published in the form of a sixteen-page, palm-sized birch bark booklet, of which an unknown number of copies were distributed.

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The Fortunes of Perkin Warbeck: a romance

by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

Romance · History · Novel

The Fortunes of Perkin Warbeck: a romance takes a Yorkist point of view and proceeds from the conceit that Perkin Warbeck died in childhood and the supposed impostor was indeed Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York. Henry VII of England is repeatedly described as a "fiend" who hates Elizabeth of York, his wife and Richard's sister, and the future Henry VIII, mentioned only twice in the novel, is a vile youth who abuses dogs.