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The Gettysburg Address is the most famous speech of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln and one of the most quoted speeches in United States history. It was delivered at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, on November 19, 1863, during the American Civil War, four and a half months after the Battle of Gettysburg. (Summary from Wikipedia)...

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Essay/Short nonfiction

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This is the second chapter of Thomas Babington Macaulay’s History of England from the Succession of James II. In this chapter we see the restoration of the House of Stuart. The mood of the people sours toward the Roundheads, Army and, of course the Puritans. An examination of the character of Charles II. We see Charles attempting to recruit assistance from France so he can attain absolute monarchy and so emulate Lewis the Fourteenth, the French Sun King. (Summary by Jim Mowatt)...

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History

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Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, 1st Duke of Bronté, KB (29 September 1758 – 21 October 1805) was an English flag officer famous for his service in the Royal Navy, particularly during the Napoleonic Wars. He won several victories, including the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, during which he was killed. These are the letters that he wrote to Lady Hamilton, with whom he was having a notorious affair until his death in 1805....

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History

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Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus is the only book-length philosophical work published by the Austrian philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein during his lifetime. He wrote it as a soldier and a prisoner of war during World War I. The slim volume (fewer than eighty pages) comprises a system of short statements, numbered 1, 1.1, 1.11, 1.12, etc., through to 7, intended to be such that 1.1 is a comment on or elaboration of 1, 1.11 and 1.12 comments on 1.1, and so forth. It is an ambitious project to identify the relationship between language and reality and to define the limits of science. (Summary from Wikipedia)...

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Philosophy

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Franz Moritz Wilhelm Marc (* 8. Februar 1880 in München; † 4. März 1916 bei Verdun, Frankreich) war ein deutscher Maler und neben Wassily Kandinsky Mitbegründer der Redaktionsgemeinschaft „Der Blaue Reiter“. Er gilt als einer der bedeutendsten Maler des Expressionismus in Deutschland. Im März 1912 veröffentlichte Franz Marc im PAN (2. Jahrgang, No. 16) ein Artikel über die Neue Malerei , die als Kunstform des seelischen Ausdrucks dem Impressionismus (Darstellung der äußeren Erscheinung der Dinge) diametral gegenüberstand. Max Beckmann (* 12. Februar 1884 in Leipzig; † 27. Dezember 1950 in New York) kritisierte in einer Erwiderung im PAN die Ausführungen von Franz Marc scharf, rückte die Werke von Gaugin, Matisse oder Picasso in die Nähe des Kunstgewerbes und verglich diese mit Tapetenmustern und Plakaten. Auch warf er Gaugin vor, sich ohne Rücksicht auf religiöse und ethnologische Ursprünge des Formenrepertoires der Naturvölker zu bedienen. Im PAN (2. Jahrgang, No. 18) ergänzte daraufhin Franz Marc seinen ersten Ausführungen mit dem Artikel Die konstruktiven Ideen der neuen Malerei und in der darauf folgenden Ausgabe des PAN (2. Jah...

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Art

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The Histories of Herodotus of Halicarnassus is considered the first work of history in Western literature. Written about 440 BC, the Histories tell the story of the war between the Persian Empire and the Greek city-states in the 5th century BC. Herodotus traveled extensively around the ancient world, conducting interviews and collecting stories for his book. The rise of the Persian Empire is chronicled, and the causes for the conflict with Greece. Herodotus treats the conflict as an ideological one, frequently contrasting the absolute power of the Persian king with the democratic government of the Greeks. (Summary adapted from Wikipedia.)...

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History

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Any life of Wolfe can be artificially simplified by treating his purely military work as something complete in itself and not as a part of a greater whole. But, since such treatment gives a totally false idea of his achievement, this little sketch, drawn straight from original sources, tries to show him as he really was, a co-worker with the British fleet in a war based entirely on naval strategy and inseparably connected with international affairs of world-wide significance. The only simplification attempted here is that of arrangement and expression. AUTHOR’S NOTE...

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History

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Carleton’s first eight years as governor of Canada were almost entirely occupied with civil administration. The next four were equally occupied with war.This is the account of how Carleton and his multiracial army fought off the American invasion of Quebec. It is the first time French and British troops worked together to defend Canada. Summary by Esther....

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History

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Colonel Robert Green Ingersoll (1833–1899) was a Civil War veteran, American political leader and orator during the Golden Age of Freethought, noted for his defense of atheism. This book is the first of two volumes collecting Ingersoll's speeches....

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Essay/Short nonfiction

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Deze serie columns in de vorm van brieven schreef Couperus voor het dagblad Het Vaderland, vanuit Munchen en later vanuit Florence. Ze verschenen voor het eerst in druk in Het Vaderland van oktober tot december 1914. Vanaf 1912 bracht Louis Couperus de zomers door in een pension aan de Wittelsbacherplatz in Munchen. Daar was hij dan ook toen op 1 augustus 1914 Duitsland de oorlog verklaarde aan Rusland. In deze 'brieven' beschrijft hij zijn reactie op dit nieuws en het nieuws van de eerste dagen en weken van de Eerste Wereldoorlog. In het begin spreekt er uit de tekst bijna een fascinatie voor de oorlog. Voor het schrijven van zijn historische romans had Couperus zich vaak verdiept in de geschiedenis - nu krijgt hij het gevoel zelf deel uit te maken van de geschiedenis. Hij verslindt alle kranten die hij te pakken kan krijgen, leest alle openbare telegrammen met oorlogsnieuws en houdt de ontwikkelingen bij met vlaggetjes op een oorlogskaart. Ik wil mijn eigen tijd kennen. Maar al snel komt de twijfel, het besef dat hij nooit een objectieve beschrijving, nooit de hele waarheid, te weten zal komen van de gebeurtenissen om hem heen. Zi...

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Essay/Short nonfiction

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Violence in society and politics, whether in the form of war, terrorism, dictatorship, oppression, usurpation, or genocide, is widely recognized as a grave problem. The objective of this essay is to explore a different perspective on the nature of the problem of widespread violence in society and politics that suggests what will be required for its resolution. We need to analyze the conditions under which it will be possible to reduce drastically the reliance on military and other violent means of conflict. We need to examine why violence is so widely regarded as necessary for good causes as well as for bad ones, and how fundamental change away from that syndrome might be achieved. (Summary by Author)...

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Politics

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Talon worked closely with lieutenant-general Prouville de Tracy to achieve the surrender of the Iroquois in 1627, thereby ending the threat that had hung over the colony for 20 years. Although Talon did not join the troops in the field, at Tracy's request, he had a very large share in the success of the French arms through his constant and meticulous care in placing at the disposition of the army everything that was necessary for the war, despite the poverty of the colony, the lack of roads, and the distances. Summary by Wikipedia....

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History

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Tecumseh was a leader of the Shawnee and a large tribal confederacy that opposed the United States during the War of 1812. He became a folk hero remembered by many Canadians for his defense of their country. (Summary adapted from Wikipedia)...

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History

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Sätze aus der höhern Welt- und Menschenkunde (Maximes) von La Rochefoucauld (1613 - 1680), veröffentlicht 1678; übersetzt von Friedrich Schulz (1762-1798), veröffentlicht 1798 François VI. de La Rochefoucauld war ein französischer Schriftsteller und philosophischer Aphoristiker. Er gilt als der erste der französischen Moralisten. 1658 begann La Rochefoucauld mit der Abfassung kürzerer aphoristischer Betrachtungen über die Natur des Menschen allgemein und die Verhaltensweisen der Angehörigen der adligen Gesellschaft im Besonderen. 1664 gab er unter dem Titel Réflexions ou sentences et maximes morales eine Sammlung dieser pointierten, meist pessimistischen, oft sarkastischen Texte heraus. (Zusammenfassung von Wikipedia)...

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Philosophy

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Authentic Narratives of the Most Celebrated Sea Robbers.

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Adventure, Sea stories, Biography

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Short memory of boyhood by a little-known American poet based in Carmel-By-The-Sea, California. (Summary by BellonaTimes)

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Memoirs, Biography

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The Mirror of the Sea (collection of autobiographical essays first published in various magazines 1904-6 ), 1906 (Summary from Wikipedia)

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Sea stories, Biography

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The Art of War is a Chinese military treatise written during the 6th century BC by Sun Tzu. Composed of 13 chapters, each of which is devoted to one aspect of warfare, it has long been praised as the definitive work on military strategies and tactics of its time. The Art of War is one of the oldest and most famous studies of strategy and has had a huge influence on both military planning and beyond. The Art of War has also been applied, with much success, to business and managerial strategies. (summary from Wikipedia)...

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War stories

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Before the beginning of World War II, during the time of the Modernist movement in philosophy, George Santayana wrote these five descriptive essays. He examined John Locke’s sensationalism, British Idealism, the “Theory of Relativity”, Freud’s psychology, and Julien Benda’s preachment on the relations between God and the world. [Summary written by Gary]...

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Philosophy

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This essay, written in 1795, puts forth a plan for a lasting peace between nations and peoples. Kant puts forth necessary means to any peace, and argues that nations can be brought into federation with one another without loss of sovereignty. In one translation, telling of the historical impact of this essay, this federation is called a “league of nations.” The supplements and appendices are of considerable interest on their own. The supplements contain an argument regarding the use which nature makes of war, and the way in which nature, in the end, impels us towards peace. The appendices return to the question of whether his theory is mere theory, or whether it bears translation into practice. In this, he distinguishes between the moral politician and the political moralist, pointing out ways in which practical considerations conceal and excuse behavior that leads us towards discord and war. This essay continues to be relevant, and of great importance today, much to our shame. We hope still to find the perpetual peace which Kant argued as a obligatory goal, and we still have need of fear that we will, as Kant warned, “find Perpetua...

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Philosophy