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Volume One of the New and Complete Newgate Calendar, covering the years 1700 through 1723, relates stories of British trials, the persons accused and the crimes committed. It is primarily based upon contemporary newspaper and pamphlet accounts of these trials. Where the criminal is particularly well known, such as the highwayman, burglar and escape artist Jack Sheppard, other sources were used as well. The readings used here are selected to illustrate different aspects of the eighteenth century criminal world and the British legal system.(Summary by Roy Shreiber)...

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History

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Principles of Economics was a leading economics textbook of Alfred Marshall (1842-1924), first published in 1890. Marshall began writing the Principles of Economics in 1881 and he spent much of the next decade at work on the treatise. His plan for the work gradually extended to a two-volume compilation on the whole of economic thought; the first volume was published in 1890 to worldwide acclaim that established him as one of the leading economists of his time. It brought the ideas of supply and demand, of marginal utility and of the costs of production into a coherent whole, and became the dominant economic textbook in England for a long period. The second volume, which was to address foreign trade, money, trade fluctuations, taxation, and collectivism, was never published at all. (Wikipedia)...

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Economics/Political Economy

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The only fire for the whole house was the kitchen stove, with a fire box about eighteen inches long and eight inches wide and deep,- scant space for three or four small sticks, around which in hard zero weather all the family of ten shivered, and beneath which in the morning we found our socks and coarse, soggy boots frozen solid. Thus, with perceptive eye for detail, the American naturalist, John Muir, describes life on a pioneer Wisconsin farm in the 1850's. Muir was only eleven years old when his father uprooted the family from a relatively comfortable life in Dunbar, Scotland, to settle in the backwoods of North America. The elder Muir was a religious fundamentalist. What his father taught, John Muir writes, was grim self denial, in season and out of season, to mortify the flesh, keep our bodies in subjection to Bible laws, and mercilessly punish ourselves for every fault, imagined or committed. Muir's father believed that the Bible was the only book human beings could possibly require, while John secretly read every volume of poetry and literature he could get his hands on. With no formal schooling after leaving Scotland, John ...

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Memoirs

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This lengthy political essay by noted Canadian humourist Stephen Leacock was written while he was professor of political economy at McGill University. He argues for a middle ground between capitalism and pure socialism. Listeners in the early 21st century may find this 90-year old essay oddly topical. (Summary by Sean Michael Hogan)...

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Economics/Political Economy

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Principles of Economics was a leading economics textbook of Alfred Marshall (1842-1924), first published in 1890. Marshall began writing the Principles of Economics in 1881 and he spent much of the next decade at work on the treatise. His plan for the work gradually extended to a two-volume compilation on the whole of economic thought; the first volume was published in 1890 to worldwide acclaim that established him as one of the leading economists of his time. It brought the ideas of supply and demand, of marginal utility and of the costs of production into a coherent whole, and became the dominant economic textbook in England for a long period. The second volume, which was to address foreign trade, money, trade fluctuations, taxation, and collectivism, was never published at all. (Wikipedia)...

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Economics/Political Economy

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Principles of Economics was a leading economics textbook of Alfred Marshall (1842-1924), first published in 1890. Marshall began writing the Principles of Economics in 1881 and he spent much of the next decade at work on the treatise. His plan for the work gradually extended to a two-volume compilation on the whole of economic thought; the first volume was published in 1890 to worldwide acclaim that established him as one of the leading economists of his time. It brought the ideas of supply and demand, of marginal utility and of the costs of production into a coherent whole, and became the dominant economic textbook in England for a long period. The second volume, which was to address foreign trade, money, trade fluctuations, taxation, and collectivism, was never published at all. (Wikipedia)...

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Economics/Political Economy

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Letter Concerning Toleration by John Locke was originally published in 1689. Its initial publication was in Latin, though it was immediately translated into other languages. In this letter addressed to an anonymous Honored Sir (actually Locke's close friend Philip von Limborch, who published it without Locke's knowledge) Locke argues for a new understanding of the relationship between religion and government. One of the founders of Empiricism, Locke develops a philosophy that is contrary to the one expressed by Thomas Hobbes in Leviathan, primarily because it supports toleration for various Christian denominations. Locke's work appeared amidst a fear that Catholicism might be taking over England, and responds to the problem of religion and government by proposing toleration as the answer. Unlike Hobbes, who saw uniformity of religion as the key to a well-functioning civil society, Locke argues that more religious groups actually prevent civil unrest. Locke argues that civil unrest results from confrontations caused by any magistrate's attempt to prevent different religions from being practiced, rather than tolerating their prolifera...

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Philosophy

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“Thus I have acted; these were my thoughts; such was I.” Rousseau’s lengthy and sometimes anguished dossier on the Self is one of the most remarkable and courageous works of introspection ever undertaken. Some readers may be repelled by his tendency to revel in embarrassing accounts of humiliation and fiasco, as if he were striving too hard to achieve an ultimate nakedness, a nakedness of the soul perhaps. Others may recall the compulsive self-searching of the narrator of Proust’s A la recherche du temps perdu, who also rather dwelt on the co-existence in the individual of the vile and the virtuous. The two opening volumes of the Confessions, presented in this inevitably censored edition of 1903, deal with the author’s childhood and callow adolescence. Here he is... (Summary by Martin Geeson)...

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Memoirs, Literature, Psychology

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P. T. Barnum exposes some of the chief humbugs of the world with his usual entertaining style. He looks at medicine and quacks, ghosts, witchcraft, religious humbugs, money manias, adventurers, personal reminiscences, and much more. (Summary by Barry Eads)...

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Humor, Instruction, Memoirs

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In contrast to Scott's South Pole expedition, Amundsen's expedition benefited from good equipment, appropriate clothing, and a fundamentally different primary task (Amundsen did no surveying on his route south and is known to have taken only two photographs) Amundsen had a better understanding of dogs and their handling, and he used of skis more effectively. He pioneered an entirely new route to the Pole and they returned. In Amundsen's own words: Victory awaits him who has everything in order -- luck, people call it. Defeat is certain for him who has neglected to take the necessary precautions in time; this is called bad luck. Short accounts by other members of the party are appended. (Summary adapted from Wikipedia by Karen Merline.)...

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Travel, Science, History

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The First Epistle of John is a book of the Bible New Testament, the fourth of the catholic or general epistles. It was written in Ephesus about 90-110 AD, apparently by the same author or authors who wrote the Gospel of John and the other two epistles of John. Not actually a letter, it is a sermon written to counter the heresy that Jesus did not come in the flesh but only as a spirit. It also defines how Christians are to discern true teachers: by their ethics, their proclamation of Jesus in the flesh, and by their love. (Wikipedia)...

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Religion

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Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross, recalls growing up in early 19th Century Massachusetts. (Introduction by Veronica Jenkins)

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Biography

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The Song of Songs (Hebrew title שיר השירים, Shir ha-Shirim), is a book of the Hebrew Bible—Tanakh or Old Testament—one of the five megillot (scrolls). It is also known as the Song of Solomon or as Canticles, the latter from the shortened and anglicized Vulgate title Canticum Canticorum, Song of Songs in Latin. It is known as Aisma in the Septuagint, which is short for Αισμα ᾀσμτων, Aisma aismatôn, Song of Songs in Greek. (From Wikipedia)...

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Religion

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Buffalo Bill was arguably, the most recognized man in the world when he penned this book. The first four stories are of some of his adventures and the remaining 6 are autobiographical. All of them have been proved to be historically accurate in all important aspects. From his service as chief scout for the 3rd Cavalry during the plains wars, to his pony express service and finally the story of how he got his nickname Buffalo Bill, everything is larger than life. Killing 4,280 buffalo in 18 months for the railroad workers was an amazing feat. Follow along as he tells of his Indian campaigns and then his world famous Wild West Show later in life. The foreword gives a brief summary of this man's amazing life. He respected the Indians and urged equal rights for women, something amazing in itself for his time. (Summary by Phil Chenevert)...

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Biography

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The Conflict of Adam and Eve with Satan is a Christian pseudepigraphical work found in Ge'ez, translated from an Arabic original and thought to date from the 5th or 6th century AD. It was first translated from the Ethiopic version into German by August Dillmann. It was first translated into English by S. C. Malan from the German of Ernest Trumpp. The first half of Malan's translation is included as the First Book of Adam and Eve and the Second Book of Adam and Eve in The Lost Books of the Bible and the Forgotten Books of Eden. Books 1 and 2 begin immediately after the expulsion from the Garden of Eden and end with the testament and translation of Enoch. Great emphasis is placed in Book 1 on Adam's sorrow and helplessness in the world outside the garden....

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Religion

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The Easter Rising was a rebellion staged in Ireland in Easter Week, 1916. The Rising was an attempt by militant Irish republicans to win independence from Britain by force of arms. This account was written by Irish novelist James Stephens, who lived and worked in Dublin at the time. (Summary from Wikipedia and iremonger)...

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History

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Louise Amelia Knapp Smith Clappe moved to California from Massachusetts during the Gold Rush of the mid-1800’s. During her travels, Louise was offered the opportunity to write for The Herald about her travel adventures. It was at this point that Louise chose the name “Shirley” as her pen name. Dame Shirley wrote a series of 23 letters to her sister Mary Jane (also known as Molly) in Massachusetts in 1851 and 1852. The “Shirley Letters”, as the collected whole later became known, gave true accounts of life in two gold mining camps on the Feather River in the 1850s. She described these camps in Northern California with vividness in portraying the wildness of Gold Rush life. The letters give detailed accounts of the vast and beautiful landscape that was the background to the hustle and bustle of mining life. Louise’s perspective as a woman provided a contrast to the typically all-male mining camps that she occupied. The letters were later published in the Pioneer, a California literary magazine based out of San Francisco. (from wikipedia)...

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Memoirs, History, Essay/Short nonfiction

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“In these days,” writes the renowned Bahá’í scholar, Mírzá Abu’l-Fadl, “which are the latter days of 1911, A. D. and the early days of 1330 A. H., I have seen a curious article which astonished me. What did I see? I find that one of the missionaries of the Protestant sect, who accounts himself among the learned men of the twentieth century, a helper of the pure religion of Christ and one of the civilized and cultured occidentals, by name, Peter Z. Easton, has been so provoked by jealousy at the universal spread of the heavenly word of His Holiness Abdul-Baha throughout vast expanses of Europe that he has trespassed the limit of courtesy and humanity and published an article replete with execration and calumny in the magazine “Evangelical Christendom.” …Briefly, as this servant [Mírzá Abu’l-Fadl] carefully perused and weighed the above mentioned article, it was found that Peter Z. Easton, in his own supposition, has clung to “four proofs” in opposing the great Bahai Cause. We will therefore mention these four points and show the falsity of his fanciful ideas in each instance.” A number of works were written in the 19th century to def...

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Religion, Philosophy, Essay/Short nonfiction

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The Donner Party was a group of California-bound American settlers caught up in the westering fever of the 1840s. After becoming snowbound in the Sierra Nevada in the winter of 1846–1847, some of the emigrants resorted to cannibalism. Although this aspect of the tragedy has become synonymous with the Donner Party in the popular imagination, it actually was a minor part of the episode. The author was about 4 at the time. The first part of the book accounts the tragic journey and rescue attempts; the last half are reminiscences of the child orphan, passed from family to family while growing up. (Summary from Wikipedia & Tricia G)...

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History, Memoirs

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This is the story of Mary Rowlandson’s capture by American Indians in 1675. It is a blunt, frightening, and detailed work with several moments of off-color humor. Mary, the wife of a minister, was captured by Natives during King Philips War while living in a Lancaster town, most of which was decimated, and the people murdered. See through her eyes, which depict Indians as the instruments of Satan. Her accounts were a best-seller of the era, and a seminal work, being one of the first captivity narratives ever published by a woman. Without works such as hers, there would likely not be many modern works inspired by similar themes, such as The Searchers, starring John Wayne.(Summary by Matthew Scott Surprenant )...

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History, Memoirs