Description Details
Einhard was employed by Charlemagne as a court historian. At the request of Charlemagne's son and successor Louis the Pious, he wrote a biography of Charlemagne, the Vita Karoli Magni or Life of Charlemagne (c. 817–830), which provides much direct information about Charlemagne's life and character. In composing this he made full use of the Frankish Royal annals. Einhard's literary model was the classical work of the Roman historian Suetonius, the Lives of the Caesars. (summary adapted from Wikipedi by K. Merline)...

Excerpt Details
History

Description Details
History of Florence and of the Affairs of Italy is an historical account by Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-1527). Toward the end of 1520, the Cardinal Giulio of Medici, later Pope Clement VII, offered Machiavelli the appointment to write a history of Florence. Although Machiavelli was reluctant to accept, accepting was at that time his only possible way to regain the good graces of the Medici. Doing the history also provided a way for Machiavelli's views to become the official history of Florentine and Italian affairs. Once completed, the work was presented officially to Giulio, now Pope, in May of 1526. The translator is unknown, but the copyright has been cleared by Wikipedia. (Summary adapted from Wikipedia by Karen Merline.)...

Excerpt Details
History

Description Details
Charles W. Eliot, 21st President of Harvard University, edited this volume of prefaces ... authored by a Who's Who of World Literature: Bacon, Calvin, Caxton, Condell, Copernicus, Dryden, Fielding, Goethe, Heminge, Hugo, Johnson, Knox, Newton, Raleigh, Spenser, Taine, Whitman and Wordsworth. Eliot wrote in his preface to these prefaces, No part of a book is so intimate as the Preface. Here, after the long labor of the work is over, the author descends from his platform, and speaks with his reader as man to man, disclosing his hopes and fears, seeking sympathy for his difficulties, offering defence or defiance, according to his temper, against the criticisms which he anticipates. (Summary by DSayers)...

Excerpt Details
Literature

Description Details
The history of New York City is told as a story, in few words. It begins with Henry Hudson's discovery of Manhattan in 1609. And it finishes in 1898 when the island of Manhattan becomes the Borough of Manhattan of Greater New York. (Summary by Guero.)...

Excerpt Details
History

Description Details
Plague, piracy and payments to members of Parliament! The town of Bristol, England in the Sixteenth Century was a fascinating place, and John Latimer's book is a comprehensive guide to this period, describing royal visits from both Henry VIII and Elizabeth I, as well as detailing contemporary pastimes such as wrestling competitions, bear-baiting and traveling players. He explains the sanitary arrangements, dreadful postal service and the difficulty of moving from the status of town to City among many other interesting topics. It is made up of papers originally published in the Bristol Mercury in 1902-3 and is read by Bristolian, Elaine Webb. Summary by Cori Samuel and Elaine Webb...

Excerpt Details
History

Description Details
Judith is the 18th book of the Bible and one of the historical books in the Old Testament. The overall theme is the power of prayer. The Israelites are beseiged by the forces of Holofernes and pray to God to overcome the forces. Judith seduces Holofernes and beheads him in his sleep, when the forces find their leader dead, they flee in battle. The Israelites benefit from their spoils and Judith sings praises to God. (Summary by Sean McKinley)...

Excerpt Details
Religion

Description Details
Isabella Bird travels abroad in Canada and the United States in the 1850s. As an Englishwoman and a lone female, she travels as far as Chicago, Prince Edward Island, and Cincinatti. Her observations on the trials and tribulations of the journeys are astute, if formed by her place and time in history. Adventures with pickpockets, omnibuses, cholera, and rat invested hotels deter her not. (Sibella Denton)...

Excerpt Details
Travel

Description Details
Thomas D'Arcy McGee was an Irish refugee and a father of the Canadian confederation. His work on Irish history is comprehensive, encompassing twelve books; Book 6 subtitled the Native, the Naturalized, and “The English Interest”, covers the 14th and 15th centuries. (Summary by Sibella Denton)...

Excerpt Details
History

Description Details
The Book of Lamentations (Hebrew: אֵיכָה‎, Eikha, ʾēḫā(h)) is a book of the Bible Old Testament and Jewish Tanakh. It is traditionally read by the Jewish people on Tisha B'Av, the fast day that commemorates the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. It is called in the Hebrew canon 'Eikhah, meaning How, being the formula for the commencement of a song of wailing. It is the first word of the book (see 2 Sam. 1:19-27). The Septuagint adopted the name rendered Lamentations (Greek threnoi = Hebrew qinoth) now in common use, to denote the character of the book, in which the prophet mourns over the desolations brought on Jerusalem and the Holy Land by the Chaldeans. In the Hebrew Bible it is placed among the Ketuvim, the Writings. (Summary by Wikipedia)...

Excerpt Details
Religion

Description Details
Thomas D'Arcy McGee was an Irish refugee and a father of the Canadian confederation. His work on Irish history is comprehensive, encompassing twelve books; Book 9 subtitled “From the Accession of James I Till the Death of Cromwell”, addresses the early Stuart period’s unsettled history and the actions of that person, who, seen from the Irish perspective, was certainly one of the most villainous of men: Cromwell. (Summary by Sibella Denton)...

Excerpt Details
History

Description Details
The book commences with a feast organized by Ahasuerus, initially for his court and dignitaries and afterwards for all inhabitants of Shushan. Ahasuerus orders his wife Vashti to display her beauty before the guests. She refuses, and the King's advisors warn that, if unpunished, her actions would inspire other wives to disobey their husbands. Ahasuerus removes her as queen. (Jews believe that she was executed, He then orders all young women to be presented to him, so he can choose a new queen to replace Vashti. One of these is Esther, who was orphaned at a young age and is being fostered by her uncle Mordechai. (Summary by Wikipedia)...

Excerpt Details
Religion

Description Details
Shakespeare's plays are full of music: love songs, comic ditties, serious ballads, and songs for witches and spirits. Over the centuries musicians and composers have also created musical adaptations based on Shakespeare's plays. Composer Christopher Wilson's Shakespeare and Music (1922) documents the musical history of each play across various genres, including opera and incidental music. (Summary by Elizabeth Klett)...

Excerpt Details
Music

Description Details
The Epistle of Jude is a brief book of only a single chapter with 25 verses. It is a general epistle, that is, a letter meant to be circulated and read in all the early Christian churches. Although brief, the content of the book is dense. Many examples of evildoers and strong warnings about their fates are given in rapid succession. The dispute over the body of Moses and the prophecies of Enoch are mentioned in no other book in the Bible. The doxology, or hymn of praise, at the end of the book is particularly beautiful...

Excerpt Details
Religion

Description Details
Voltairine de Cleyre (November 17, 1866 – June 20, 1912) was an American anarchist. She was skilled in many subjects and wrote essays, poems, letters, sketches, stories and speeches. These are her selected Haymarket speeches. (Summary by enko)...

Excerpt Details
History

Description Details
Nahum prophesied, according to some, in the beginning of the reign of Ahaz (740s BC). Others, however, think that his prophecies are to be referred to the latter half of the reign of Hezekiah (700s BC). Probably the book was written in Jerusalem, where he witnessed the invasion of Sennacherib and the destruction of his host (2 Kings 19:35). And still others support the idea that the book of vision was written shortly before the fall of Nineveh (612 BCE). This theory is evidenced by the fact that the oracles must be dated after the Assyrian destruction of Thebes in 663 BCE as this event is mentioned in Nah 3:8. (Summary by Wikipedia)...

Excerpt Details
Religion

Description Details
The Book of Nehemiah, sometimes called the Second Book of Ezra, is a book of the Hebrew Bible. It is historically regarded as a continuation of the Book of Ezra, and the two are frequently taken together as Ezra-Nehemiah. Traditionally, the author of this book is believed to be Nehemiah himself. The date at which the book was written was probably about 431 - 430 BC, when Nehemiah had returned the second time to Jerusalem after his visit to Persia. The book consists of four parts: (1) An account of the rebuilding of the wall of Jerusalem, and of the register Nehemiah had found of those who had returned from Babylon. Details describe how Nehemiah became governor of Judah; various forms of opposition generated by Sanballat and others; describes earlier return under Zerubbabel (ch. 1-7). (2) An account of the state of religion among the Jews during this time (8-10). (3) Increase of the inhabitants of Jerusalem; the census of the adult male population, and names of the chiefs, together with lists of priests and Levites (11-12:1-26). 4) Dedication of the wall of Jerusalem, the arrangement of the temple officers, and the reforms carried ou...

Excerpt Details
Religion

Description Details
The Psalms are the Israelites' songs of joy and sadness, contentment and complaint, happiness and suffering---but most of all, praise. King David is the most prolific contributor, but there are also psalms from his son Solomon, the sons of Korah, the worship leader Asaph, and even one from Moses! (Introduction by Mark Penfold)...

Excerpt Details
Religion

Description Details
The history of the first return of exiles, in the first year of Cyrus the Great (536 B.C.), till the completion and dedication of the new Temple in Jerusalem, in the sixth year of Darius (515 B.C.). The history of the second return under Ezra, in the seventh year of Artaxerxes Longimanus, and of the events that took place at Jerusalem after Ezra's arrival there. The book thus contains memorabilia connected with the Jews, from the decree of Cyrus to the reformation by Ezra (456 B.C.), extending over a period of about eighty years....

Excerpt Details
Religion

Description Details
A non-fictional account of Burke and Wills's 1860 expedition to cross the Australian continent from south to north and then return. Containing many excerpts from the diaries and accounts of the explorers, this book was published the year after the expedition met its disastrous end. More information at Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burke_and_Wills_expedition Burke and Wills Expedition . (description written by trioptimum)...

Excerpt Details
History

Excerpt Details
Religion