Essays & Short Works
- Philosophical Travelogues
- Essays on Society and Culture
- Essays for Personal Growth
- Explorations in Science and Thought
- Explorations in Psychology
- Political Essays and Reflections
- Political Essays and Manifestos
- Philosophical Essays on Existence
The Awful German Language
This long essay is a work of mock philology, one of several appendices to Twain’s travel novel, A Tramp Abroad. In it, Twain explains, compl…
The Madman
Two short books by the Lebanese-American writer, poet, and mystic. Reflections on existence and life, purpose and meaning. His most famous w…
The Prophet
The prophet Al Mustafa, before leaving the city where he has been living twelve years, stops to address the people. They call out for his wo…
The World’s Story
This is the second volume of the 15-volume series of The World’s Story: a history of the World in story, song and art, edited by Eva March T…
The American Crisis
A 13 pamphlet series by 18th century Enlightenment philosopher/author Thomas Paine, published between 1776 to 1783 during and immediately fo…
Areopagitica
A prose tract or polemic by John Milton, published November 23, 1644, at the height of the English Civil War... Milton, though a supporter o…
The Communist Manifesto
The Communist Manifesto was conceived as an outline of the basic beliefs of the Communist movement. The authors believed that the European P…
How We Think
A book written by an American education philosopher in which he proposed “This scientific attitude of mind might, conceivably, be quite irr…
Capital and Interest
Frédéric Bastiat was an early 19th century French economist/statesman whose common sense essays tried to battle the rise of so…
Three Essays on Religion
In Three Essays on Religion, John Stuart Mill explores the intricate relationship between faith, reason, and the human experience. Composed …
Little Wars
A Game for Boys from twelve years of age to one hundred and fifty and for that more intelligent sort of girl who likes boys' games and books…
Literary Taste
Arnold Bennett describes a method for enjoying literature, and suggests the contents of a comprehensive library. Chapters 1-10 and 14 descri…
Institutio Oratoria
Marcus Fabius Quintilianus was of Spanish origin, being born about 35 A.D. at Calagurris. At Rome he met with great success as a teacher and…
The Essays of Francis Bacon
Voltaire was an atheist. Diderot was Enlightened. But trite titles seldom encompass completely the beliefs of any individual. And this one f…
Floor Games
H.G. Wells had so much fun playing with his children on the floor of their playroom, he decided to write a jovial little book to inspire oth…
Essays
In his profound collection of essays, Ralph Waldo Emerson explores the intricate relationship between the individual and the universe. Throu…
The Appetite of Tyranny
In The Appetite of Tyranny, G. K. Chesterton explores the complex interplay between individual actions and the broader societal consequences…
What Prohibition Has Done to America
In What Prohibition Has Done to America, Fabian Franklin presents a concise but forceful argument against the Eighteenth Amendment of the U.…
The Mirror of the Sea
The Mirror of the Sea is a collection of autobiographical essays by Joseph Conrad, reflecting on his deep connection to the sea and the life…
Mistakes of Moses
Robert G. Ingersoll was an extremely popular humanist orator in the late nineteenth century, and he wrote Mistakes of Moses after many bootl…