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
About Orchids, a Chat
This is not a manual of instruction for orchid growers; though there are many hints on cultivation, and a few paragraphs on how to hybridize…
The Critique of Practical Reason
The Critique of Practical Reason (Kritik der praktischen Vernunft) is the second of Immanuel Kant's three critiques, first published in 1788…
The Appetite of Tyranny
In The Appetite of Tyranny, G. K. Chesterton explores the complex interplay between individual actions and the broader societal consequences…
The Theory of the Leisure Class
Originally published by the Norwegian-American economist Thorstein Veblen while he was a professor at the University of Chicago in 1898, the…
A Room of One’s Own
This feminist essay argues for both a literal and figural space for women writers within a literary tradition dominated by patriarchy. First…
Steep Trails
A collection of Muir's previously unpublished essays, released shortly after his death. "This volume will meet, in every way, the high …
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…
Sadhana, the Realisation of Life
Rabindranath Tagore was a Bengali poet, philosopher, visual artist, playwright, composer, and novelist whose work reshaped Bengali literatur…
The Negro Problem
This is a collection of essays, edited by Booker T. Washington, representative of what historians have characterized as "racial uplift …
Mark Twain's Speeches
This collection of the 195 known, publicly-printed speeches of Mark Twain (Samuel Langhorne Clemens) was compiled by Paul Fatout and publish…
The Letters of a Post-Impressionist
“Being the Familiar Correspondence of Vincent Van Gogh ... [Van Gogh's] art was appreciated during his life only by a very few and it is but…
Woman in the Nineteenth Century
Margaret Fuller was an American feminist, writer, and intellectual associated with the Transcendentalist movement. Her book Woman in the Nin…
Treatises On Friendship And Old Age
Friendship. Old Age. Marcus Tullius Cicero (106 BC - 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, orator, lawyer, and philosopher. He is considered one …
Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds
The book chronicles and vilifies its targets in three parts: "National Delusions", "Peculiar Follies", and "Philoso…
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…
The World I Live In
The World I Live In by Helen Keller is a collection of essays that poignantly tells of her impressions of the world, through her sense of to…
Mark Twain's Journal Writings
This second collection of essays by Mark Twain is a good example of the diversity of subject matter about which he wrote. As with the essays…
Mysticism and Logic
This anthology collects a number of fascinating strands of Bertrand Russell's thought. "Mathematics and the Metaphysicians" detail…
Some Rambling Notes of an Idle Excursion
Some Rambling Notes of an Idle Excursion captures the whimsical spirit of Mark Twain as he recounts a journey to Bermuda with friends. This …
Noted Speeches of Abraham Lincoln
A few of Lincoln's most famous speeches and the Lincoln-Douglas debate make for historic reading. (summary by David O)