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The Nature of Things was written in the 1st century BC by Roman polymath Lucretius. It is written as a didactic poem, and explains Epicurean physics.

Sara Teasdale (1884 -1933) was a lyric poet whose third major work, 1917's Love Songs won both the Columbia Poetry Prize (later the Pulitzer) and the Poetry Society of America Prize in 1918. Her haunting poetry is characterized by clarity, simplicity, the use of classical forms, and romantic subject matter. The themes of Love Songs include love, nature, and death. Parts I and III of Love Songs include some poems from "Helen of Troy and other Poems" (1911) and "Rivers to the Sea" (1915).

Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860 -1935) was a prominent American novelist, writer of short stories, poetry, and nonfiction, and an advocate for social reform. Herland is a utopian novel from 1915 which describes an isolated society of women who reproduce through asexual reproduction. The narrator is Vandyck "Van" Jennings, a sociology student who, along with two friends, explore an area of uncharted land. The three male visitors arrive, and in due time get married to three of the women, with various sets of consequences.

A Tramp Abroad (1880) by Mark Twain is a travel journal which includes autobiography and fictional events. The book chronicles a journey by the author and his friend Harris through central and southern Europe. The two men make their way through Germany, Switzerland, eastern France, and Italy, encountering situations that become more humorous by their reactions to them. The narrator plays the part of the American tourist, believing that he understands all that he sees but in reality understanding none of it.

Charles Alexander Eastman (1858-1939) was a Santee Dakota physician, writer, national lecturer, and reformer. Indian Boyhood (1902) is a recollection of Eastman's earliest childhood memories up to the age of 15. He describes the traditional ways in which the tribe governed itself - a police force, hunting and warrior scouts, and the tribal council. The book includes family and tribal legends of adventure, bravery, and nature that he heard in the lodge of the tribe historian.

Charles Dickens, considered one of the greatest English authors of all time, wrote the essay "Sunday Under Three Heads" in 1836. It is a short piece expressing Charles Dickens' opinion on a bill being presented in the British Parliament which was meant to restrict pleasurable pursuits on Sundays. Dickens explains how this proposed act would negatively affect the poor people of Britain. Besides stating his opinion with eloquence, the essay provides a good description of life on an English Sunday in the early 19th century.

Thomas Traherne (1636-1674) was an English theologian and author, who was initially known for his books Roman Forgeries (1673), Christian Ethics (1675), and A Serious and Patheticall Contemplation of the Mercies of God (1699). Centuries of Meditations was first published in 1908 after the manuscript was rediscovered in 1898. It is a collection of visionary poems divided into "centuries" with themes that encompass the Christian life and ministry, childhood, happiness, nature, and philosophy.

The Cherry Orchard (1903) is the final play by the Russian playwright Anton Chekhov. It is considered as one of four outstanding plays by Chekhov, along with The Seagull, Three Sisters, and Uncle Vanya. The narrative recounts an aristocratic landowner who returns to her family estate just before it is auctioned to pay the mortgage. It dramatizes the socio-economic developments in Russia at the turn of the 20th century, including the rise of the middle class after the abolition of serfdom and the waning power of the aristocracy.

This is a mostly polemical essay by Emma Goldman about her deportation from the United States to Russia in December 1919. It was written before disillusionment with Bolshevism, as recounted in "My Disillusionment in Russia" (1923).

Emma Goldman was initially supportive of Russia’s Bolshevik revolution. This 1918 pamphlet was published in elucidation of the revolution and in justification of the Bolsheviks. Goldman reversed her opinion in the wake of the Kronstadt rebellion and denounced the Soviet Union for its violent repression of independent voices.

Gene Stratton-Porter (1863-1924) was an early naturalist and nature photographer who wrote several best-selling novels. Her novel, Laddie: A True Blue Story (1913), includes autobiographical elements that corresponded to her early life. The story is told by Little Sister, the 12th child of a large family, while the character of the title is based on the author’s older brother, who has a strong connection to the land. The narrative has a country ambiance with lovely descriptions of nature.

Two Years Before the Mast is an 1840 memoir by the author Richard Henry Dana. A Harvard graduate, he spent the years 1834 to 1836 as a sailor on a merchant ship on a voyage from Boston to California. The journey took them past Cape Horn on the Tierra del Fuego archipelago where the Pacific and Atlantic oceans meet. Dana provides detailed descriptions of ship life and the technical aspects of sailing. A chapter on California and its inhabitants offers valuable historical insights on the state which was then a foreign land.

The Thirty-Nine Steps (1915) is an adventure novel in the espionage genre by the Scottish author John Buchan. A classic of the genre, it is the first of five novels featuring Richard Hannay, an action hero with a knack for getting himself out of difficult situations. The Thirty-Nine Steps is a prototypical "innocent man on the run" adventure. Hanney lets a neighbor stay with him, who is being followed by an anarchist gang trying to steal British military plans. Then the neighbor is murdered in his apartment....

The Spy: a Tale of the Neutral Ground is the debut novel of James Fenimore Cooper, originally published in 1821. Cooper’s novels on life at the frontier established an entirely new genre in American literature, with The Last of the Mohicans considered as his masterpiece. The Spy is a fast-paced story of espionage set during the Revolutionary War, where the plot unfolds on neutral ground. The protagonist Harvey Birch, who appears to be a British loyalist, turns out to be George Washington's spy.

The Life and Death of Mr. Badman: Presented to the World in a Familiar Dialogue Between Mr. Wiseman and Mr. Attentive is a 1680 book by John Bunyan. It was intended as a companion to The Pilgrim's Progress. The narrative has two characters talking about sin and redemption over the course of a day.

Clotel; or, The President's Daughter: A Narrative of Slave Life in the United States is an 1853 novel by the author and playwright William Wells Brown. Set in the early 19th century, it is the story of Clotel and her sister Althesa, who are fictional slave daughters of Thomas Jefferson. It is considered the first novel published by an African American and explores the destructive effects of slavery on African American families, the difficult lives of mixed-race people, and the degraded and immoral condition of the relationship between master and slave.

H.P. Lovecraft’s short story Beyond the Wall of Sleep was first published in 1919 and reprinted in Weird Tales in 1938. The tale is about an intern in a mental hospital recounting his experiences with Joe Slater, an inmate who died at the facility after being incarcerated as a criminally insane murderer. During his confinement, Slater had a series of violent seizures in which his rants and ravings revealed strange other-worldly visions.

The Madman: His Parables and Poems, Gibran's first book published in English, is a collection of approximately 35 inspirational parables and poems on God, animals, human nature, and the meaning of life. These brief but memorable pieces serve as sources of contemplation and include "How I Became a Madman", "The Two Hermits", "The Wise Dog", "The Good God and the Evil God", "Night and the Madman", "When My Sorrow Was Born", and “When My Joy Was Born".

The Forged Coupon is a novella in two parts by Leo Tolstoy. In Part One, the schoolboy Mitya is in desperate need of money to pay a debt, but his father refuses to help him. He then changes a 2.50 rouble bond coupon to read 12.50 roubles. This one wicked deed sets off a chain of events which affects the lives of dozens of others. In Part Two, a good deed also sets of a series of events, but to the benefit of many people.

"The Heroic Slave" is the only work of fiction by the eminent abolitionist Frederick Douglass. The narrative was inspired by Madison Washington, a slave on the Creole who led a rebellion on the ship in November 1841, and had it sail to Nassau in the Bahamas instead of New Orleans. The short story appeared in the collection Autographs for Freedom (1852).