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The life story of Billy Dixon, a buffalo hunter and scout from the Texas Panhandle who was active as far as Colorado, Kansas and Oklahoma, offers a genuine depiction of life on the old western frontier. Billy helped found the town of Adobe Walls, ended a siege during the Second Battle of Adobe Walls with a long-distance shot, and received the US Medal of Honor for his bravery at the Buffalo Wallow Fight. Billy later served as postmaster at Adobe Walls, sheriff of Hutchinson County, Texas, and state land commissioner.

Lucretia Mott (1793-1880) was a Minister in the Society of Friends, an abolitionist and activist for women’s rights. This speech was delivered at a Woman's Rights Convention in Philadelphia in 1854. She urged her hearers to reject "priestcraft and superstition" and to pursue "true Christianity" and the "word of God in the soul.”

In 1870 in Warrensburg, Missouri, a well-known foxhound named Drum was shot during a hunting excursion. Drum’s owner sued the shooter for damages, and lawyer and skilled orator George Graham Vest made the courtroom address on behalf of the plaintiff. What followed was, not a recounting of testimonies and evidence as expected, but a historical, poetic, and philosophical ode to man’s best friend.

How to Tell a Story is a classic essay by American humorist and writer Mark Twain.

The chronicle of Theodore Adolphus “Dot” Babb is a factual and fascinating account of his and his younger sister’s 1865 capture by a Comanche band near what is today Decatur, Texas. They were taken to an area in what became the state of Oklahoma and adopted into the tribe, where Babb observed all facets of the tribe’s customs and participated in activities like horse taming, until both children were ransomed by their father in 1867. Babb kept in contact with the tribe and the next decade the family lived with the Comanche for a year before settling in Wichita Falls.

Mark Twain compiled some of his experiences and experiments with telepathy in a fascinating article titled ‘Mental Telegraphy.’ In the opening paragraph he states that what many consider to be mere accident or ‘curious coincidence’ is no more accidental than is the sending and receiving of a telegram. He believed that minds resonate with one another by transferring ideas and messages to and fro.

This address was delivered before the Congress of Women in Chicago by Mary Newbury Adams in 1893. She encourages the study of women in high positions, in the governments, and the royalty of Europe. She provides numerous examples of great women and their achievements throughout history.

The abolitionist, essayist, teacher, and women’s rights activist Maria W. Stewart is thought to have been the first African American woman to raise matters of equality and justice in a US public forum, the New England Anti-Slavery Society in Boston. In her 1832 lecture, Why Sit Ye Here and Die?, she demanded equal rights for African American women while criticizing both the slavery of the South and the lack of opportunity and equality in the North. Her biblical style of oratory and fierce opposition to injustice still inspire today.

Recollections on Hunting in Kentucky is a collection of ruminations and interviews by Hugh Bell, recorded by Lyman Copeland Draper sometime around 1841, and were found amongst the Draper manuscripts. The firsthand account of the Kentucky wilderness and the life and times of early settlers in that region is fascinating and brings us one step closer to better understanding the beginnings of the America we know today.

Jedediah Strong Smith (1799-1831) was an author, cartographer, frontiersman trader, and explorer of the Pacific Northwest, credited with discovering the South Pass, a natural crossing point of the Rocky Mountains for pioneers on the Oregon, California, and Mormon trails during the 19th century. The book covers his visits to and troubles with the authorities of then-Mexican California and his travels through Utah, Nevada, and the Oregon Country. Smith’s letters, maps, and journals played a major part in boosting US expansion toward the West.

Rene Descartes, mathematician, scientist, and first "modern philosopher", wrote Meditations on First Philosophy, a six-part treatise first published in Latin in 1641, to deconstruct "belief" and, using reason and science, discuss the only things we can truly know for sure. Each of the six parts of this book represents six of Descartes’ meditations that occurred on six subsequent days, making it also, in no small part, an autobiographical piece of work.

In February 1833, the African American orator and abolitionist Maria W. Stewart gave a controversial speech at Boston’s African Masonic Lodge which drew a hostile response from the audience, as she criticized her own people for not standing up for themselves. She accused black men of being indifferent to African rights and liberty, claiming that they “lacked ambition and courage”. The audience’s negative reaction to her inflammatory rhetoric led to Maria’s formal retirement from public speaking at a farewell adddress in September of that year.

Booker T. Washington’s 1901 autobiography can be read as a redemption story echoing many similar voices of its time. Starting from the humiliation he experienced as a slave, he ponders the meaning of identity in a situation that seeks to dehumanize. He furthers his story by expanding on his difficulties in obtaining an education and the need for change in our minds as well as societal structures.

Ms. Truth opens this speech by saying that black men and women gathering together should strike fear into the general population's hearts - and right she is. She dismisses the idea that women can't get things done and claims that women can change anything if they put their mind to it.

Wade into the tragic history of the Cagots, a group of Europeans who lived in Northern Spain and Western France who faced untold persecution. The horrors they faced seemed to be based in no real reasoning whatsoever, and Elizabeth Gaskell works to untangle the whys and hows of their hardships.

Ninth-century Welsh monk Nennius has traditionally been linked to this purported history of the indigenous Britons. Written around 828, this history has been notable for its mention of certain historical figures and even saints. Most notable, however, is the very first mention of the historical King Arthur as a military leader.

In a time where patriotism can sometimes be perceived as a rather negative trait, it can be refreshing to listen to the accounts of those who were filled with boundless love for their country. Samuel Williams’ 1774 discourse reads as an ode to America. He draws continuous parallels between his native country and Jerusalem, both whom he believed to possess the qualities to reach a stage of ultimate perfection.

As a former slave and abolitionist, Frederick Douglass was an outspoken leader for African Americans. He wrote this text in response to the American Colonization Society, who believed that black Americans should emigrate back to Africa. Douglass staunchly opposed this notion, saying it was nonsense to displace eight million Americans to a country they didn’t know. He insisted that all Americans - black, white, mixed, or other - were entitled to equal citizenship in the country they were born in.

In 1875, Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli purchased 44 percent of the Suez Canal’s stock from the bankrupt Egyptian Khedive. He did not consult Parliament, but rather, acted quickly to obtain relative control over this vital point in British trade routes. Disraeli delivered this speech to the House of Commons in 1876, explaining his decision. This choice was ultimately both popular and profitable, and it has been noted as one of Disraeli’s greatest acts as prime minister.

With this impassioned speech, abolitionist Frederick Douglass exposes the hypocritical racism of Christian churches. He shares examples of racism he’s seen or experienced in spiritual contexts, the worst being white slaveholders who used the Bible to justify slavery. As a former slave himself, Douglass had personal experience with southern preachers telling slaves that God wanted them to obey their masters. This powerful speech serves as both a historical record and a warning for modern listeners to be wary of those today who would use spirituality to manipulate others.