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Twice-Told Tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne is an 1837 collection of stories that had previously appeared in literary journals like Atlantic Souvenir and The Token. The stories explore ideas of pride and sin through allegory in a New England setting. Contemporaries of Hawthorne, including Edgar Allan Poe and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, praised the book. Twice-Told Tales includes stories like "Sunday at Home", "The Wedding-Knell", "The Minister's Black Veil", "The Maypole of Merry Mount", "The Gentle Boy", "Mr. Higginbotham's Catastrophe", and more.

Winesburg, Ohio is a short story cycle by Sherwood Anderson. The plot revolves around the life of George Willard, from his childhood to him leaving the town as an adult. The work comprises 22 stories, with the first, "The Book of the Grotesque", serving as introduction. The book is considered a pioneering work of modernist literature due to the prominence giving to the psychological insight of the characters and the simple prose style.

The Story of a Bad Boy (1870), a semi-autobiographical novel by Thomas Bailey Aldrich, is considered the first in the "bad boy" genre of literature. It is hailed as the precursor to stories such as Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. The protagonist, Tom Bailey, is mischievous, a vandal, and a troublemaker. The narrative follows Tom as he engages in a series of adventures from New Hampshire to New Orleans and beyond. Among the supporting characters, Sailor Ben, Miss Abigail, and Conway stand out.

Anatole France (1844-1924) was a French poet, journalist, and novelist who wrote several best sellers. The Revolt of the Angels is a mischievous take on the theology of modern society; it chronicles the thoughts of Arcade, a lowly guardian angel, as he discovers the ugly truths of his divine master in the library of his human charge As Maurice, the young man abandoned by Arcade, struggles to get his guardian back, one gets a view of a wide variety of the author’s artistic personalities, most of whom are fallen angels.

Nathan the Wise, a play published by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing in 1779, is a fervent plea for religious tolerance. It was first performed in 1783 at the Döbbelinsches Theatre in Berlin. The narrative is set in Jerusalem during the Third Crusade and describes how the wise Jewish merchant Nathan, the enlightened sultan Saladin, and a Templar Knight bridge the differences between Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. Its major themes are friendship, tolerance, the relativism of God, a rejection of miracles and a need for communication.

Charles Dudley Warner was an essayist, novelist, and friend of Mark Twain. My Summer in a Garden is a landmark of American garden writing. In the book, Warner chronicles his work in the garden, where he and his cat, Calvin, try to ward off a stream of invaders, from the neighbors' cows and thieving children, to the pusley weed. He makes the rounds of his beloved vegetable patch, to feel the sun on his back, the hoe in his hands, and to ponder the philosophical implications of contact with the earth, and companionship with gently growing things.

Virginia Woolf's second novel is both a love story and a subversive comedy which questions the role of women in society. Contemplating their futures, five single people in their late 20s and early 30s are immobilized by indecision. Questions like who, when, and whether to marry, the changing roles of men and women in a rapidly changing world, and matters of independence versus family obligations come to the fore.

First published in 1907, Old Indian Days is a collection of stories about the Sioux of the Upper Midwest. Charles A. Eastman writes about the traditional life of his people, their culture, customs, family relations, and struggle for survival in stories like The Love of Antelope, The Madness of Bald Eagle, and The Singing Spirit.

Elizabeth Gaskell's novella The Moorland Cottage takes place near the town of Combehurst where Mrs. Browne lives with her children, Edward and Maggie, and their servant, Nancy. Near the Brownes' cottage lives the Bruxton family in a luxurious mansion. The two families grow closer with time and the author shows how childhood education and growing up shape and effect the adult personality.

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.

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.

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 satirical novel, Babbitt (1922), by Sinclair Lewis, is a critique of the social pressure toward conformity and what Lewis regarded as the emptiness of middle-class life. The setting is the city of Zenith in the Midwest. The book’s first seven chapters describe a day in the life of a realtor, George F. Babbitt, starting with his morning routine.