Biography & Autobiography
The Ordeal of Mark Twain
Read by Lucretia B.
Van Wyck Brooks
This book, published in 1920, analyzes the literary progression of Samuel Clemens and his shortcomings (which are debatable). Brooks attribu…
Books Fatal to Their Authors
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Peter Hempson Ditchfield
This is a collection of stories of authors who have lost their fortunes and sometimes their lives after writing a book. The liberty of a per…
Some Famous Women
Read by Pamela Nagami
Louise Creighton
Louise Creighton (1850-1936) was a British author and women's rights activist. The wife of the Anglican bishop of London, she was the mother…
The Story of My Life and Work
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Booker T. Washington
The legacy of Booker T. Washington has inspired leaders for racial equality for over a century. He rose from a slave family to be adviser t…
Joseph Conrad
Read by David Wales
Hugh Walpole
This is a literary biography of Joseph Conrad (1857 – 1924) who is regarded as one of the greatest novelists in English. He was granted Brit…
Lord Clive
Read by Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
Thomas Babington Macaulay
Robert Clive was, in Macaulay’s view, the real founder of British power in India. Macaulay himself served on the Governor’s Council in India…
Celebrated Crimes, Vol. 4: Karl-Ludwig Sand
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Alexandre Dumas
This is the fourth volume of Alexandre Dumas' studies of celebrated crimes and their perpetrators. This volume is concerned with the story o…
Prophets, Priests, And Kings
Read by David Wales
Alfred George Gardiner
These biographical essays of (mostly) British subjects were written in 1907-1908 for The Daily News newspaper and reflect their subjects as …
The Autobiography of a Clown
Read by Lee Smalley
Isaac Marcosson
This "as told to" autobiography of Jules Turnour is based on a popular article that appeared in the Saturday Evening Post in 1909.…
The Life of Florence Nightingale, Volume 1
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Edward Tyas Cook
A history of Florence Nightingale (1820-1910), the founder of modern nursing. Here's the definitive biography, gleaned from a lifetime of he…
Oliver Cromwell and the Rule of the Puritans in England
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Charles H. Firth
The Life of Cromwell is in part based on an article contributed by the author to the Dictionary of National Biography in 1888, but embodies …
Henry D. Thoreau
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Franklin Benjamin Sanborn
A biography of the famous and popular poet-naturalist, author, philosopher, historian, written by a family friend who spent time with Thorea…
An American in the Making, the Life Story of an Immigrant
Read by Sue Anderson
Marcus Eli Ravage
“The sweat-shop was for me the cradle of liberty. . . It was my first university.” Attending lectures and the New York theatre at night; by …
A Japanese Boy
Read by Phil Chenevert
Shigemi Shiukichi
The life of a Japanese boy in the late 1800's and early 1900's, told simply and beautifully. This isn't about civilizations and governments,…
Shakespeare: Life and Work
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John Munro
William Shakespeare: actor, poet, playwright. He is often called England's greatest writer, the Bard of Avon, a national treasure. But who w…
The Life of Samuel Johnson, Vol. I (version 2)
Read by Barbara Baker
James Boswell
This is the first of four volumes of a what was a new, intimate, type of biography when it was first published in 1791 and which has been an…
Edward the First
Read by Pamela Nagami
Thomas Frederick Tout
Edward I of England (1239-1307) will always be remembered as the "Hammer of the Scots" who condemned William Wallace (Braveheart) …
Abraham Lincoln: A History (Volume 8)
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John Hay and John George Nicolay
Abraham Lincoln: A History is an 1890 ten-volume account of the life and times of Abraham Lincoln, written by John Nicolay and John Hay, who…
Bismarck and the Foundation of the German Empire
Read by S S Kim
James Headlam-Morley
"It is hard to be an Emperor under such a Chancellor." lamented Wilhelm I, the first emperor of the German Empire. Otto von Bismar…
The Story of My Childhood
Read by Veronica Jenkins
Clara Barton
Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross, recalls growing up in early 19th Century Massachusetts. (Introduction by Veronica Jenkins)