"African American history is the part of American history that looks at the history of African Americans or Black Americans. Of the 10.7 million Africans who were brought to the Americas until the 1860s, 450 thousand were shipped to what is now the United States. Most African Americans are...

The Conquest of Bread is an 1892 book by the Russian anarcho-communist Peter Kropotkin. Peter Kropotkin was born a Russian prince whose father owned 1,200 serfs. But he became a Russian activist, writer, revolutionary, scientist, economist, sociologist, historian, essayist, researcher, political...

10 Great Russian Short Story. The Russian short stories that will make a vivid impression on a person: The Mantle by Nikolai Gogol, Notes from the Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Dream of a Ridiculous Man by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Death of Ivan Illyich by Leo Tolstoy, Darkness by Anton...

"The Picture of Dorian Gray is a Gothic and philosophical novel by Oscar Wilde, first published complete in the July 1890 issue of Lippincott's Monthly Magazine. Fearing the story was indecent, the magazine's editor deleted roughly five hundred words before publication without...

""«The Caballero's Way»" is a short story by the American author William Sydney Porter, who wrote under the pseudonym of O. Henry. It was first published in the July 1907 issue of Everybody's Magazine and was collected in the anthology The Heart of the West later the same...

"Washington Irving (April 3, 1783 – November 28, 1859) was an American short story writer, essayist, biographer, historian, and diplomat of the early 19th century. He is best known for his short stories «„Rip Van Winkle“» (1819) and «„The Legend of Sleepy Hollow“» (1820), both of which appear...

"The Red Badge of Courage is a war novel by American author Stephen Crane (1871–1900). Taking place during the American Civil War, the story is about a young private of the Union Army, Henry Fleming, who flees from the field of battle. Overcome with shame, he longs for a wound, a «„red badge...

"A Changed Man is a collection of twelve tales written by Thomas Hardy. The collection was originally published in book form in 1913, although all of the tales had been previously published in newspapers or magazines from 1881 to 1900. There are eleven short stories and a novella The Romantic...

Thomas Paine was born in Great Britain; he came to America at the age of 37 for the first time. He is rightly considered to be the Anglo-American writer, philosopher, publicist, as well as «American godfather» for supporting separatist spirits and inspiring Americans to fight for their independence...

"The State and Revolution (1917), by Vladimir Lenin, describes the role of the State in society, the necessity of proletarian revolution, and the theoretic inadequacies of social democracy in achieving revolution to establish the dictatorship of the proletariat. Lenin began the composition of...

""«The Monkey's Paw»" is a supernatural short story by author W. W. Jacobs, first published in England in the collection The Lady of the Barge in 1902. In the story, three wishes are granted to the owner of The Monkey's Paw, but the wishes come with an enormous price for...

""«Rip Van Winkle»" is a short story by the American author Washington Irving, first published in 1819. It follows a Dutch-American villager in colonial America named Rip Van Winkle who falls asleep in the Catskill Mountains and wakes up 20 years later, having missed the American...

"The Dream of a Ridiculous Man" (Russian: Сон смешного человека, Son smeshnovo cheloveka) is a short story by Fyodor Dostoyevsky written in 1877. It chronicles the experiences of a man who decides that there is nothing of any value in the world. Slipping into nihilism with the “terrible...

The Christmas Tree and the Wedding" is a short story written by Russian author Fyodor Dostoyevsky published in 1848. The piece is narrated by an awkward outcast attending a Christmas party. He observes the party's guest of honour and takes special interest in one of the children. The...

Notes from Underground also translated as Notes from the Underground or Letters from the Underworld, is an 1864 novella by Fyodor Dostoevsky. Notes is considered by many to be one of the first existentialist novels. It presents itself as an excerpt from the rambling memoirs of a bitter, isolated,...

For a while, the famous writer Irving Washington was an employee of the American diplomatic mission in Spain. He spent three months in the famous Alhambra Palace. This acquaintance with the historical relic inspired him to write this book. In addition to historical descriptions and essays the book...

The Metamorphosis (German: Die Verwandlung) is a novella written by Franz Kafka which was first published in 1915. One of Kafka's best-known works. Gregor Samsa wakes up one morning to find himself transformed into a «monstrous vermin». He initially considers the transformation to be...

Nobody loves Mary – the heroine of the famous story of Francis Burnett «The Secret Garden.» However, she does not burn with love for others, and moreover – she can not stand the whole world. And then her parents are passing away prematurely. There is an impression that nothing good can happen to...

Folk art – Russian fairy tales is a wonderful collection of the most famous Russian fairy tales. The “Russian skazki” (“skazatz” means to tell) are the mass of folk-tales distributed widely throughout all the Russias. Handed down, by constant repetition, from generation to generation, a possession...

"Songs of Innocence and of Experience is an collection of poems by William Blake. It appeared in two phases. A few first copies were printed and illuminated by William Blake himself in 1789; five years later he bound these poems with a set of new poems in a volume titled Songs of Innocence and...