Showing results by author "Mentor New York" in All Categories

Lincoln's first inaugural address was delivered on March 4th, 1861, as the North and South were sliding towards separation and Civil War. His second inaugural, given just weeks before his assassination, was also delivered on March 4th but four years later, in 1865. Just over a month later, April 18th, 1865, the Civil War ended with the surrender of the Confederate army. This was four days after Lincoln was shot on April 14th. He died the next day. - Summary by John Greenman

“He had faith in his good fortune, in that power of attraction which he felt within him - a power so irresistible that all women yielded to it.”Though firmly set in 1880s Paris, Maupassant's gripping story of an amoral journalist on the make could, with only slight modifications of detail, be updated to the 1960s, to the Reagan-Thatcher years, or maybe to the present day. Anti-hero Georges Duroy is a down-at-heel ex-soldier of no particular talent. Good-looking but somewhat lacking in self-confidence, he discovers an ability to control and exploit women - whereupon his career in journalism...

There are several ways in which we may treat of the mysteries of the Three-and-Thirty Years of our dearest Lord. We may look at each of them singly, as it is in itself, full of grace and beauty, and distinctively unlike any other. Secondly, we may gather them up into departments, and call them the joyful, the sorrowful, and the glorious mysteries, the three sets differing thus from each other, and, in the unity of each set, each mystery having its own distinctness. Or, thirdly, we may view them as clustering in constellations, and yet these constellations unities, as the Childhood, the Hidden ...

Mary and Ned Boyne have fled their dreary life in Wisconsin for a home in rustic Dorsetshire. But you can only run so far, and some things - some secret things - may follow you. A creepy and tragic ghost story from one of the masters. (Summary by John Silence)

This is a massive effort, taking place in England and the Middle East, with a cast of thousands... Well, not thousands, fortunately, but certainly a great many. There are three Bertrams present: Sir Lionel, his son George (our hero), and the wealthy uncle. The primary story involves the joining of two couples (following some rocky periods), and the disposal of the uncle's fortune. The more amusing bits focus on peripheral characters in the social settings of a fictional town and in travel on board ship or touring Egypt. Trollope digresses from time to time to lecture us on religion, politics, ...

"What nuclear war may do to the world we know is a closed book to mankind—but here’s what coming eras may bring!" After nuclear war, scientists in Biological Control Labs monitor the former bomb sites, fearing that a mutated animal will develop the intelligence and power to become a threat to humans. One day, men sent to investigate alarms activated in the nuclear wasteland in the New York area find more than they bargained for. - Summary by Elsie Selwyn

Continuing the Beacon Lights of History Series, Mr. Lord discusses important European Statesmen Mirabeau, Edmund Burke, Napoleon, Prince Metternich, Chateaubriand, George V, and Louis Philippe. Also discussed is the Greek Revolution. (Summary by KHand)

Sherlock Holmes and Watson are awoken early by a distraught woman desperately seeking their aid. Something is terribly wrong and she fears for her life. Upon hearing her story, Sherlock agrees and springs into action to track down and deal with the sinister Speckled Band who have killed once already. Listen to another exciting adventure of the super sleuth as he uses his powers of observation and deduction to solve this perplexing case. Will he be in time to save the lady's life? Will his powers fail him this time? Listen and find out. (summary by Phil Chenevert)

Neither the name of Shakespeare nor that of Stratford appears directly in this short piece by James, and yet both are absolutely central to his plot. The story has to do with Mr. and Mrs. Gedge, tempted away from a dreary northern town library, which he runs, to become the wardens – caretakers and tour guides – of the house where the greatest writer of the English language was born, and in which he grew up. Or did he? There is, after all, a paucity of facts about His life (in James's text, that pronoun is always capitalized, as befits a deity) and only the slenderest of historical evidence...

Breckinridge Elkins is the roughest, toughest, fastest-shootin', hardest-fightin' feller in the Bear Creek settlement, and probably in the entire Humbolt Mountains. As he travels further from home, he single-handedly takes on outlaws, settles (and starts) feuds and tries his hand at romancing the girls. He also discovers a lot of strange customs among other folks, such as building houses out of boards and wearing clothes that ain't buckskins. Set in Arizona during the late 1800's, this collection of stories is a great rollicking romp through the American frontier as seen through the eyes of ...

This is not a manual of instruction for orchid growers; though there are many hints on cultivation, and a few paragraphs on how to hybridize. The author is just an enthusiastic amateur orchid lover. He takes the reader on a wander through the dangers and consequences of hunting orchids in the tropical jungles of the nineteenth century, and chats about the extreme peculiarities of orchid growth, behaviour and structure, colouring the essays with his own experiences and with his delight in cultivating these beautiful plants. Beware! A new hobby beckons! (Summary by Peter Yearsley)

"100%: The Story of a Patriot" dramatically recounts the adventures of a poor uneducated young man who lives by his wits and guile, as he becomes politicized during his involvement in the sometimes violent struggle between American “patriots” and “Reds”. The author wrote in the Appendix, which is not included in this recording: "Everything that has social significance is truth.... Practically all the characters in "100%" are real persons." This exciting, polemical novel was published in 1920. Sinclair (1878-1968) wrote nearly 100 novels, many based on industrial abuse. One of his best ...

Follow the young boy Huckleberry Finn and the slave Jim on their epic journey down the Mississippi River in the years before the Civil War. This masterpiece by Mark Twain is a delightful mixture of exciting adventures, sad mishaps, floods, lazy days floating on the raft, conniving con men and human beings in their most bewildering variety. It is a great pleasure to read and listen to. (by Phil Chenevert )

There's a mystery that's scaring folks on the hill where Prickly Porky the Porcupine lives. What could this strange creature be without head, legs or tail? From Peter Rabbit and Jimmy Skunk to Reddy Fox and even Buster Bear - everyone has their own ideas in this entertaining story from the Green Meadows. - Summary by Jude Somers

When Paddy the Beaver moves into the Green Forest and wants to build his home, he never quite expected it would cause so much commotion! Being a focal point of attention, the forest animals watch him carefully and scrutinized his work, make fun of and question his building project, someone screams at him saying unkind things, and one forest animal sets his sights on hunting him to have him for lunch! That's an awful lot for a little beaver to overcome - do you think he can do it?

Against Celsus, preserved entirely in Greek, is a major apologetics work by the Church Father Origen of Alexandria, written in around 248 AD, countering the writings of Celsus, a pagan philosopher and controversialist who had written a scathing attack on Christianity in his treatise "The True Word". Among a variety of other charges, Celsus had denounced many Christian doctrines as irrational and criticized Christians themselves as uneducated, deluded, unpatriotic, close-minded towards reason, and too accepting of sinners. He had accused Jesus of performing his miracles using black magic rather...

Barnaby Rudge by Charles Dickens is a historical novel set during the anti-Catholic Gordon Riots of 1780. It follows Barnaby, a kind but simple-minded young man, and his loyal raven, Grip. The story intertwines his fate with that of his mother, the mysterious Rudge family, and apprentice Gabriel Varden. As London erupts into chaos, Barnaby is unwittingly drawn into the riots, facing danger and injustice. Meanwhile, hidden secrets, murder, and betrayal unfold. With themes of mob violence, fate, and redemption, Dickens crafts a gripping tale of history, crime, and personal struggles amid ...

This collection of 20 public domain newspaper articles comprises volume 2 of Historic Newspaper Articles in the LibriVox collection. Both U.S. and U.K. newspapers are represented here. The articles span from 1848 to 1920. Topics covered (e.g., the Triangle Shirt Waist Factory Fire, the troubles of ‘Typhoid Mary’, how to dress for the seashore) vary in length and tone. Although the writers display a range of diverse styles, their words give today's readers a sense of the tenor of the times. (summary by Lee Ann Howlett)

Ellen Newbold La Motte (1873–1961) was an American nurse, journalist and author. … and in 1915 volunteered as one of the first American war nurses to go to Europe and treat soldiers in World War I. In Belgium she served in a French field hospital, keeping a bitter diary detailing the horrors that she witnessed daily. “I am a professor of American studies and recently spent several years researching the life of Ellen N. La Motte, a long-forgotten nurse and public health crusader. In particular, I focused on her war writing. Soon after World War I began, she volunteered as a nurse in a ...

This long essay is a work of mock philology, one of several appendices to Twain’s travel novel, A Tramp Abroad. In it, Twain explains, complains about, and shows how one might improve upon various aspects of the (awful) German language. His examples of precisely how the German language is awful include the famed “separable verb” – which allows one to put the first part of a given verb at the beginning – and its second part at the end – of a given clause or sentence (which may, indeed, be very long). He also makes fun of the extreme length of certain compound nouns (which are ...