Henry Carter Hull

The Traditional History and Characteristic Sketches of the Ojibway Nation (1850) is a work of Indigenous American history by George Copway. Written while he was living with his wife and daughter in New York, The Traditional History and Characteristic Sketches of the Ojibway Nation helped establish Copway's reputation as a leading Native American author of the nineteenth century. Recognized as one of the first books of its kind written by an indigenous...

When W.B. Yeats discovered Rabindranath Tagore's work in translation, he felt an intense kinship with a man, whose work was similarly grounded in spirituality and opposition to the British Empire. For the Irish poet, Tagore's poems were at once deeply personal and essentially universal, like a secret kept by all and shared regardless: "I have carried the manuscript of these translations about with me for days, reading it in railway trains, or on the...

Ten Days in a Mad-House (1887) is a book by American investigative journalist Nellie Bly. For her first assignment for Joseph Pulitzer's famed New York World newspaper, Bly went undercover as a patient at a notorious insane asylum on Blackwell's Island. Spending ten days there, she recorded the abuses and neglect she witnessed, turning her research into a sensational two-part story for the New York World later published as Ten Days in a Mad-House. Checking...

During the catastrophic economic depression of the 1890s, young Jack London found himself in the same situation as many others-homeless and unemployed. After a failed American investment and crop failure, the nation found itself in a panic. As London recounts these times, he tells stories of hopping on freight trains, consequently being forcefully removed. While living as a hobo, London often had to beg for food and money, and frequently found himself...

The Waste Land is a long poem by T. S. Eliot. It is widely regarded as one of the most important poems of the 20th century and a central text in Modernist poetry. Published in 1922, the 434-line poem first appeared in the United Kingdom in the October issue of The Criterion and in the United States in the November issue of The Dial. It was published in book form in December 1922. Among its famous phrases are "April is the cruelest month", "I will...

The Confessions of Nat Turner (1831) is a historical pamphlet by Nat Turner and Thomas Ruffin Gray. Published shortly after Turner's execution, The Confessions of Nat Turner is comprised of an interview with the revolutionary in the days leading up to his death, as well as independent research conducted by Gray, an attorney who represented some of the rebels involved. "And on the 12th of May, 1828, I heard a loud noise in the heavens, and the Spirit...

Published posthumously in 1766, A Journal to Stella by Jonathan Swift is a complete collection consisting of sixty-five letters he wrote to Esther Johnson, whom he bestowed the name of Stella. It is, known that Stella is the name Swift gave to Esther Johnson. They met when she was only eight years old and knew each other for the entirety of the rest of their lives. Swift was first a mentor to young Esther. He taught her to read and write then introduced...

Les Fleurs du mal is a collection of poems by Charles Baudelaire, encompassing almost all of his production in verse, from 1840 until his death at the end of August 1867. Flowers of Evil It is a major work of modern poetry. His pieces break with agreed style, in use until then and rejuvenate the structure of the verse by regular use of crossings, rejects and counter-rejects. This renovates the rigid form of the sonnet. He uses suggestive images by...

Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in Many Lands (1857) is the autobiography of Mary Seacole. Recognized for her pioneering healthcare work for soldiers and citizens around the world, Seacole was also the first Black Briton to publish an autobiographical work. Although Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in Many Lands underwent editing by an anonymous person, it is a first-person account of Seacole's experiences during outbreaks of cholera, malaria,...

Around the World in Seventy-Two Days (1890) is a travel narrative by American investigative journalist Nellie Bly. Proposed as a recreation of the journey undertaken by Phileas Fogg in Jules Verne's Around the World in Eighty Days (1873), Bly's journey was covered in Joseph Pulitzer's popular newspaper the New York World, inspiring countless others to attempt to surpass her record. At the time, readers at home were encouraged to estimate the hour...