Short Nonfiction Collection, Vol. 062

Fifteen short nonfiction works in the public domain, independently chosen by the readers. Volume 62 features several introspective essays: by T. S. Eliot (Tradition and Individual Talent), Stephen Leacock (The Decline of the Drama), Carlyle (The Sacredness of Work), and Jonathan Swift (A Meditation Upon a Broomstick). Life questions are further explored by theologians Agrippa von Nettesheim (The Vanity of Arts and Sciences) and Spurgeon (Effectual Calling, Sermon # 73), while spiritualist Andrew Jackson Davis presents his understanding of death and dying (The Portal of the Unknown). Public and political life are examined by Eltwood Pomeroy (The Follies of Legislators), Henry Ward Beecher (The American Flag), Franklin Hanford (Did Betsy Ross Design the Flag?), and Nicolas de Condorcet (On the Admission of Women to the Rights of Citizenship). Vol. 62 includes biographical sketches of two men of genius, a scientist, Nikola Tesla (Hugo Gernsback) and a painter, John Singer Sargent (Henry James). Finally, a scientific look at the destructive power of sea waves is complemented by a meditation on nature’s grandeur by poet Rupert Brooke, who visits Niagara Falls and is moved to ” thoughts of destiny and the passage of empires.” – Summary by Sue Anderson