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1Uncle Remus

By Joel Chandler Harris

Many readers will already be familiar with Uncle Remus’ favorite animal characters – Br’er Rabbit and Br’er Fox among them – and some of the popular tales concerning them. (To this day, “tar baby” as an expression for a particularly sticky situation that is almost impossible to solve, has passed into the English language and common use.) Even people who have never read any of these tales will know exactly why you don’t throw a rabbit into a briar patch, mainly because Walt Disney produced his first movie ever to use professional actors with animation, called “Song of the South”, based on the Uncle Remus tales.<br /><br /> Joel Chandler Harris, a newsman in Georgia, grew up listening to folktales told by the local black population. Later, he published his version of these tales in a series of stories printed in the “Atlanta Constitution.” The tales of, and by, Harris’ chief character Uncle Remus, an old black man scrabbling to make his living in the post-Civil War South, were extremely popular and widely read. Harris’ use of innovative spelling to give the reader a sense of the black dialect was considered novel.<br /><br /> While this is not a book that will pass a current political correctness test, due to its use of labels for black folks which have gone out of polite conversation, Uncle Remus is a largely sympathetic look at post-war plantation life. Uncle Remus himself is a warm, folksy man of good humor and dry wit, and after finishing his animal stories, the remaining sayings and tales are a moment of history frozen in amber. (Summary by Mark)

2Life in a Thousand Worlds

By William Shuler Harris

A jolly romp, which could be perhaps be described as Gulliver’s Travels Through Our Solar System and Beyond, as written by a great admirer of C. S. Lewis, on a rainy Sunday afternoon, after one too many mugs of cocoa. Includes some thought on alien philosophies and how to apply them to moral and social problems here on Planet Earth.<br><br> Unrelated to the book, this was also the one-thousandth project to be started at LibriVox. — (Non-summary by Cori Samuel.)

3Oscar Wilde: His Life and Confessions

By Frank Harris

Consumers of biography are familiar with the division between memoirs of the living or recently dead written by those who "knew" the subject more or less intimately, and the more objective or scholarly accounts produced by later generations.<br /><br /> In the case of Wilde, as presented to us by Frank Harris, we are in a way doubly estranged from the subject. We meet with Oscar the charismatic talker, whose tone of voice can never be reproduced – even if a more scrupulous biographer had set down his words accurately – and we are perhaps already aware of him as Wilde the self-destructive celebrity who uneasily fills the place of the premier gay icon and martyr in our contemporary view.<br /><br /> Neither of these images will do. We need to read as many accounts as possible. Harris, though himself a self-advertising literary and sexual buccaneer, takes a wincingly representative view of Wilde’s homophile activity: for him it is a patrician excrescence, the abominable vice of the few, contracted at English boarding schools – though thankfully “not infectious” as far as he himself is concerned.<br /><br /> What a long road we have to travel to arrive at the essentially gay man of today! But there are many shortcuts to take us back to where we came from… (Summary by Martin Geeson)

4Uncle Remus and Brer Rabbit

By Joel Chandler Harris

Uncle Remus' stories feature a trickster hero called Br'er Rabbit ("Brother" Rabbit), who uses his wits to slide out of trouble and gain the advantage over the slower witted other animals, many of whom are trying to eat him. Br'er Rabbit stories were mostly collected directly from the afro-american oral story-telling tradition and are said to be a direct interpretation of Yoruba tales of Hare. This book contains 11 unique stories and was the last one published before the author's death. (Introduction by Phil Chenevert)

5Nights With Uncle Remus

By Joel Chandler Harris

That the little boy loved Uncle Remus and his stories was so obvious that the tale-spinning sessions began drawing additional listeners. Daddy Jack, an old "Africa man" visiting from down-state; Sis Tempy, the strong chief of the mansion's servants; and Tildy, a young and pretty servant-girl - all found their way to Uncle Remus' rude cabin when their duties or interests permitted, to sit around the hearth and hear the wonderful tales of the animals, and foremost among them, Brer Rabbit and Brer Fox.<br></br>It turned out that some of the tales had different ways of telling, and the visitors took their turns at being the story-teller. Always one or more clever animals humbled or hornswoggled others among their community with flattery, wide-eyed mystery, or outright fraud.<br></br>After the success of Harris' "Uncle Remus: His Songs and His Sayings" ( http://librivox.org/uncle-remus-by-joel-chandler-harris/ ), he went on to write eight more books compiling the tales he himself had heard on the plantation in his young days. This is the first of those sequels.

The recollections of a British infantryman who served in the British army during the Napoleonic Wars. (Summary by Graham Keeling)

26 of Uncle Remus's stories put into verse and song. With the exception of the Tar Baby story, they were all new to this publication of 1904 and cover a variety of humorous subjects from Adan and Eve (De Appile Tree) to Brer Rabbit's Gigglin' Place. There are also genuine Camp Meeting Songs and a Corn Shuckin' Song. (Summary by Phil Chenevert)

Uncle Remus tells these 11 stories but to the son of the original "little boy" who is visiting his grandmother on the plantation. As always Uncle Remus can be relied upon to provide funny and pointed insight into human personalities through his story telling. These were all published in the Uncle Remus magazine from 1905 and 1906 and gathered together in this book by the author. (Summary by Phil Chenevert)

9Uncle Remus & Friends

By Joel Chandler Harris

Uncle Remus, that genial old storyteller, knows how to spin these wonderful tales about the 'criteers' that the little 6 year old boy (and many of us adults!) love to listen to. Yet the 'Brer Rabbit and 'Brer Fox and the others sound a lot like the people all around us. They tell stories about personalities and faults and virtues in a way that is unique to Uncle Remus. As the shadows grow longer outside, draw up a rocking chair next to the little boy, settle back and listen to the wise old man tell these stories. These 17 stories were specially chosen from Uncle Remus: His Songs and Sayings and include The Wonderful Tar-Baby Story, Miss Cow falls a Victim to Mr. Rabbit; Mr. Fox and the Deceitful Frogs; Mr. Rabbit grossly deceives Mr. Fox and lots of others. (Summary by phil chenevert)

While detective work always makes for exciting stories, the circumstances under which the detective works play a huge role in the thrill. The stories in this collection follow detectives as they unravel mysteries in times of war, where danger awaits them at every turn. - Summary by Carolin

11Honey-Bee: Its Nature, Homes and Products

By William Hetherington Harris

"In these days of intense business-pressure, it is a good thing for men to cultivate hobbies. We say this, notwithstanding the fact that men with hobbies are likely to become bores, from thinking and talking too incessantly of their pet occupations, or are apt to run into extravagant expenditure of time and money, which could be better utilised. Now, in recommending apiculture, or bee-keeping, as a recreation from more serious pursuits, we feel that we incur little risk of increasing the number of bores in society, or of inducing an undue outlay of hours or pounds on the part of those who follow our suggestions. For, on the one hand, the facts likely to be spoken of by enthusiastic apiarians to casual hearers could not fail to interest; while the practical results of bee-keeping will certainly, to say the least, repay in hard cash all reasonable outlay on the part of any one who is possessed of ordinary good sense, and who learns to manage his hives according to modern methods." - From the book Introduction

An allegory that describes the sad journey of Miss Church-Member who thinks she is traveling on a more convenient way to heaven, but she does not realize that she is traveling on the Broad Highway to destruction with her polite, yet, fiendish companion, Mr. World. - Summary by James En

The Guerra del Rif—the Rif War. 1921 to 1926. It was the slogging bloody 5-year long climax of Spain’s effort to secure dominion over a territory in North Africa allotted them by France; A chapter instigated over a cause no less profane than a mining concession and which would prove to be an unmitigated disaster for all involved; the Spanish, the French and the Iriffiyen. <br><br> This attempted salve for a nation’s wounded prestige would leave more than forty thousand Spaniards as casualties, the nation humiliated and irrevocably destabilize the Spanish state—directly leading to the dethronement of Alfonso XIII, civil war and the rise of Franco. The French Republic would be sucked into the conflict while enforcing their own colonial designs on Morocco and would suffer—only—eighteen thousand casualties. The war evoked widespread condemnation from the left in France and provided an exemplar for anti-colonial revolt which would go on to haunt them for many decades hence. <br><br> Finally, Abd El-Krim’s Republic of the Rif would (eventually) be crushed under the weight of an opposing army of almost half-a-million soldiers as well as hundreds of tanks and aircraft. During the war, the Spanish and French widely employed chemical weapons against Rifian civilian populations. As a side note, also during the war Spain and France signed the Geneva Protocol prohibiting the use of chemical weapons—though the treaty didn’t come into effect until 1928. <br><br> <i>⸮ It is one thing to make a stand on moral principle, after all, but quite another to let perfectly good stockpiles of phosgene and mustard gas go to waste.~</i> <br><br> Throughout the duration of this particularly brutal and senseless war the correspondent covering it for The Times was Walter Burton Harris, British expat and author of this book, who had deep connections in Morocco having settled there in 1887 and travelled widely within the country. <br><br> This is his account. - Summary by Alister<br><br> <b>Part 2</b> can be found at: <a href="https://librivox.org/france-spain-and-the-rif-part-2-by-walter-burton-harris/">https://librivox.org/france-spain-and-the-rif-part-2-by-walter-burton-harris/</a>

14Story of Coventry

By Mary Dormer Harris

Nowadays best known for its bombing in WWII, the English city of Coventry was founded in the early Middle Ages. Earl Leofric and his wife Lady Godiva (famously riding naked through the streets) founded a Benedictine monastery in 1043, and over time, the city became a major pilgrimage center. During the Wars of the Roses (1455 - 1487), the Royal Court was moved to Coventry and parliament was held in the city as well. In this book Mary Dormer Harris follows Coventry's history through the Middle Ages. While looking at famous people from Coventry and their influence on the city's architecture, she also details the daily lives of the common townsfolk, the guild, and their contributions to the city's thriving economy. This book is part of the "Mediaeval Town" series published in the early 20th century. (Summary by Availle)

The Guerra del Rif—the Rif War. 1921 to 1926. It was the slogging bloody 5-year long climax of Spain’s effort to secure dominion over a territory in North Africa allotted them by France; A chapter instigated over a cause no less profane than a mining concession and which would prove to be an unmitigated disaster for all involved; the Spanish, the French and the Iriffiyen. <br><br> This attempted salve for a nation’s wounded prestige would leave more than forty thousand Spaniards as casualties, the nation humiliated and irrevocably destabilize the Spanish state—directly leading to the dethronement of Alfonso XIII, civil war and the rise of Franco. The French Republic would be sucked into the conflict while enforcing their own colonial designs on Morocco and would suffer—only—eighteen thousand casualties. The war evoked widespread condemnation from the left in France and provided an exemplar for anti-colonial revolt which would go on to haunt them for many decades hence. <br><br> Finally, Abd El-Krim’s Republic of the Rif would (eventually) be crushed under the weight of an opposing army of almost half-a-million soldiers as well as hundreds of tanks and aircraft. During the war, the Spanish and French widely employed chemical weapons against Rifian civilian populations. As a side note, also during the war Spain and France signed the Geneva Protocol prohibiting the use of chemical weapons—though the treaty didn’t come into effect until 1928. <br><br> <i>⸮ It is one thing to make a stand on moral principle, after all, but quite another to let perfectly good stockpiles of phosgene and mustard gas go to waste.~</i> <br><br> Throughout the duration of this particularly brutal and senseless war the correspondent covering it for The Times was Walter Burton Harris, British expat and author of this book, who had deep connections in Morocco having settled there in 1887 and travelled widely within the country. <br><br> This is his account. - Summary by Alister<br><br> <b>Part 1</b> can be found at: <a href="https://librivox.org/france-spain-and-the-rif-part-1-by-walter-burton-harris/">https://librivox.org/france-spain-and-the-rif-part-1-by-walter-burton-harris/</a>

Wholesome Cooking, A Practical Book for a Practical Cook, Two Hundred Well-Tested Recipes selected by Ethel Harris. Ten chapters from soup to cakes with such intriguing dishes as rabbit stew, fricassee parsnips, and snow pudding. Recipes are given in the older narrative style with general instructions for each type of dish. - Summary by Larry Wilson

17Persephone of Eleusis

By Clare Winger Harris

A romance of Ancient Greece featuring the hero's journey and evil plotting. Will either succeed? - Summary by Christine Rottger