Culture Recommended Books and Bestsellers

1Christmas Carol (version 02)

By Charles Dickens

A Christmas Carol (full title: A Christmas Carol in Prose, Being a Ghost Story of Christmas) is A Christmas Carol is a Victorian morality tale of an old and bitter miser, Ebenezer Scrooge, who undergoes a profound experience of redemption over the course of one evening. (Wikipedia)

2Quest of the Silver Fleece

By W. E. B. Du Bois

<i>The Quest of the Silver Fleece</i> is a story of romance, race, economics and politics set around the 1900s. Here, a traditionally educated boy and an unschooled “swamp girl” each begin a journey toward love, ambition and redemption in the “Old South.” (Summary by AJai Hilton)

3Ann Veronica

By H. G. Wells

Ann Veronica was a controversial book detailing the development of a naive school girl into a "New Woman". When it was published, the Spectator described it as a "poisonous book ... capable of poisoning the minds of those who read it." Although it is unlikely to offend modern listeners in this way, this novel addresses many feminist issues that are still relevant today. (Summary by Joy Chan)

4Seven Poor Travellers

By Charles Dickens

One of Dickens' Christmas stories, this was first published as part of the Christmas number of Household Words for 1854. The first chapter relates Dickens' visit to the ancient Richard Watts's Charity at Rochester. The second chapter is the touching story of "Richard Doubledick", which Dickens supposedly told the travellers, and Dickens' journey home on Christmas morning provides the short concluding chapter. (Summary by Ruth Golding)

The multilingual <i>Christmas Short Works Collection 2008</i>, containing public domain short stories, essays, poems, hymns, and scripture passages recorded by a variety of LibriVox members.

6Jungle

By Upton Sinclair

It is the end of the 19th century. Like thousands of others, the Rudkus family has emigrated from Lithuania to America in search of a better life. As they settle into the Packingtown neighborhood of Chicago, they find their dreams are unlikely to be realized. In fact, just the opposite is quite likely to occur. Jurgis, the main character of the novel, has brought his father Antanas, his fiancée Ona, her stepmother Teta Elzbieta, Teta Elzbieta's brother Jonas and her six children, and Ona's cousin Marija Berczynskas along. The family, naïve to the ways of Chicago, quickly falls prey to con men and makes a series of bad decisions that lead them into wretched poverty and terrible living conditions. All are forced to find jobs in dismal working conditions for their very survival. Jurgis, broken and discouraged, eventually finds solace in the American Socialist movement. <br><br>This novel was written during a period in American history when “Trusts” were formed by multiple corporations to establish monopolies that stifled competition and fixed prices. Unthinkable working conditions and unfair business practices were the norm. The Jungle’s author, Upton Sinclair, was an ardent Socialist of the time. Sinclair was commissioned by the “Appeal To Reason”, a Socialist journal of the period, to write a fictional expose on the working conditions of the immigrant laborers in the meat packing industry in Chicago. Going undercover, Sinclair spent seven weeks inside the meatpacking plants gathering details for his novel. <br><br>The Reader wishes to gratefully acknowledge the assistance, and patience, of Professor Giedrius Subacius (University of Illinois) and the folks at <a href="http://www.lituanus.org">Lituanus</a> for their invaluable support as I struggled with Lithuanian pronunciations. Truly, this audio book would have been far more difficult, and far less authentic, without their help. <br><br>And now, feel free to wander into The Jungle……. (Summary by Tom Weiss)

7Job

By Sinclair Lewis

'The Job' is an early work by American novelist Sinclair Lewis. It is considered an early declaration of the rights of working women. The focus is on the main character, Una Golden, who desires to establish herself in a legitimate occupation while balancing the eventual need for marriage. The story takes place in the early 1900-1920's and takes Una from a small Pennsylvania town to New York. Forced to work due to family illness, Una shows a talent for the traditional male bastion of commercial real estate and, while valued by her company, she struggles to achieve the same status of her male coworkers. On a parallel track, her quest for traditional romance and love is important but her unique role as a working woman... makes it tough to find an appropriate suitor. (Summary by Wikipedia)

8House of Mirth (Version 2)

By Edith Wharton

Wharton's classic story of an aging (by Victorian-era standards) spinster socialite who would rather marry for money than for true love. (Summary by BellonaTimes)

<i>Omoo: A Narrative of Adventures in the South Seas</i> is Herman Melville's sequel to <i>Typee</i>, and, as such, was also autobiographical. After leaving Nuku Hiva, the main character ships aboard a whaling vessel which makes its way to Tahiti, after which there is a mutiny and the majority of the crew are imprisoned on Tahiti. The book follows the actions of the narrator as he explores Tahiti and remarks on their customs and way of life.<br><br> Many sources incorrectly assert that Omoo is based on Melville's stay in the Marquesas. The novel is, in fact, exclusively based on his experiences in the Society Islands. (Summary by Wikipedia)

10Ragged Trousered Philanthropists

By Robert Tressell

Clearly frustrated at the refusal of his contemporaries to recognise the iniquity of society, Tressell's cast of hypocritical Christians, exploitative capitalists and corrupt councillors provide a backdrop for his main target — the workers who think that a better life is "not for the likes of them". Hence the title of the book; Tressell paints the workers as "philanthropists" who throw themselves into back-breaking work for poverty wages in order to generate profit for their masters.<br/><br/> The hero of the book, Frank Owen, is a socialist who believes that the capitalist system is the real source of the poverty he sees all around him. In vain he tries to convince his fellow workers of his world view, but finds that their education has trained them to distrust their own thoughts and to rely on those of their "betters". Much of the book consists of conversations between Owen and the others, or more often of lectures by Owen in the face of their jeering; this was presumably based on Tressell's own experiences.(Summary by Tadhg)

1Current Superstitions

By Fanny Dickerson Bergen

No matter how enlightened, chances are you've been raised around superstitious lore of one kind or another. Fanny Dickerson Bergen was one of the original researchers of North American oral traditions relating to such key life events and experiences as babyhood and childhood, marriage, wishes and dreams, luck, warts and cures, death omens and mortuary customs, and "such truck," as Huck Finn would say.<br /><br /> You'll be surprised at how many of these old saws you'll know. Here's a quote from Chapter One, Babyhood:<br /><br />Monday’s child is fair of face,<br />Tuesday’s child is full of grace,<br />Wednesday’s child is sour and sad,<br />Thursday’s child is merry and glad,<br />Friday’s child is loving and giving,<br />Saturday’s child must work for a living;<br />But the child that is born on the Sabbath day<br />Is blithe and bonny, good and gay.<br />--Baldwinsville, N. Y.<br /><br /> All of these readings are as short as 5 minutes and no longer than 15 minutes, with plenty of pithy one-liners in the form of proverbs, always given with the locale they came from in Canada or the United States (with clear influences in British tradition). (summary by Denny Sayers)

2Spinster Book

By Olive Green and Myrtle Reed

A cross between guidebook and social commentary, The Spinster Book gives clever and humorous insights on topics such as courting, handling men and women, love letters, marriage and spinsterhood. (Summary by Kristin Hughes)

3Souls of Black Folk

By W. E. B. Du Bois

<i>The Souls of Black Folk</i> is a well-known work of African-American literature by activist W.E.B. Du Bois. The book, published in 1903, contains several essays on race, some of which had been previously published in <i>Atlantic Monthly</i> magazine. Du Bois drew from his own experiences to develop this groundbreaking work on being African-American in American society. Outside of its notable place in African-American history, <i>The Souls of Black Folk</i> also holds an important place in social science as one of the first works to deal with sociology. (Summary from Wikipedia)

From advice on planning the perfect wedding to eating an artichoke correctly, Emily Post offers instruction on how to live a well-mannered life circa 1922. With a sometimes gentle, sometimes sharp wit, she maintains that true ladies and gentlemen are characterized not by wealth but by their behavior toward others. (Summary by Laurie Anne Walden)

5Strange Pages from Family Papers

By Thomas Firminger Thiselton-Dyer

“Among other qualities which have been supposed to belong to a dead man’s hand, are its medicinal virtues, in connection with which may be mentioned the famous ‘dead hand,’ which was, in years past, kept at Bryn Hall, Lancashire… Thus the case is related of a woman who, attacked with the smallpox, had this dead hand in bed with her every night for six weeks, and of a poor lad living near Manchester who was touched with it for the cure of scrofulous sores.” <br /><br />Though not all chapters have such gruesome subjects as The Dead Hand, all are full of a curious mixture of superstition and local history that will delight and amuse the modern listener. (Summary by David Barnes).<br /><br />Read by Annika Feilbach, <a href="http://www.carlmanchester.net/">Carl Manchester</a>, Claire Goget, <a href="http://piratelibrary.com/">Cori Samuel</a>, <a href="http://www.earthcallingdavid.com/">David Barnes</a>, Graham Redman, <a href="http://hughmcguire.net/">Hugh McGuire</a>, Jennie Hughes, <a href="http://kaitharshayr.wordpress.com/">Lizzie Driver</a>, Peter Yearsley, Philippa, <a href="http://jabberworks.livejournal.com/">Sarah McIntrye</a>, Sarah O'Connor and Stuart Pyle.</li>

In Defense of Women is H. L. Mencken's 1918 book on women and the relationship between the sexes. Some laud the book as progressive while others brand it as reactionary. While Mencken didn't champion women's rights, he described women as wiser in many novel and observable ways, while demeaning average men. According to Mencken's biographer, Fred Hobson: Depending on the position of the reader, he was either a great defender of women's rights or, as a critic labelled him in 1916, 'the greatest misogynist since Schopenhauer','the country's high-priest of woman-haters.' (Summary from Wikipedia)

Landmark United States Supreme Court decisions focusing on civil rights and equal protection between 1950 and 1960. (summary by Kelli Robinson)

8Army Life in a Black Regiment

By Thomas Wentworth Higginson

These pages record some of the adventures of the First South Carolina Volunteers, the first slave regiment mustered into the service of the United States during the late civil war. It was, indeed, the first colored regiment of any kind so mustered, except a portion of the troops raised by Major-General Butler at New Orleans. These scarcely belonged to the same class, however, being recruited from the free colored population of that city, a comparatively self-reliant and educated race. (From the text)

9Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, Volume 1

By Charles Mackay

The book chronicles and vilifies its targets in three parts: "National Delusions", "Peculiar Follies", and "Philosophical Delusions".<br /><br /> The subjects of Mackay's debunking include alchemy, beards (influence of politics and religion on), witch-hunts, crusades and duels. Present day writers on economics, such as Andrew Tobias, laud the three chapters on economic bubbles. (summary from Wikipedia)<br /><br /> <a href="https://librivox.org/extraordinary-popular-delusions-vol-2-by-charles-mackay/">Link to Volume 2</a>

10Social History of Smoking

By George L. Apperson

This work tells the history of smoking in England from the social point of view. Thus it does not deal with the history of tobacco growing or tobacco related manufacture, but is rather the story of how smoking has fitted in with the fashions and customs throughout the ages, and the changes in the attitude of society towards smoking. (Summary by Maikki)