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...y service can provide for human needs, as opposed to laws or rules which can only prohibit specific actions and do not provide for the necessaries of life. Ford applies his reasoning to the lending system, transportation industry, international trade and interactions between labor and management. For each, he proposes solutions that maximize service and provide goods at th...

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...ass is considered one of the great works of economics as well as the first detailed critique of consumerism. In the book, Veblen argues that economic life is driven not by notions of utility, but by social vestiges from pre-historic times. [Summary modified from Wikipedia.]...

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...The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, written in 1789, is the autobiography of Olaudah Equiano. It discusses his time spent in slavery, serving primarily on galleys, documents his attempts at becoming an independent man through his study ...

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...Geronimo’s Story of His Life is the oral life history of a legendary Apache warrior. Composed in 1905, while Geronimo was being held as a U.S. prisoner of war at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, Geronimo’s story found audience and publication through the effort...

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...This biography is actually a series of essays by prominent personalities of the time that shed light on John Stuart Mill's life and areas of endeavor. Those areas include his experiences in India House, his moral character, certain botanical explorations, how effective he was as a critic, studies in morals and the law, and discoveries concerning ...

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..., according to Matthew; Greek, Κατά Μαθθαίον or Κατά Ματθαίον) is one of the four Gospel accounts of the New Testament. It narrates an account of the life and ministry of Jesus, from his genealogy to his post-resurrection commissioning of his Apostles to go and make disciples of all nations. Bibles traditionally print Matthew as the first gospel, followed in order by Mark,...

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...tigative journalist and “stunt” reporter, had herself committed to the Blackwell’s Island Insane Asylum in New York. Her purpose was to discover what life was like for those who had been deemed insane. She was surprised to discover the depth of mistreatement of the patients. Partially as a result of her reporting, more money was allocated to the asylum and reforms were put...

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...he most widely read autobiographies of Fenno-swedish literature. Anders Ramsay's eight volumes offer a great wealth of information about aristocratic life in 19th century Finland, as well as of life in Paris, on the grand tour in Italy and so on. Ramsay's style of writing is free and full of delightful humour -- often at the author's own expense. His life is also a good il...

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...Audubon's life naturally divides itself into three periods: his youth, which was on the whole a gay and happy one, and which lasted till the time of his marriage at the age of twenty-eight; his business career which followed, lasting t...

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...years in the service of the Hudson's Bay Company. He returned to Scotland in 1847, and published his first book the following year, Hudson's Bay: or, Life in the Wilds of North America. For some time he was employed by Messrs Constable, the publishers, but in 1856 he gave up business for the profession of literature, and began the series of adventure stories for the young ...

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...as a slave, Epictetus used his time productively, studying Stoic Philosophy under Musonius Rufus. He was eventually freed and lived a relatively hard life in ill health in Rome. So far as is known, Epictetus himself wrote nothing. All that we have of his work was transcribed by his pupil Arrian. The main work is The Discourses, four books of which have been preserved (out ...

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...Bastiat asserted that the only purpose of government is to defend the right of an individual to life, liberty, and property. From this definition, Bastiat concluded that the law cannot defend life, liberty and property if it promotes socialist policies inherently opposed to these very things. In this way, he says, the l...

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... morning we found our socks and coarse, soggy boots frozen solid. Thus, with perceptive eye for detail, the American naturalist, John Muir, describes life on a pioneer Wisconsin farm in the 1850's. Muir was only eleven years old when his father uprooted the family from a relatively comfortable life in Dunbar, Scotland, to settle in the backwoods of North America. The elder...

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... on several key points. The thing that he wants to persuade the reader of is that government is instituted to promote external interests, relating to life, liberty, and the general welfare, while the church exists to promote internal interests, i.e., salvation. The two serve separate functions, and so, must be considered to be separate institutions. (Summary from Wikipedia...

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... Cavalry during the plains wars, to his pony express service and finally the story of how he got his nickname Buffalo Bill, everything is larger than life. Killing 4,280 buffalo in 18 months for the railroad workers was an amazing feat. Follow along as he tells of his Indian campaigns and then his world famous Wild West Show later in life. The foreword gives a brief summar...

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...Jane (also known as Molly) in Massachusetts in 1851 and 1852. The “Shirley Letters”, as the collected whole later became known, gave true accounts of life in two gold mining camps on the Feather River in the 1850s. She described these camps in Northern California with vividness in portraying the wildness of Gold Rush life. The letters give detailed accounts of the vast and...

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...Published posthumously in 1919, this collection of diary entries presents a scathing picture of army life and is said to be one of the most vivid accounts of daily life in the trenches. It chronicles West's increasing disillusion with war and his move toward pacifist and atheist beliefs. The final part consists of his powerf...

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...ith the money she earned as a seamstress. She eventually worked for Mary Lincoln. It is a fascinating book, filled with many recollections of her own life and her interactions with the Lincolns and other members of the government elite. (summary by Guero)...

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... everyone loved her, and the letters are very personal in style and content. The letters are as much an introduction to her person as a record of her life on the Upper Nile....

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...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)...

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...1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith understanding, and opposing the liberal and pragmatic theological tendencies in the Church of his day. In his lifetime, Spurgeon preached to around 10 million people, often up to ten times each week at different places. In this series of devotionals, he challenges each of us to examine our own heart to make sure our faith is solidly ...

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...yle often sprinkled with subtle cynical comments on human behaviour. In the Devil's Dictionary, he let his sense of humour and his cynical outlook on life colour a collection of dictionary-like definitions. (Summary by Peter)...

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...A comprehensive and detailed account of medieval life and culture in France, with reference to other parts of Europe, including chapters on private life, food, hunting, games and pastimes, costume, privileges and rights, justice, commerce, finance, and punishments. The onli...

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...ort, clear, and systematic manner, how the principle of Non-Resistance, about which Tolstoy has written so much, is related to economic and political life. (Summary by Aylmer Maude, Translator)...

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...d's nature. They constitute a basis for what Atkinson called New Psychology or New Thought. These titles include Thought-Force in Business & Everyday Life (1900), Thought Vibration or the Law of Attraction in the Thought World (1906) and Practical Mental Influence (1908). Due in part to Atkinson's intense personal secrecy and extensive use of pseudonyms, he is now largely ...

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...llow them a pitiful existence. He grew to know and empathise with these forgotten (or ignored) people as he spoke with them and tasted the workhouse, life on the streets, ... and the food, which was cheap, barely nutritious, and foul. He writes about his experiences in a fluid and narrative style, making it very clear what he thinks of the social structures which created t...

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...Peter Kropotkin was a Russian anarcho-communist and scientist. This is his autobiography, and he writes not only about his own life, but also about 19th century Russian society and politics. He was born into the nobility and had a military education, but he gradually abandoned the values of his social class and became an anti-authoritarian socialist,...

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...from abandoning the epigram in favour of the slogan, Wilde wittily assails several of his favourite targets: the misguided purveyors of philanthropy; life-denying ascetics of various kinds; the army of the half-educated who constitute themselves the enemies of Art - and those venal popular journalists who cater to them... “Behind the barricade there may be much that is nob...

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... run-down small farm in New Hampshire, when her investments imploded. She awoke one morning to find herself poor--an old roof above her, “dearer than life,” but “not a dollar of money left.” For months she was “paralyzed with cold, clammy terror . . . stunned and knew not what to do.” Then her “mind stepped to the front with a bold standard displayed.” She said to herself ...

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...tiny , he instructs readers on developing self-control, willpower, concentration, and motivation. Through discipline and mindfulness, we can create a life of unending happiness, prosperity, and, most importantly, self-mastery. (Summary by Andrea Fiore)...

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...der feels like God is speaking to them. In 1903, Mr. Hussein Rouhy translated the Arabic portion of the Hidden Words, which appeared in Myron Phelps' Life and Teachings of Abbas Effendi. Phelps' writes that Mr. Rouhy furnished me with literal translations from the original Arabic and Persian. In order to avoid obscurities and forms of expression and figures of speech unfam...