Black Beauty

Sewell’s intention in writing Black Beauty was to promote the humane treatment of horses, and the book is credited with having the greatest effect on the treatment of animals of any publication in history. It has resulted in legislation protecting horses and a changed public attitude about animal treatment. Anna Sewell only wrote one book in her lifetime, as she died a few months after publication, but Black Beauty has proven to be a book of great importance and popularity, and is still one of the most widely read books in the world. Barely a year goes by without a new print edition being published, thus continuing the life of this timeless classic.

Read by Cori Samuel, music by Kevin MacLeod     

The Story of My Life - Helen Keller

Helen Keller overcame the seemingly insurmountable obstacles of deafness and blindness to become an icon of perseverance, respected and honored by readers, historians, and activists. Her autobiography The Story of My Life, published in the United States in 1903, is still read today for its ability to motivate and reassure readers. Helen began working on The Story of My Life while a student at Radcliffe College with help from John Albert Macy, a Harvard professor and future husband of Helen’s first teacher and lifelong companion, Anne Sullivan. In the book Keller recounts the first twenty-two years of her life, from her early childhood illness that left her blind and deaf through her second year at Radcliffe College.

Read by George Cooney, music by Simon Brewer     

Common Sense

Thomas Paine’s Common Sense stands as the most widely read and most influential document written during the crucial years of 1775 - 1776. When Paine wrote that "we have it in our power to begin the world over again," he both captured the imaginations of colonists who yearned for unfettered freedom and sensed that the American Revolution could be an event of transcendent historical importance. George Washington was so impressed by Paine's words that it persuaded him to stop supporting the King of England, and some allege that Common Sense inspired Thomas Jefferson, as he wrote the Declaration of Independence.

Read by Gary Gilberd, music by Kevin MacLeod     

House of Seven Gables

In the House of the Seven Gables, Nathaniel Hawthorne explores themes of guilt, retribution, and atonement in a New England family and colors the tale with suggestions of the supernatural and witchcraft. An evil house, cursed through the centuries by a man who was hanged for witchcraft, is haunted by the ghosts of its sinful dead and wracked by the fear of its frightened living. The story was inspired by a gabled house in Salem belonging to Hawthorne's cousin Susanna Ingersoll and by those of Hawthorne's ancestors who played a part in the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. Written as a follow-up to The Scarlet Letter, The House of the Seven Gables is truly a masterful blending of the actual and the imaginary.

Read by Mark Smith, music by Kevin MacLeod     

FBI Report on Unidentified Flying Objects

In 1947, a rash of sightings of Unexplained Flying Objects (UFOs) swept America. Although the newly formed U.S. Air Force was the primary investigator of these sightings, the FBI received many reports and worked for a time with the Air Force to investigate these matters. This release, declassified and made public in response to a U.S. Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, details the FBI’s role in investigating UFO reports between 1947 and 1954.

Read by Roger Melin, music by Kevin MacLeod     

Persuasion

Jane Austen's Persuasion focuses on the regret and loneliness of Anne Elliot, who had rejected a proposal of marriage upon advice of a dear friend, from the one man she truly loved. The story takes place less than a decade after the proposal, following her simultaneous anticipation and dread of the rejected lover's return to the community. She struggles between the validity of the reasons for the old rejection and the flittering hope that their love had persevered. Persuasion is about a lost love re-kindled. Considered by some to be the most powerful love story ever written, the book will leave you breathless.

Read by Roger Melin, music by Kevin MacLeod     

The Huchback of Notre Dame

Quasimodo, the hunchback bellringer of Notre Dame's cathedral meets a beautiful gypsy dancer, Esmeralda, and falls in love with her. So does Quasimodo's guardian, the archdeacon of the cathedral, and a poor street poet. But Esmeralda is in love with a handsome soldier. When a mob mistakes her for a witch, it's up to Quasimodo to rescue her and claim sanctuary for her in the cathedral.

Read by Mark Nelson, music by Kevin MacLeod      

The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe

Captured by pirates, Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe makes his break in a small boat and undergoes desperate adventures before winning his way back to civilization. But Crusoe proves willing to chance his luck a second time when, after sweating his way to prosperity as a planter in Brazil, he undertakes another voyage and is marooned on a small island off South America. With the supplies he's able to salvage from the wrecked ship, Crusoe eventually builds a fort and creates a kingdom for himself by taming animals, gathering fruit, growing crops, and hunting, and spends more than two decades in isolation before acquiring a sidekick—the man Friday.

Read by Mark Smith, music by Kevin MacLeod      

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

After hearing Mr. Enfield’s account of a distressing event involving Edward Hyde, the heir of his friend, Henry Jekyll, John Utterson is convinced that Jekyll’s relationship with Hyde is built on something sinister. Utterson’s concern for his friend is not unfounded but the reasons aren’t quite what he, at first, believes.

Read by Kristin Hughes, music by Kevin MacLeod     

The Valley of the Giants

In the summer of 1850 a topsail schooner slipped into the cove under Trinidad Head and dropped anchor at the edge of the kelp-fields. Fifteen minutes later her small-boat deposited on the beach a man armed with long squirrel-rifle and an axe, and carrying food and clothing in a brown canvas pack. The man was John Cardigan; in that lonely, hostile land he was the first pioneer. This is the tale of Cardigan and Cardigan's son, for in his chosen land the pioneer leader in the gigantic task of hewing a path for civilization was to know the bliss of woman's love and of parenthood, and the sorrow that comes of the loss of a perfect mate; he was to know the tremendous joy of accomplishment and worldly success after infinite labor; and in the sunset of life he was to know the dull despair of failure and ruin.

Read by Roger Melin, music by Kevin MacLeod      

Uncle Tom's Cabin

"There are nearly four millions of slaves in the United States; and the question now presents itself to every free born American citizen; what are we to do with them? The abolition party demand their immediate emancipation. Is it practicable, safe, or proper? What would be the consequences? What would be the consequence of turning loose upon ourselves four millions of human beings, to prowl about like wild beasts without restraint, or control, and commit depredations on the white population?“

—Excerpted from “A Review of Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” by A. Woodward, M.D., 1853.

Read by John Greenman, music by Kevin MacLeod      

The Poor Little Rich Girl

Gwendolyn’s family is rich, but her parents ignore her and she is left to the care of servants who are indifferent. She is lonely and longs for a friend. Her nanny’s irresponsibility leads to a tragedy, which brings them to realize the error of their ways and rethink what is important to them.

Read by Susan Umpleby, music by Kevin MacLeod      

The Age of Innocence

Having been born into a life of wealth and privilege, Edith Wharton was part of the small clique of aristocratic families that held sway over New York City's social and cultural life at the turn of the nineteenth century. In The Age of Innocence, Wharton looks back fondly on the life that was enjoyed by the privileged class of the East Coast before the many changes wrought by World War I.

Read by Brenda Dayne, music by Kevin MacLeod      

Madame Butterfly

Cho-Cho San (Butterfly), a young Japanese girl, marries Benjamin Franklin Pinkerton, a young U.S. Navy lieutenant and is denounced by her family for forsaking their ancestral religion. When he leaves her to return to his world, Butterfly confidently and patiently awaits his homecoming. Three years later, Pinkerton’s ship finally anchors in the harbor again, but Butterfly does not get the happy ending she was hoping for.

Read by Availle, music by Kevin MacLeod      

The Blue Lagoon

Two young children, cousins Dicky and Emmeline Lestrange, and a galley cook survive a shipwreck in the South Pacific and are stranded on a lush tropical island. The cook, kindly old salt Paddy Button, assumes the responsibility for caring for the children. Paddy eventually dies in a drunken binge and the children are left to survive solely on their resourcefulness and the bounty of their remote paradise. In time, Richard and Emmeline grow into beautiful young adults when strange emotions begin to influence their relationship.

Read by Adrian Praetzellis, music by Kevin MacLeod      

The Man in the Iron Mask

The Man in the Iron Mask is Alexandre Dumas’ darker, more grown-up aftermath of The Three Musketeers. King Louis XIV has ushered in an era of absolute power, where his word is law and he accepts no dissent. Some believe Dumas might be commenting on the political situation in his own contemporary France. By glorifying the past through creating the beloved characters of D'Artagnan, Athos, Aramis, and Porthos, Dumas reminded his readers of what they might be missing in their own France. The Man in the Iron Mask climactically concludes the epic adventures of the three Musketeers who, once invincible, meet their final destinies.

Read by Mark Smith, music by Kevin MacLeod      

The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects

“The report has been difficult to write because it involves something that doesn't officially exist. It is well known that ever since the first flying saucer was reported in June 1947 the Air Force has officially said that there is no proof that such a thing as an interplanetary spaceship exists. But what is not well known is that this conclusion is far from being unanimous among the military and their scientific advisers because of the one word, ‘proof’; so the UFO investigations continue.”

—Captain Edward J. Ruppelt, Former Head of the Air Force Project Blue Book, July 1955.

Read by Roger Melin, music by Kevin MacLeod      

The Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

This report, compiled by the Manhattan Engineer District of the United States Army under the direction of Major General Leslie R. Groves, describes the effects of the atomic bombs which were dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and 9, 1945, respectively. It summarizes all the authentic information that was available on damage to structures, injuries to personnel, morale effect, etc., and which could be released in 1945 without prejudicing the security of the United States.

Read by Denny Sayers, music by Kevin MacLeod      

Army Life in a Black Regiment

Colonel Thomas Wentworth Higginson records the adventures of the First South Carolina Volunteers, the first slave regiment mustered into the service of the United States during the Civil War. 

Read by Felbrigg Herriot, music by Kevin MacLeod      

Old Indian Legends

Zitkala-Sa, a South Dakota Sioux born in 1876, the year of the Battle of the Little Big Horn, was an educator, musician, writer, and activist. She served as the secretary and treasurer of the Society of American Indians and as editor of its American Indian Magazine. Old Indian Legends introduces Sioux traditions, including Iktomi (a trickster who often takes the form of a spider), Iya the glutton (able to consume whole villages), and the characters of the Sioux world—coyotes, ducks, the terrifying Red Eagle and the stranger who slays it, turtles, toads, mice, bears, badgers, and more. While at first these traditions and stories may strike the outsider as different and alien, to some extent they can evoke some European fairy tale traditions.  

Read by Robert Scott, music by Kevin MacLeod      

The Metamorphosis

As travelling salesman Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams, he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect. He was lying on his hard, as it were armor-plated, back and when he lifted his head a little he could see his domelike brown belly divided into stiff arched segments on top of which the bed quilt could hardly stay in place and was about to slide off completely. His numerous legs, which were pitifully thin compared to the rest of his bulk, waved helplessly before his eyes. 

Read by David Barnes, music by Kevin MacLeod      

Tom Swift and the Electronic Hydolung

Tom Swift works with the Navy to recover a Jupiter probe missile designed and built by Swift Enterprises when the Brungarians attempt to steal the probe and its scientific data. In a race against time, Tom invents several underwater devices to assist with the recovery and counter the threat of a stealth submarine developed by the Brungarians.

Read by Mark Smith, music by Kevin MacLeod      

The Canterville Ghost

An amusing chronicle of the tribulations of the Ghost of Canterville Chase when its ancestral halls become the home of Hiram Otis, the American Minister to the Court of St. James. Deftly contrasting the conventional gothic ghost story with the pragmatism of the modern world, Wilde creates a satire of American materialism, a lampoon of traditional British values, and an amusing twist on the traditional gothic horror tale.

Read by David Barnes, music by Kevin MacLeod      

The Lancashire Witches

When a Cistercian monk, Borlace Alvetham, is falsely accused of witchcraft and condemned to death by his rival, Brother Paslew, he sells his soul to Satan and escapes. Granted the powers of a warlock, he returns in the guise of Nicholas Demdike to witness Paslew's execution for treason. Dying, Paslew curses Demdike's offspring -- who become the titular "Lancashire Witches." Years later, Mother Demdike, a powerful witch, and her clan face rival witches, raise Alizon Devi as their own, and try to corrupt Alizon despite her innocent ways. Ultimately, the story becomes a struggle between Heaven and Hell, with Alizon's fate hanging in the balance.

Read by Andy Winter, music by Kevin MacLeod      

White Fang

White Fang is the life story of a wolf that comes, after many hardships dealt him by both man and nature, to live a dog’s life with a loving master. White Fang was published in 1906 and became an immediate commercial success. It continues to be popular a century after its initial publication. In its unblinking portrayals of nature’s unforgiving harshness, of humankind’s capacity for both shocking brutality and unconditional love, and of the struggle for survival that is common to all life, White Fang is classic London.

Read by Mark Smith, music by Kevin MacLeod