2023 Reading Schedule Builder

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The Agricola and The Germania
Tacitus
9 days
98 • Roman historian Tacitus recounts the life of Gnaeus Julius Agricola, as well as an overview of Germania.
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin
24 days
1791 • Politician, philosopher, printer, scientist, international celebrity, and one of the most colorful of the founding fathers. Franklin tells of his life in his own words.
Commentaries on the Gallic War
Julius Caesar
23 days
58 BC • An account of the conflicts between the Roman Empire and the peoples living in Gaul, Britain, and the lands east of the Rhine.
Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
Edward Gibbon
300 days
1776 • The monumental six volume history of Rome, from its peak through the fall first of Western Rome and then of Byzantium.
Democracy in America
Alexis de Tocqueville
103 days
1835 • Frenchman Alexis de Tocqueville journeys through a new land, where the experiment of democracy has been put to the test for several centuries: America.
Ecclesiastical History of the English People
Venerable Bede
41 days
731 • A history of Anglo-Saxon England, hundreds of years before William the Conquer, with a particular focus on the Christian Church.
Geronimo's Story of His Life
Geronimo
12 days
1906 • Prominent leader and medicine man from the Bedonkohe band of the Apache tribe, Geronimo describes his life and the story of his people.
The Histories
Herodotus
95 days
440 BC • One of the founding works of western history, it contains an often biased record of ancient cultures and events in Western Asia, Northern Africa and Greece.
How I Found Livingstone
Henry Morton Stanley
48 days
1871 • The firsthand account of the famous adventure through Africa to find one of the great explorers.
The Humbugs of the World
P.T. Barnum
40 days
1865 • The "Prince of Humbugs" himself describes a wide range of hoaxes, cons, swindles, and scams.
Journal of the Plague Year
Daniel Defoe
27 days
1722 • A vivid chronicle of the Great Plague sweeping through London in 1665 as fear and death grip the city.
Life on the Mississippi
Mark Twain
50 days
1883 • Mark Twain's memoir of his days as a steamboat pilot before the Civil War and travel book of his travels along the river after the war.
Magic Shadows: The Story of the Origin of Motion Pictures
Martin Quigley, Jr.
18 days
1960 • A walkthrough of historical developments, marching towards the advent of film and motion pictures, from ancient history to Edison.
The Narrative of Sojourner Truth
Sojourner Truth
14 days
1850 • The remarkable story of Sojourner Truth, from her slavery in rural New York to her work as a traveling preacher, social reformer, and counselor of former slaves.
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
Frederick Douglass
16 days
1845 • One of the most influential pieces of literature in the abolitionist movement, former slave and famous orator Frederick Douglass retells his life as a slave.
Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant
89 days
1885 • An autobiography focusing on Grant's military career during the Mexican-American War and the American Civil War. Published posthumously by Mark Twain.
Religion and the Rise of Capitalism
R.H. Tawney
30 days
1926 • An investigation into religion's impact on social and economic development since the Middle Ages and whether Christian morality has been made subordinate "to the pursuit of material wealth."
Seven Pillars of Wisdom
T.E. Lawrence
85 days
1926 • A dramatic memoir from "Lawrence of Arabia" including the Arab Revolt during the First World War.
Twelve Years a Slave
Solomon Northup
30 days
1853 • The narrative of Solomon Northup, a black man born free in New York before the Civil War who was tricked, kidnapped, and sold into slavery in the south.
A Voice from Harper's Ferry
Osborne Perry Anderson
7 days
1859 • A firsthand account of John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry - a turning point in the fight against slavery - by the only surviving black combatant.
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