John Calvin was an influential French theologian and pastor during the Protestant Reformation. Calvin's writing and preachings provided the seeds for the branch of theology that bears his name. Originally trained as a humanist lawyer, he broke from the Roman Catholic Church around 1530. After religious tensions provoked a violent uprising against Protestants in France, Calvin fled to Switzerland. Calvin developed his theology in his biblical commentaries as well as in his sermons and treatises. Calvin produced commentaries on most of the books of the Bible. His first commentary on Romans was published in 1540, and he planned to write commentaries on the entire New Testament. However, it t...

Shakespeare's pastoral comedy was written and first performed around 1599, and presents some of his familiar motifs: a cross-dressing heroine, a wise-cracking fool, brothers usurping their brothers' power, a journey from the court to the country, and various romantic entanglements.

Samuel H. M. Byers was an American poet, diplomat, and soldier in the Civil War. "In war some persons seek adventures; others have them in spite of themselves. It happened that the writer of this book belonged to a regiment that seemed to be always in the midst of great experiences. It was, in fact, one of the few regiments that absolutely fought themselves out of existence. It was mustered in a thousand strong; it lost seven hundred and seventy-seven men by death, wounds, and disease. The fragment that was left over was transferred to a cavalry command. When the writer finally escaped from prison, after many months of confinement and many thrilling adventures both in prison and in the ar...

The Rebel Rose is the story of Mary Stuart Beaton, a descendant of Mary Queen of Scots who has come to London in the hope of having her family claims legitimized. The Pretendress -- as she is called, finds herself caught up in the devices of her own personal guardians as well as a scheming London society woman scorned by a powerful member of Parliament who has become an admirer of the Princess. Apart from the claims of royalty, Mary Beaton knows where her worth is found and she proves to be a formidable opponent for all those scheming for and against her.

Before Downton Abbey, there was Mary Broome. In Allan Monkhouse's 1911 satire, when the son of a middle-class household gets their housemaid pregnant, the two families must try to combine their very different values.

“Two years before the crash of world war shook the continents and upheaved oceans,” Howard MacNutt relates. “‘Abdu’l-Bahá ‘Abbás visited the United States of America proclaiming the Glad-Tidings of Universal Peace and the oneness of the world of humanity. In his message he reviewed social, religious and political conditions of the nations, foretold clearly the impending clash and conflict of militarism, summoning mankind to the standard of divine guidance upraised in this cycle of the cycles by the manifestation and teachings of Bahá’u’lláh. His visit extending from April to December 1912 covered an itinerary across the continent and return, involving an extraordinary and incredible expen...

Full of delightful fairy tales, charming poems and engaging stories, this is the second volume of the "My Bookhouse" series for little ones. Originally published in the 1920's as a six volume set, these books, edited by Olive Beaupre Miller, contained the best in children's literature, stories, poems and nursery rhymes. They progressed in difficulty through the different volumes.

This is an exquisite and heartbreaking love story. Violet Tempest and Roderick Vawdrey, otherwise known to each other as Vixen and Rorie, are childhood sweethearts. However, Rorie's family wants him to marry elsewhere. You may think it is the old story all over again, but nothing in this novel is what it seems. It is far too realistic for that. Many books talk about falling in love. This book starts after that stage, and speaks about the harder stage of a relationship: loving earnestly but understanding that love - even in the truest and purest sense - is not everything in life. There are duties to fulfil, and they might have nothing to do with love. Family life plays a large role i...

This is a collection of 27 poems read by LibriVox volunteers for June 2014.

A collection of 20 short works of fiction in the public domain read by a group of LibriVox members, including short stories by Melville, Blackwood, Hawthorne, Dostoyevsky, Wilde and Thomas Hood.