A Library of Classic Texts

Pamphlets

Words that sparked revolutions, shaped nations, and transformed minds. The most influential short works in Western civilization.

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Featured Work

Common Sense

Thomas Paine, 1776

The pamphlet that ignited a revolution. Paine's clear, passionate argument for American independence sold over 500,000 copies and transformed colonial thinking. Written in plain language for common people, it remains one of the most influential political pamphlets ever published.

The Examined Life

Philosophy

Self-Reliance

Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Abolition of Man

C.S. Lewis

The Soul of Man Under Socialism

Oscar Wilde

The Rebel

Albert Camus

The Art of Governance

Politics

Federalist No. 10 Madison

The Federalist No. 10

James Madison

Conscience of a Conservative Goldwater

The Conscience of a Conservative

Barry Goldwater

Reflections on the Revolution Burke

Reflections on the Revolution in France

Edmund Burke

Voices of Freedom

Black History

What to the Slave is the Fourth of July? Douglass

What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?

Frederick Douglass

Atlanta Exposition Address Washington

Atlanta Exposition Address

Booker T. Washington

The Souls of Black Folk

W.E.B. Du Bois

Letter from Birmingham Jail MLK Jr.

Letter from Birmingham Jail

Martin Luther King Jr.

A More Perfect Union

Barack Obama

Wit & Wisdom

Essays & Satire

The Way to Wealth

Benjamin Franklin

A Modest Proposal

Jonathan Swift

Civil Disobedience

Henry David Thoreau

Rules by Which a Great Empire...

Benjamin Franklin

Foundations of Thought

Ancient Classics

Apology Plato

Apology of Socrates

Plato

Crito Plato

Crito

Plato

De Amicitia (On Friendship)

Marcus Tullius Cicero

De Brevitate Vitae

Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Il Rinascimento

Italian Renaissance

Il Principe Machiavelli

Il Principe (The Prince)

Niccolò Machiavelli

Oratio de Dignitate Pico

Oration on the Dignity of Man

Giovanni Pico della Mirandola

Posteritati Petrarch

Letter to Posterity

Francesco Petrarch

De Gouden Eeuw

Dutch Golden Age

Tractatus Spinoza

Tractatus Theologico-Politicus

Baruch Spinoza

Discours Descartes

Discourse on the Method

René Descartes

Mare Liberum Grotius

The Free Sea (Mare Liberum)

Hugo Grotius

Iberian Wisdom

Spanish Classics

The Art of Worldly Wisdom Gracián

The Art of Worldly Wisdom

Baltasar Gracián

Coplas on the Death of His Father Manrique

Coplas on the Death of His Father

Jorge Manrique

The Puritan Errand

Colonial Classics

The Mayflower Compact 1620

The Mayflower Compact

Plymouth Colony, 1620

A Model of Christian Charity Winthrop

A Model of Christian Charity

John Winthrop

Magnalia Christi Americana Mather

Magnalia Christi Americana

Cotton Mather

Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God Edwards

Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God

Jonathan Edwards

The Inner Light

Quaker Classics

Some Fruits of Solitude

William Penn

No Cross, No Crown Penn

No Cross, No Crown

William Penn

Considerations on the Keeping of Negroes Woolman

Some Considerations on the Keeping of Negroes

John Woolman

Journal (Selections) Fox

Journal (Selections)

George Fox

A Plea for the Poor Woolman

A Plea for the Poor

John Woolman

Technology & Attention

The Digital Age

Digital Minimalism Newport

Digital Minimalism

Cal Newport

Birth of a Nation

Founding Fathers

Declaration of Independence

Thomas Jefferson

Farewell Address

George Washington

The Federalist No. 51

James Madison

The American Crisis

Thomas Paine

Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death Henry

Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death

Patrick Henry

Thoughts on Government

John Adams

First Inaugural Address Jefferson

First Inaugural Address

Thomas Jefferson

The Rights of the Colonists S. Adams

The Rights of the Colonists

Samuel Adams