Reference reading
Sources and editorial notes
Read the passages in their own contexts.
Historical perspectives accompany contemporary interpretations.
Sources
Ralph Waldo Emerson - Essays, First Series
1841; exact print basis unresolved
Ralph Waldo Emerson - Essays, Second Series
1844; exact print basis unresolved
William Hazlitt - Table Talk, in Collected Works, volume VI
A. R. Waller and Arnold Glover, editors; J. M. Dent, 1903
William Morris - Hopes and Fears for Art
1882 essays; exact print basis unresolved
John Ruskin - The Two Paths
1858–1859 lectures; exact print basis unresolved
Robert Louis Stevenson - An Apology for Idlers, and Other Essays
Thomas B. Mosher, 1916 printing
Jane Addams - Democracy and Social Ethics
English original; Macmillan; September 1902 reprinting indicated in linked title matter
Charles Babbage - On the Economy of Machinery and Manufactures
English original; linked text includes second-edition preface dated 22 November 1832; exact print transcription basis unresolved
John Dewey - How We Think
English original; D. C. Heath & Co.; copyright 1910 shown in linked text
Mary Parker Follett - The New State
English original; Longmans, Green and Co., 1918; linked transcription
John Stuart Mill - On Liberty
English original; Walter Scott edition with W. L. Courtney introduction; exact printing date unresolved
Adam Smith - The Theory of Moral Sentiments
English original; linked transcription has original-language dissertation; exact print edition/date unresolved
Booker T. Washington - Up from Slavery
English original; 1901 autobiography; linked text includes Walter H. Page introduction; exact print basis unresolved
Benjamin Franklin - Autobiography
English original; digital edition printing and any editorial commentary require per-selection identification.
Editorial limits
Excerpts are verified against retained primary transcriptions. Exact edition, contributor and intended-territory clearance remain separate. Original scenes and poems are illustrative; historical authors are not represented as commenting on modern AI.