Founding Father and all-around Renaissance man Benjamin Franklin considered and wrote about many topics. In this essay from 1786 on restful sleep, Franklin advises exercise before meals, moderate eati
New England transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau’s 1843 essay “A Winter Walk” is a loving celebration of winter and walking. Thoreau vividly renders the winter season, writing of its sparkling beauty
“Chowder” is Chapter 15 from one of the greatest works of American literature, Herman Melville’s Moby Dick. It is so beautifully written, so descriptive and colorful, one can virtually smell the fishy
In his 1915 poem “Blueberries,” Pulitzer Prize-winner Robert Frost makes the ordinary experience of picking wild blueberries into an extraordinary endeavor, where you can smell the morning damp and fe
American author Jack London, best known for his fiction writing set during the Klondike Gold Rush of the late 1800s, was also an avid sailor. “Small-Boat Sailing,” was published in 1917 in The Human D
The nature writings of pioneering environmentalist and Sierra Club founder John Muir are like no other. In this essay from 1894, Muir describes the grandeur of the winds at play in the forests, with s
Renowned playwright Eugene O’Neill composed this work in 1940 to comfort his wife about the death of their Dalmatian, Blemie. Better known for his despairing and pessimistic dramas, O’Neill’s touching
In this piece from 1920, originally published as a newspaper article in the Toronto Daily Star, a young Ernest Hemingway provides solid advice to the novice camper. In his typically succinct style, He
Michael Cain offers an informal social history that describes Americana as both a musical genre and a movement, showing what it is, where it came from and where it is going. Through anecdotes and inte
Gordon Castelnero and David Russell explore Scrugg's rise to fame and lasting legacy in bluegrass music and banjo playing traditions. With interwoven interviews with the Scruggs family and over 30 not
Earl Scruggs chronicles the life and legacy of the man who revolutionized the five-string banjo and left an indelible mark on bluegrass and folk music. Including interviews with the Scruggs family and
Mitsutoshi Inaba offers the first full-length biography of this key figure in the evolution of the Chicago blues. Interviews with Sonny Boy's family members and his last harmonica student provide new
