Other books that might interest you

• 

  Female Short Story The - A...

  Aphra Behn, Eliza Haywood, Mary...

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  A wise man once said ‘The safest place for a child is in the arms of his mother’s voice’.  This is a perfect place to start our anthology of female short stories. 
   
  Some of our earliest memories are of our mothers telling us bedtime stories. This is not to demote the value of fathers but more to promote the often-overshadowed talents of the gentler sex. 
   
  Perhaps ‘gentler’ is a word that we should re-evaluate. In the course of literary history it is men who dominated by opportunity and with their stranglehold on the resources, both financial and technological, who brought their words to a wider audience.  Men often placed women on a pedestal from where their talented words would not threaten their own.   
   
  In these stories we begin with the original disrupter and renegade author Aphra Behn.  A peek at her c.v. shows an astounding capacity and leaves us wondering at just how she did all that. 
   
  In those less modern days to be a woman, even ennobled, was to be seen as second class.  You literally were chattel and had almost no rights in marriage.  As Charlotte Smith famously said your role as wife was little more than ‘legal prostitute’.  From such a despicable place these authors have used their talents and ideas and helped redress that situation.   
   
  Slowly at first.  Privately printed, often anonymously or under the cloak of a male pseudonym their words spread.  Their stories admired and, usually, their role still obscured from rightful acknowledgement. 
   
  Aided by more advanced technology, the 1700’s began to see a steady stream of female writers until by the 1900’s mass market publishing saw short stories by female authors from all the strata of society being avidly read by everyone.  Their names are a rollcall of talent and ‘can do’ spirit and society is richer for their works.   
   
  In literature at least women are now acknowledged as equals, true behind the scenes little has changed but if (and to mis-quote Jane Austen) there is one universal truth, it is that ideas change society.  These women’s most certainly did and will continue to do so as they easily write across genres, from horror and ghost stories to tender tales of love and making your way in society’s often grueling rut.  They will not be silenced, their ideas and passion move emotions, thoughts and perhaps more importantly our ingrained view of what every individual human being is capable of.    
   
  It is because of their desire to speak out, their desire to add their talents to the bias around them that we perhaps live in more enlightened, almost equal, times.   
   
  Within these stories you will also find very occasional examples of historical prejudice.  A few words here and there which in today’s world some may find inappropriate or even offensive.  It is not our intention to make anyone uncomfortable but to show that the world in order to change must reconcile itself to the actual truth rather than put it out of sight.  Context is everything, both to understand and to illuminate the path forward.  The author’s words are set, our reaction to them encourages our change. 
   
  01 - The Female Short Story. A Chronological History - An Introduction - Volume 1 
  02 - The Unfortunate Bride or The Blind Lady a Beauty by Aphra Behn 
  03 - Fantomina or, Love in a Maze by Eliza Haywood - Part 1 
  04 - Fantomina or, Love in a Maze by Eliza Haywood - Part 2 
  05 - The Story of Sir Bertrand by Anna Laetitia Barbauld 
  06 - Betty Brown, the St Giles Orange Girl by Hannah More 
  07 - The Changeling by Mary Lamb 
  08 - The White Pigeon by Maria Edgeworth 
  09 - Cousin Mary by Mary Russell Mitford 
  13 - The Mourner by Mary Shelley 
  11 - The Prediction by Mary Diana Dods writing as David Lyndsey 
  12 - The Quadroons by Lydia Maria Child<p

  Show book

• 

  Short Story Collection Vol 032

  Various Various

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  LibriVox’s Short Story Collection 032: a collection of 10 short works of fiction in the public domain read by a group of LibriVox members.

  Show book

• 

  Immigration

  PBS NewsHour

  • 1
  • 0
  • 0

  NewsHour continues its examination of different aspects of debate on immigration reform. Ray Suarez takes a look at H-1B visas — how the program for highly skilled foreign workers is structured and how it may change — with Vivek Wadhwa of Stanford University and Ron Hira of Rochester Institute of Technology.

  Show book

• 

  Wah! Things I Never Told My Mother

  Cynthia Rogerson

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Cynthia's mother is dying. Often.Travelling between her home in Scotland and California, as she spends time at her mother's bedside.Cynthia recalls her youthful adventures: living in a squat, train-hopping, hitchhiking and all the other things she never told her mother.

  Show book

• 

  Picking Through The Pieces - The...

  Larry Vance

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  If you have ever wondered what a transportation safety investigation looks like from the inside, or aspire to be an accident investigator yourself, this book is for you. 
  Nearly four decades ago, I transitioned from being a full-time pilot to become a professional aircraft accident investigator. In my work solving aircraft accidents, I have two main missions – to provide valid information to the loved ones who are left to grieve – and to put in place safety barriers that will prevent another similar accident. 
  Despite the often traumatic and stressful circumstances that surround investigations, I have never lost my positive outlook on life, or my sense of humour. I love to share funny happenings and stories – doing so has helped sustain me and my fellow investigators through some tragic events. 
  You might already know me from my media appearances, or maybe from seeing my analysis of the disappearance of MH370 – I wrote about that in my previous book, MH370: Mystery Solved. But you don’t know much about what brought me to the point where I could write that book, or about the life experiences that shaped me both personally and professionally. Soon, you will. 
  This book is the personal story of my life as an air crash investigator. I hope you learn from it, and I hope you have a laugh (or maybe a dozen) in the process.

  Show book

• 

  The Black President - Hope and...

  Claude A. Clegg III

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  In this first interpretative, comprehensive history of Barack Obama's presidency in its entirety, Claude A. Clegg III situates the former president in his dynamic, inspirational, yet contentious political context. He captures the America that made Obama's White House years possible, while insightfully rendering the America that resolutely resisted the idea of a Black chief executive, thus making conceivable the ascent of the most unlikely of his successors. In elucidating the Obama moment in American politics and culture, this book is also, at its core, a sweeping exploration of the Obama presidency's historical environment, impact, and meaning for African Americans—the tens of millions of people from every walk of life who collectively were his staunchest group of supporters and who most starkly experienced both the euphoric triumphs and dispiriting shortcomings of his years in office. Drawing on an expansive archive of materials, including government records, speeches, and insider accounts, The Black President will be required reading not only for historians, politics junkies, and Obama fans but also for anyone seeking to understand America's contemporary struggles with inequality, prejudice, and fear.

  Show book