This collection gathers the essential works of American literature, tracing the nation’s literary voice from the 19th century through the early modern age. Here you’ll find the landmark novels, short stories, essays, and poetry of writers such as Herman Melville, Mark Twain, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Edgar Allan Poe, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Frederick Douglass.
From frontier adventure and Gothic mystery to the Jazz Age and the American Renaissance, every title is a free EPUB download — public-domain classics, cleanly formatted and ready to read on any device.
- Moby Dick; Or, The WhaleHerman Melville
- Little Women; Or, Meg, Jo, Beth, and AmyLouisa May Alcott
- The King in YellowRobert W. Chambers
- Bidwell’s Travels, from Wall Street to London Prison: Fifteen Years in SolitudeAustin Bidwell
- The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, CompleteMark Twain
- The Great GatsbyF. Scott Fitzgerald
- A farewell to armsErnest Hemingway
- Thuvia, maid of MarsEdgar Rice Burroughs
- Life on the MississippiMark Twain
- Autobiography of Benjamin FranklinBenjamin Franklin
- I am a womanAnn Bannon
- Adventures of Huckleberry FinnMark Twain
- The Works of Edgar Allan Poe — Volume 2Edgar Allan Poe
- That Girl MontanaMarah Ellis Ryan
- The Wonderful Wizard of OzL. Frank Baum
- Blow The Man Down: A Romance Of The CoastHolman Day
- The Works of Edgar Allan Poe — Volume 1Edgar Allan Poe
- The Landloper: The Romance of a Man on FootHolman Day
- What Will People Say? A NovelRupert Hughes
- MoodsLouisa May Alcott
- The call of CthulhuH. P. Lovecraft
- The Prairie WifeArthur Stringer
- A Pickle for the Knowing OnesTimothy Dexter
- Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written by HerselfHarriet Jacobs
- A Romance of Billy-Goat HillAlice Caldwell Hegan Rice
- The Green MouseRobert W. Chambers
- Trial by waterSewell Peaslee Wright
- The Cask of AmontilladoEdgar Allan Poe
- Anarchism and Other EssaysEmma Goldman
- At the mountains of madnessH. P. Lovecraft
- Eighty Years and More; Reminiscences 1815-1897Elizabeth Cady Stanton
- The Dunwich horrorH. P. Lovecraft
- Terminal CompromiseWinn Schwartau
- Torchy and VeeSewell Ford
- Friday, the Thirteenth: A NovelThomas William Lawson
- The Gay CockadeTemple Bailey
- The Shunned HouseH. P. Lovecraft
- By Advice of CounselArthur Train
- The Real AdventureHenry Kitchell Webster
- The Damned Thing / 1898, From “In the Midst of Life”Ambrose Bierce
- The Daughter of Anderson CrowGeorge Barr McCutcheon
- Children of the WhirlwindLeroy Scott
- Changeling, and Other StoriesDonn Byrne
- The call of the wildJack London
- The Entailed Hat; Or, Patty Cannon’s TimesGeorge Alfred Townsend
- A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s CourtMark Twain
- Just Around the Corner: Romance en casseroleFannie Hurst
- Blue-grass and BroadwayMaria Thompson Daviess
- White FangJack London
- The Yellow WallpaperCharlotte Perkins Gilman
- The Legend of Sleepy HollowWashington Irving
- Walden, and On The Duty Of Civil DisobedienceHenry David Thoreau
- Uncle Tom’s CabinHarriet Beecher Stowe
- The Candidate: A Political RomanceJoseph Altsheler
- The Belle of Bowling GreenAmelia Barr
- The Last of the Mohicans; A narrative of 1757James Fenimore Cooper
- Roughing ItMark Twain
- The best short stories of 1920, and the yearbook of the American short storyUnknown
- Aladdin & Co.: A Romance of Yankee MagicHerbert Quick
- The gods of MarsEdgar Rice Burroughs
- The Awakening, and Selected Short StoriesKate Chopin
- The Chessmen of MarsEdgar Rice Burroughs
- Cruel as the graveE. D. E. N. Southworth
- The Land That Time ForgotEdgar Rice Burroughs
- The Lost ContinentEdgar Rice Burroughs
- The Secret of the Ninth PlanetDonald Wollheim
- The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven Edition / Table Of Contents And Index Of The Five VolumesEdgar Allan Poe
- ‘Firebrand’ TrevisonCharles Alden Seltzer
- The Red Badge of Courage: An Episode of the American Civil WarStephen Crane
- My Bondage and My FreedomFrederick Douglass
- In JeopardyVan Tassel Sutphen
- The Story of My Life / With her letters (1887–1901) and a supplementary account of her educationHelen Keller
- Darkwater: Voices from Within the VeilW. E. B. Du Bois
- The Scarlet LetterNathaniel Hawthorne
- Letters of Asa Gray; Vol. 2Asa Gray
- King Midas: a RomanceUpton Sinclair
- The San Rosario RanchMaud Howe Elliott
- BambiMarjorie Benton Cooke
- The Roman hat mysteryEllery Queen
- The last dragonDan Totheroh
- The magnificent possessionIsaac Asimov
- From Kingdom to ColonyMary Devereux
- Fairy dreamsJane Austin
- The Guarded HeightsWadsworth Camp
- Standish of Standish: A Story of the PilgrimsJane Austin
- The Mask: A Story of Love and AdventureArthur Hornblow
- I, MarsRay Bradbury
- Officer 666Barton Wood Currie
- The sociable ghostOlive Harper
- Three millions!Oliver Optic
- The spirit-rapper; an autobiographyOrestes Brownson
- Murder in the Gilded CageSamuel Spewack
- The thing in the woodsHarper Williams
- The black kissRobert Bloch
- The amazing adventures of Letitia CarberryMary Roberts Rinehart
- The mark of the monsterJack Williamson
- Law-star for an outlawW. C. Tuttle
- Leaves of GrassWalt Whitman