Twenty short nonfiction works in the public domain. "The Regulation of Time"
and "Uniform Standard Time" are two of several readings which touch on social
regulation, societal norms, and individual expression. Others examine dancing mania
("Choreomania"); gender conformity ("A Mormon Strategy"); race laws ("Black Code of
Illinois"); etiquette and social class ("Housekeeping at the White House (1903)"; "Opportunity" (a view by Ambrose Bierce); organized religion ("The Church in Liverpool in the Early 1800s"); oratory and persuasion ("Pliny to Cerealis" and "The Martians"); legal protection for original ideas ("Copyright for a banana costume"); and an exhortation to judge men by their deeds, not their names ("First Apology of Justin Martyr"). Music and books are celebrated in "Fidelio;" "The Function of a National Library;" "Books in the Wilderness;" and Oscar Wilde's "To Read or Not to Read." Natural science is represented by "Coral and Coral Reefs" and "Making a Rock Garden." Finally, a fateful communique is examined in the "Zimmermann Telegram." Summary by Sue Anderson

Pliny to Cerealis: Letter XXIV was translated by William Melmoth