Book Events

1773 Sep 1 Phillis Wheatley's Poems On Various Subjects, Religious and Moral
On September 1, 1773, Phillis Wheatley's Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral was published in London, England. Wheatley's collection was the first volume of poetry by an Africa...
1845 Douglass Publishes Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
Douglass' best-known work is his first autobiography Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, published in 1845. At the time, some skeptics attacked the book and qu...
1855 Douglass Publishes Second Autobiography - My Bondage and My Freedom
As a fugitive in exile, Frederick Douglass attacked slavery. In speeches he spoke of the hypocrisy of freedom-loving slaveholders. To combat propaganda about happy slaves and kind masters...
1855 Jul 4 The First Edition of Walt Whitman's "Leaves of Grass" Is Published
When Walt Whitman published his first edition of Leaves of Grass on or around the fourth day of July in 1855, he believed he was embarking on a personal literary journey of national signi...
1878 Jun Henry James' "Daisy Miller" Is Published
Considered one of the greatest novelists of the English language, James was also an accomplished writer of short fiction. Shunning what he called "the baseness of the arbitrary stroke," J...
1881 Douglass Publishes Third Autobiography - The Life and Times of Frederick Douglass
The 1892 Life and Times is divided into three sections, with the first devoted to "His Early Life as a Slave," the second to "His Escape from Bondage," and the third to "His Complete Hist...
1881 Oct 29 Henry James' "The Portrait of a Lady" Is Published
The Portrait of a Lady is a novel by Henry James, first published as a serial in The Atlantic Monthly and Macmillan's Magazine in 1880–1881 and then as a book in 1881. It is one of James'...
1882 Theodore Roosevelt Publishes First Book: The Naval War of 1812
While at Harvard, Roosevelt began a systematic study of the role played by the nascent US Navy in the War of 1812, largely completing two chapters of a book he would publish after graduat...
1885 Mark Twain's "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" Is Published
"PERSONS attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot. ..." —Mark Twain ("The Author") in the foreword/introduction to Huckleberry Finn
1886 Feb 16 The Bostonians by Henry James is Published
The Bostonians is a novel by Henry James, first published as a serial in The Century Magazine in 1885–1886 and then as a book in 1886. This bittersweet tragicomedy centers on an odd trian...
1898 Oct 13 Henry James' Novella "Turn of the Screw" Is Published
The Turn of the Screw is a novella (short novel) written by Henry James. Originally published in 1898, it is ostensibly a ghost story that has lent itself well to operatic and film adapta...
1899 Kate Chopin Publishes "The Awakening"
The Awakening is a novel by Kate Chopin, first published in 1899 (see 1899 in literature). Set in New Orleans and the Southern Louisiana coast at the end of the nineteenth century, the pl...
1899 The Philadelphia Negro is Published
The Philadelphia Negro is a sociological study of the African American people of Philadelphia written by W.E.B. Du Bois. Comissioned by the University of Pennsylvania and published in 189...
1902 Aug The Wings of the Dove by Henry James is Published
The Wings of the Dove is a 1902 novel by Henry James. This novel tells the story of Milly Theale, an American heiress stricken with a serious disease, and her impact on the people around ...
1903 The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois is Published
The Souls of Black Folk is a classic work of American literature by W. E. B. Du Bois. It is a seminal work in the history of sociology, and a cornerstone of African-American literary hist...
1903 Sep The Ambassadors by Henry James is Published
The Ambassadors is a 1903 novel by Henry James, originally published as a serial in the North American Review (NAR). This dark comedy, one of the masterpieces of James's final period, fol...
1914 Tarzan of the Apes is Published
Tarzan of the Apes is a novel written by Edgar Rice Burroughs, the first in a series of books about the title character Tarzan. It was first published in the pulp magazine All-Story Magaz...
1915 The Negro by W.E.B. Du Bois is Published
The Negro is a book by W. E. B. Du Bois published in 1915. The book is an overview of African-American history, tracing it as far back as the sub-Saharan cultures, including Zimbabwe, Gha...
1925 "Mein Kampf" published
Although it is thought of as having been 'written' by Hitler, Mein Kampf is not a book in the usual sense. Hitler never actually sat down and pecked at a typewriter or wrote longhand, but...
1935 "Black Reconstruction" is Published
Black Reconstruction in America is a book by W. E. B. Du Bois, first published in 1935. It is revisionist approach to looking at the Reconstruction of the south after its defeat in the Am...
1950 The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe published
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is a fantasy novel for children by C. S. Lewis. Written in 1950 and set in approximately 1940, it is the first-published book of The Chronicles of Nar...
1951 Prince Caspian published
Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia is a novel for children by C. S. Lewis, written in late 1949 and first published in 1951. It is the second book in the Chronicles of Narnia series, al...
1952 The Voyage of the Dawn Treader published
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is a fantasy novel for children by C. S. Lewis. Written in 1950, it was published in 1952 as the third book of The Chronicles of Narnia. Current editions of...
1953 The Silver Chair published
The Silver Chair is part of The Chronicles of Narnia, a series of seven fantasy novels written by C. S. Lewis. It was the fourth book published and is the sixth book chronologically. It i...
1954 The Horse and His Boy published
The Horse and His Boy is a novel by C. S. Lewis. It was published in 1954, making it the fifth of seven books published in Lewis' series The Chronicles of Narnia. The books in this series...
1955 The Magician's Nephew published
The Magician's Nephew is a fantasy novel for children written by C. S. Lewis. It was the sixth book published in his The Chronicles of Narnia series, but is the first in the chronology of...
1956 The Last Battle published
The Last Battle is the seventh and final novel in The Chronicles of Narnia series by C. S. Lewis. Lewis was awarded the Carnegie Medal for the book in 1956. In The Last Battle, Lewis b...
1965 Ronald Reagan Publishes His Autobiography, "Where's the Rest of Me?"
In the film, Reagan's character, Drake McHugh, has both legs amputated by a sadistic surgeon, played by Coburn. When he wakes from anesthesia, he says, "Where's the rest of me?" Reagan us...
1988 Michael Jackson releases "Moonwalk," an autobiography
Moon Walk is an autobiography written by American musician Michael Jackson. The book was first published in in 1988, a year after the release of Jackson's Bad album, and named after Jacks...
2003 Feb 14 The Jungle Book 2 is released
The Jungle Book 2 is a 2003 animated feature film produced by the DisneyToons studio in Sydney, Australia and released by Walt Disney Pictures and Buena Vista Distribution. The theatrical...