Nineteenth Century Life Chapters

What made the 19th century an interesting but tumultuous time? What technological, cultural and social changes influenced life then? Explore those issues in this story collection.

As America's frontier moved farther and farther west, the definition of "west" changed. At the end of the Civil War, "west" included Texas, Arkansas, ...

One theory has it that meteor sparks might have ignited the blaze the night of Chicago's Great Fire in October, 1871.

Victor Emmanuel II, King of Piedmont-Sardinia, and his Prime Minister, Count Camillo Benso di Cavour, build relationships to help them rid Italy of fo...

Church leaders and Elizabeth's husband, Theophilus, request that she leave the Bible class in which the teacher encourages Elizabeth's outspoken views...

Even though the American Bill of Rights protects freedom of speech, Americans practice censorship.

During Chicago's Great Fire of 1871, people are not able to escape death even when seeking safety in Lake Michigan.

Although Chicago has modern equipment, the city has far-too-few firefighters in 1871.

Abandoned by his father and losing his mother and foster mother to tuberculosis, Poe spends his childhood alone and sad.

Today child miners still work in some countries, but laws now protect them in the U.S. and the U.K.

To fairly assess the impact of Dicken's "A Christmas Carol," on British culture, we have to examine what Christmas was like, in the UK, before Dickens...

Chuck wagons and barbed wire are like the bookends of America's cattle-drive era. The wagon was at the beginning while barbed wire was at the end.

The country comes to the aid of Chicago, but no one pays any attention to the other Midwest cities which also burn on October 8.

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