Text of the short story "The Preposterous Motive" by Susan Glaspell. (Free site registration offers some additional features, e.g., the ability to insert annotations.)

From a chapter on "The Americas, Europe, and Africa Before 1492," this section describes the European societies that engaged in conversion, conquest, and commerce and discusses the motives for and mechanisms of early European exploration.

Read actual text from Dr. Johnson's, The Plan of an English Dictionary (1747), as he explains his motivations for undertaking the task of writing the English Dictionary. Johnson also expounds upon the process and outcome.

Motivated by his disgust with slavery, Henry David Thoreau wrote the essay "On the Duty of Civil Disobedience". He argues that governments are an agent of corruption and citizens should not let them overrule their conscience. Read the...

This ebook shares the story of a boy who hated school. Students will enjoy reading how a school project helped change his mind about school.