"Defending His Flag" by Edward Stratemeyer is a historical adventure novel written in the early 20th century. Aimed at young readers, it follows two close friends who land on opposite sides of the American Civil War—Louis Rockford, a Pennsylvanian who joins the Union infantry, and Andy Arlington, a Virginian who rides with Confederate cavalry—offering a balanced view of early campaigns such as Bull Run and the Peninsula. The focus is on loyalty, duty, and friendship tested by a nation’s fracture. The opening of the story introduces Louis visiting Andy near the Maryland–Virginia border as tensions flare over slavery and states’ rights. After South Carolina secedes, a hostile crowd in Lee Run targets Louis, but Andy and his veteran father protect him; on his journey home Louis is captured by local roughs, escapes with the help of a friendly Black passerby, and reaches Pennsylvania resolved. When Fort Sumter falls and a national call goes out, Louis enlists with a hometown volunteer company that marches through wary Maryland to Washington, skirmishing only with mobs and meeting Confederate cavalry without incident. In contrast, back in Virginia, Andy—encouraged by local fervor and with his mother’s reluctant consent—joins a new cavalry troop heading toward Manassas, where his unit settles in as hints of local unrest surface. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

"Tim" by Howard Overing Sturgis is a novel written in the late 19th century. It traces the coming‑of‑age of a frail, sensitive boy whose adoration for a brighter, stronger friend and uneasy bond with his returned father shape his inner life. The story centers on friendship, longing, and social expectations, moving from an idyllic childhood in the country into the harsher rhythms of a great public school. The opening of the novel shows Tim, a slight, nature‑loving child raised in seclusion at an old manor with his devoted nurse, Mrs. Quitchett, while his father lives in India. A shooting party from nearby Darley Court accidentally wounds Tim; the Squire’s grandson, Carol—golden, healthy, and kind—begins visiting him, and Tim’s worshipful attachment quickly forms. A doctor notes Tim’s excitable temperament, and the Darleys’ kindness contrasts with his isolation. Tim’s father returns unexpectedly, mistakes Carol for his son, and, confronted with Tim’s fragility, withdraws in disappointment; he soon imposes tutors and rules while remaining distant. Carol goes off to Eton, writing once; Tim studies hard in hope of joining him. When Tim finally arrives at Eton in Carol’s house, he discovers a social gulf: Carol is a senior and keeps a polite distance, and Tim endures loneliness and small slights, finding small comforts in gentle routines and pets from a local shop. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

"Haut-Sénégal-Niger (Soudan français), Tome 3 (de 3): les civilisations" by Delafosse is a historical-ethnographic study written in the early 20th century. It examines the societies of the French Sudan (Upper Senegal–Niger), focusing on customary law, social and political organization, religion, and material culture across multiple peoples. The volume’s aim is to describe indigenous civilizations on their own terms and to distinguish them from Islamic jurisprudence and French colonial regulations. The opening of the work reframes “civilization” in the plural and sets out to study local customs—civil, social, political, and religious—rather than Islamic law or French administrative rules, noting that Muslim codes are only partially and unevenly adopted. It cautions against forcing French legal categories or codifying fluid customs, and proposes instead to extract core principles and explain indigenous legal mentality. Beginning with “Les biens,” it details land tenure: collective ownership of soil by the polity or its chief as administrator; families hold usufruct and own only the products of their labor; public domains (waters, paths, markets) carry shared rights; hunting and fishing are regulated by locale and season. Nomads follow analogous rules for fields and pastures, while Maliki law, where invoked, allows private ownership through first cultivation and defines strict limits to usufruct (habous). It then treats movable property broadly (crops, houses, tools, herds), showing how labor creates full private or collective ownership, with the family estate managed by a head, women’s equal rights to own and dispose, limited rights of serfs, property marks, and practices for lost goods and stray animals. Finally, it outlines successions: separating private goods from the inalienable family estate; procedures for heirs, incapacity, repudiation, wills and donations, the status of widows and minors, and Islamic adjustments; and three inheritance systems—uterine, consanguine, and patriarchal—whose common aim is to keep property within the lineage, closing with rules for children born out of wedlock. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

"Haut-Sénégal-Niger (Soudan français), Tome 2 (de 3): l'histoire" by Delafosse is a historical account written in the early 20th century. Centered on the western Sudan region of French West Africa, it reconstructs the emergence, reach, and interactions of Sahelian states, especially Ghana, through Arabic sources, travel narratives, and indigenous traditions, highlighting trans-Saharan trade and the spread of Islam. The opening of the work argues that reliable history in this region begins only in the early centuries of our era; ancient Mediterranean notices are scant, archaeology is inconclusive, and inscriptions are late and mostly funerary, so pre‑Christian times remain essentially unknown. It then situates the medieval empire of Ghana in the Aoukar near Oualata and Néma by correlating early Arabic itineraries, rejecting later claims that placed it on the Niger, and explains “Ghana” as originally a royal title. The narrative sketches an initial Judéo‑Syrian (proto‑Fulani) hegemony (4th–8th centuries) replaced by a Soninké dynasty under Kaya‑Maghan, whose power spread across the Sahel, while describing the prosperous caravan city of Aoudaghost and the surrounding Berber tribes. It recounts the rise of the Almoravids from Saharan reform to conquest—culminating in the sack of Aoudaghost and sustained pressure on Ghana—and breaks off as Aboubekr ibn Omar turns south to continue the struggle and Ghana passes from Bassi to his successor Ménin. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

"Haut-Sénégal-Niger (Soudan français), Tome 1 (de 3): le pays, les peuples, les…." by Maurice Delafosse is a historical and ethnographic survey written in the early 20th century. It assembles a comprehensive portrait of the French colony’s geography, peoples, and languages, framed by administrative, legal, and historical context. Drawing on official monographs, questionnaires, Arabic chronicles, and field experience, the work is aimed at officials and scholars seeking a coordinated, critical overview of the territory and its societies. The opening of the volume sets the project’s purpose and context: Governor Clozel’s preface explains why dispersed circle reports were reworked into coordinated studies, credits Delafosse, Méniaud, and Brévié, and sketches the French conquest, administrative structures, the move of the capital to Koulouba, communication networks, and the economic promise of the Niger valley alongside appeals for public health and attention to indigenous populations. Annexed documents lay out the government’s bureau attributions, a detailed circular to codify indigenous customs through a wide-ranging civil and criminal law questionnaire, and a call to update circle monographs on history, geography, economy, labor, trade, religion, languages, and education. In his foreword, Delafosse outlines the book’s five parts (the country, peoples, languages, history, civilizations), sources, and critical method, noting extensive use of Arabic texts and maps. The text then begins with a succinct geographic delimitation, giving area and population estimates and carefully tracing the colony’s boundaries with neighboring territories and the separate Military Territory of the Niger. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

"Collected poems of Clarence Edwin Flynn, second series" by Clarence Edwin Flynn is a collection of poems written in the early 20th century. It likely gathers his widely published verse into a themed second volume that blends Christian devotion, nostalgia, and civic idealism with vivid images of nature, home, and the modernizing world. Recurring subjects include childhood and teaching, war and peace, patriotic feeling, and the dignity of simple work, alongside fresh fascination with railroads, electricity, film, and radio. The opening of this collection presents a transcriber’s note explaining the ordering by publication year, standardized titles, added appendices, and alternative text for illustrations, followed by acknowledgements to librarians who helped recover sources and a preface outlining Flynn’s life as a Methodist Episcopal clergyman and prolific periodical poet, including clarifications about his varying bylines. The initial run of poems (from 1902 into the 1920s) sets the book’s range: rustic dialect humor and homespun wonder; biblical voices and holiday pieces; meditations on hope, death, and resurrection; World War I reflections contrasting warlords with the Prince of Peace; and tributes to home, children, teachers, and country. Many lyrics frame life as theater or a “screen,” welcoming new media (cinema, radio) and technology (electricity, railroads) while upholding faith and moral duty. Nature sketches, prayers, and portraits of everyday workers recur, often closing in a note of consolation or uplift, and some pieces are accompanied by reproduced magazine covers or illustrations. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Microbe Hunters is a popular science book written by Paul de Kruif and first published in 1926. The book has been celebrated as one of the most influential books for drawing scientists into the fields of microbiology and immunology. This book was not only a bestseller for a lengthy period after publication, but has remained high on lists of recommended reading for science and has been an inspiration for many aspiring physicians and scientists. (This summary is from Wikipedia.)

"Vers le cœur de l'Amérique" by Charles Wagner is a travelogue written in the early 20th century. It traces a French Protestant pastor’s journey to understand the moral energy, civic spirit, and everyday life of the United States through meetings, sermons, and keen on-the-ground observation. Along the way he engages leading figures such as Theodore Roosevelt and John Wanamaker while reflecting on simplicity, community, and the character of American democracy. The opening of the work follows Wagner from his first American literary contacts and translations to the encouragement that finally sends him across the Atlantic, despite family duties and a daunting struggle to learn English. He sails to New York, observes shipboard class divisions and the night approach of the harbor, then records first impressions of skyscrapers, bustling streets, elevated trains, laundries, and Central Park. Short excursions up the Hudson lead to Irvington and the serene cemetery of Sleepy Hollow, his first tentative sermon in English, and a warm stay at John Wanamaker’s Lindenhurst, including quiet family devotions and a charming tea with children. He then visits the White House for an intimate dinner, sketching a vivid, admiring portrait of Roosevelt’s character and ideals, before brief Washington scenes (Lincoln’s pew, the Library of Congress), a rustic interlude with Lyman Abbott at Cornwall-on-Hudson, and a return toward Philadelphia as he prepares to spend a full Sunday at Bethany Church. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

"The seals and whales of the British seas" by Thomas Southwell is a scientific publication written in the late 19th century. It presents an accessible, illustrated guide to identifying and understanding the seals and cetaceans found around Britain, blending concise descriptions of species with notes on habits, distribution, and fisheries. Aimed at both amateurs and students, it emphasizes practical identification tips, trustworthy summaries, and references to more technical sources. At the start of this volume, the author explains the surge of interest in marine mammals and the lack of a modern, affordable handbook, setting out to provide clear figures, brief diagnostic notes, and pointers to further reading, while acknowledging key helpers. He outlines the three seal families (true seals, the walrus, and eared seals), contrasts their limbs and ears, and then discusses the seal fisheries of Greenland and Newfoundland—quantities taken, wasteful “panning,” legislative attempts at a close season, and the risk of rapid depletion. Brief, focused species accounts follow: Common, Ringed, Greenland, Hooded (Bladder-nose), and Grey Seals—covering British records, Arctic ranges, breeding, coloration, and key identifiers—plus a detailed sketch of the Walrus, its rarity on British coasts, behavior, uses, and looming extermination. The work then introduces the Cetacea, explaining their anatomy (blowhole breathing, blubber, baleen versus teeth), classification, and the British list. A substantial opening treatment of the Greenland Right-Whale questions its true place in British fauna, reviews whaling history and economics, clarifies baleen structure and feeding, and touches on behavior and breeding. It concludes this opening by introducing the Atlantic Right-Whale and the old Basque fishery, setting up a contrast between the northern and the more temperate “right-whales.” (This is an automatically generated summary.)

The Countess Fanny by Marjorie Bowen is a novel written in the early 20th century. It reads as a historical drama set on a storm-lashed Cornish coast, where propriety, passion, and a guarded secret converge around Ambrosia Sellar, her forceful brother Oliver, and his young Italian ward and fiancée, the dazzling Countess Fanny. With a brooding country house and a perilous lighthouse as backdrop, the story promises a clash of temperament and culture, and the slow tightening of a mystery hinted at from the first page. The opening of the novel sets a tone of secrecy in a brief prologue, where an old man implies he has kept a life-defining truth about “the Countess Fanny.” We then meet Ambrosia Sellar, elegant yet despondent at gloomy Sellar’s Mead, bracing for winter and for Oliver’s return with his teenage ward-bride from Italy—a union that will merge estates but feels ill-matched. Ambrosia confers uneasily with the village vicar, meets the arrivals at a bleak ferry, and instantly senses both Fanny’s beauty and self-possession and Oliver’s sullen, proprietary mood; dinner that night is tense, and Ambrosia catches a flash of raw passion in her brother’s look. A visit to Lord Lefton introduces Ambrosia’s fiancé, Lucius, and his consuming interest in the newly rebuilt lighthouse at St. Nite’s—a symbol of danger and obsession—before Fanny produces a letter from her former companion, Madame de Mailly, warning that the engagement is a foolish mismatch pressed by Oliver’s ardor. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

An essay on hasheesh by Victor Robinson is a medical-cultural essay written in the early 20th century. It explores cannabis (hasheesh) as a narcotic: its plant biology, history, chemistry, physiological action, therapeutic uses, and the lived experience of intoxication. The book opens with a sweeping tour of world materia medica, then focuses on hemp’s range, cultivation, and botany; the distinction between Cannabis sativa and “indica”; and resin harvesting and state controls. It traces references from antiquity (Homer, Dioscorides, Galen, Susruta, Chinese herbals) through Islamic lore and the Assassins, to modern reintroduction via O’Shaughnessy. It reviews disputed chemistry, outlines systemic effects (stimulation, appetite, mydriasis), medical applications (pain, insomnia, spasm, hysteria), official preparations and sample prescriptions, and emphasizes the drug’s striking safety (no proven lethal dose) alongside variable, often contradictory outcomes. The narrative then turns to experiments: animal trials with little effect on herbivores; and vivid human cases featuring cascades of laughter, grandiose ideas, temporal distortion, and elaborate visions. Notable episodes include a stenographer who believes he is on Halley’s comet, a critic convulsed by uncontrollable mirth, and the narrator’s own nocturnal voyage of music, weightless flight, erotic reverie, nausea, and next-day euphoria. The volume closes with a poem to cannabis and an appendix where one subject records his sensations and “double consciousness,” underscoring the drug’s blend of delight, subjectivity, and aftereffects. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

White Buildings was the first collection (1926) of poetry by Hart Crane, an American modernist poet, critical to both lyrical and language poetic traditions. The book features well-known pieces like "For the Marriage of Faustus and Helen," the "Voyages" series, and some of his most famous lyrics including "My Grandmother's Love Letters" and "Chaplinesque." Harold Bloom has argued that this collection alone, if perhaps taken with his later lyric, 'The Broken Tower,' could have secured Crane's reputation as one of the best American poets of the 20th century. (This summary is from Wikipedia.)

"The mystery road" by E. Phillips Oppenheim is a novel written in the early 20th century. It follows Myrtile, a young French peasant who flees an arranged marriage and is taken to Monte Carlo by two Englishmen: the dashing aristocrat Gerald Dombey and his steadier friend, barrister Christopher Bent. Amid Riviera glitter, Gerald is captivated by a mysterious beauty traveling incognito, while Christopher tries to protect Myrtile and secure her a respectable future. The setup promises romantic entanglements, social and moral friction, and hints of international intrigue. The opening of the novel shows Myrtile escaping her coarse stepfather’s plan to marry her to a drunken innkeeper, then pleading for help from Gerald and Christopher when their car breaks down near her farm. They bring her to Monte Carlo and settle her quietly, but while Christopher urges restraint and practical plans, Gerald grows infatuated with Pauline, a striking young woman accompanied by a severe “aunt” who shuns introductions. A visit to a dressmaker exposes the men’s opposing aims for Myrtile—Gerald’s urge to glamorize her versus Christopher’s insistence on plain, suitable clothes—while scenes at Pauline’s villa suggest exile, money troubles, and secret political ties. By the excerpt’s end, Gerald engineers a clandestine seaside meeting and a drive with Pauline, neglects Myrtile, and confides to Christopher that his obsession is growing, setting conflict in motion. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

"A cowboy detective" by Charles A. Siringo is a memoir written in the early 20th century. It recounts two decades of undercover work for a prominent detective agency, blending frontier cowboy life with covert investigations across the American West, Mexico, Alaska, and beyond. Expect firsthand tales of labor unrest, train and mine cases, moonshiners, outlaws, and the rough ethics and improvisation that shaped early detective work. The opening of the memoir sets the stage with a preface explaining the use of fictitious names and the author’s plainspoken approach, then moves from his Texas cowboy youth to Chicago during the Haymarket riot, where a chance and a phrenologist’s nudge lead him into detective work. He joins the Dickenson Agency, survives a brief jailing after a circus scuffle, helps on the anarchist case, shadows suspects in Chicago, and transfers to Denver. There he goes undercover in the Archuleta County uprising, narrowly avoids a lynching, turns deputy long enough to stave off bloodshed, then slips away to Mexico City to shadow a Wells Fargo thief until an arrest back in Kansas. He helps seize the Bassick mine against a threatened mob, probes a Ute “war” he deems a murder by whites, and rides in a Denver cowboy tournament as “Dull Knife,” unlucky but skillful enough to earn notice. He next infiltrates Tom Hall’s outlaw ranch in Wyoming by faking a leg injury, learns of the jailbreak of a condemned killer, files reports amid dances and a chaotic wake, sees grand jury indictments follow (later dropped), and begins a Rio Grande train-robbery case by posing as a prisoner alongside the suspects as the narrative pauses. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

"Primitive art" by Franz Boas is an anthropological treatise written in the early 20th century. It examines how so‑called “primitive” art arises from universal human mental processes and from the historical development of cultures, arguing that form, technique, and meaning intertwine in diverse ways. The work critiques unilineal evolutionist theories and emphasizes distribution, diffusion, and local integration of traits. It is likely to interest readers of anthropology, art history, and aesthetics who want a rigorous, example‑rich analysis of form, style, and symbolism across cultures. The opening of this treatise sets out two guiding principles: human mental processes are fundamentally the same across races and cultures, and every cultural phenomenon must be understood as a historical growth. Boas rejects notions of a “primitive mind,” illustrates the prevalence of taboo and “magical” attitudes in modern life, and critiques grand evolutionary schemes, favoring detailed historical and geographical (distributional) analysis over speculative sequences. He then defines art as universal and rooted in technical mastery that stabilizes forms, distinguishing between the esthetic power of form itself and added meanings or symbols. Using vivid cross‑cultural examples—from California basketry and Northwest Coast woodwork to Pueblo pottery, Koryak embroidery, Peruvian textiles, and Zambezi beadwork—he shows how symmetry, rhythm, borders, and field divisions emerge from technique, physiology, and sensory experience, often independent of explicit representation, before turning to consider representative art as a fusion of content and perfected form. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

"Plain Jane and pretty Betty" by May Hollis Barton is a novel written in the early 20th century. It follows Jane Cross, a sensitive, capable orphan taken in by the Powells, as she moves from a grim mining town to Greenville, where her path crosses with wealthy, aloof Betty Browning and with kind, inventive clerk Billy Dobson. Early setbacks—an accident, a devastating fire, and town gossip—set up a tale of class contrasts, resilience, and a girl determined to win out. At the start, Jane Cross leaves the harsh mining town of Coal Run with the Powells, endures a moving-van crash, and arrives in Greenville, where eccentric neighbors Lydia and “Mad Marion” offer unexpected kindness. Settling into a small sunny house, Jane runs errands to Mason’s store, meets haughty Betty Browning, and befriends clerk Billy Dobson, an aspiring inventor. A great night fire destroys Martin and Hull’s grain buildings; Mr. Powell injures his hands and loses his job, while Mr. Browning privately fears ruin. Rumor then points to Billy as the firebug after a rebuffed pitch for backing, and he is publicly confronted; he denies it firmly, and Jane defends him while Betty remains coldly dismissive. The opening closes with worry settling over Jane’s household, prompting her to think hard about how she can help. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

"Portuguese bibliography" by Aubrey F. G. Bell is a bibliography written in the early 20th century. It compiles and organizes scholarship, primary texts, and reference tools on Portuguese letters, with notable coverage of Galician and Brazilian literatures, language studies, folklore, and anthologies, and is designed to accompany the author’s broader survey of Portuguese literature. The opening of this bibliography sets out its plan and purpose, noting that it follows a respected Spanish model, complements a companion volume on Portuguese literature, and uses clear typographical signs to flag bibliographical works and items still in progress, with brief notes on abbreviations. A detailed table of contents outlines sections for general works, texts, anthologies, folklore and popular poetry, language, dictionaries, and authors. The first section launches into an extensive, multilingual list of general studies, catalogues, journals, histories of printing and censorship, and broad literary histories—then appends focused sublists for Galician and Brazilian literature. Subsequent pages begin the sections on “Texts” (series and document collections) and “Anthologies” (chrestomathies and selections), and open “Folk-lore, Popular Poetry, etc.,” cataloguing sources on ballads, proverbs, songs, tales, and regional traditions. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

"Natural history, lore and legend" by F. Edward Hulme is a historical study of natural history folklore written in the late 19th century. The work explores how ancient and medieval writers understood animals, plants, and marvels, tracing beliefs from classical authorities through bestiaries, travel books, medical texts, and heraldry. It examines why earlier scholars prized moral lessons and medicinal “virtues” as much as facts, and how wonder, credulity, and theology shaped what passed for zoology. The opening of the book argues that medieval naturalists were earnest seekers of truth whose errors often stemmed from limited tools and inherited authorities, not fraud. Hulme contrasts modern descriptive science with older aims—healing the body and saving the soul—illustrating moralized “nature” through bestiaries and sermons, and showing how astrology, travelers’ tales, and medical recipes (sometimes cruel) fed the lore. He surveys key sources and traditions—Pliny and Aristotle, Maundevile and Jordanus, Munster’s maps with elephants, Burton’s coca note, Hakluyt, Raleigh, and others—while noting the East’s “unchanging” customs and the aesthetic of old title-pages and maps. He then samples theological bestiaries (Guillaume, Philip de Thaun) and heraldic manuals (Guillim, Legh) before beginning the first creature-focus: the pygmies—sifting ancient claims, modern confirmations of dwarf peoples, and cautions about fakes—leading into Aldrovandus’s monstrous “unnatural history” and the era’s fascination with prodigies. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

"Screen acting" by Mae Marsh is a guidebook on motion picture performance written in the early 20th century. It offers practical, plainspoken advice to aspiring film actors, arguing that lasting success comes from craft, discipline, and sincerity rather than beauty or hype, and illustrates its lessons with vivid anecdotes from the silent-era studio world. The opening of the book sets out to answer the flood of letters Marsh receives about how to get into pictures, promising clear guidance without confusing jargon and stressing the performer’s responsibility to the public. It debunks the “overnight star” myth, contrasts manufactured publicity with hard-earned skill, and points to perseverance (with examples) as the real engine of success. Marsh then outlines seven essentials—natural talent, ambition, personality, sincerity, agreeable appearance with expressive eyes, health and stamina, and the ability to learn fast—before pivoting to concrete craft: study the script, plan specific bits of business, use light makeup and expressive hair choices, and treat costume as character. She coaches readers to beat camera-consciousness through fierce concentration, value repression and emphasis over showy histrionics, adjust acting to shot scale (long, intermediate, close-up), speak lines clearly even in silent scenes, and keep poise opposite scene partners—including those who try to “hog the camera.” The section closes by urging resilience amid differing studio atmospheres, constant study of evolving screen methods, active story selection and “observation tours,” and a grateful portrait of D. W. Griffith’s patient, actor-centered direction and technical innovations. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

"There's not a bathing suit in Russia & other bare facts" by Will Rogers is a humorous travelogue and social satire written in the early 20th century. In it, Rogers records a fast, wisecracking tour of Soviet Russia via Western Europe, pairing slapstick travel scrapes with shrewd, plainspoken jabs at Bolshevism, propaganda, and daily life. Expect aviation escapades, vodka-fueled encounters, and lampoons of exiled aristocrats and American ideologues, all filtered through his affable skepticism. At the start of the book, the narrator skewers the craze for Russia-writing and the flood of “grand dukes” and “princesses” haunting Paris salons, then stakes his novelty: he admits he knows nothing conclusive about Russia. A vodka misadventure with Morris Gest and Balieff, a buoying moment with Mary Garden, and a hard-won visa send him hopscotching Europe by air—past Channel swimmers and Dutch canals—before a surprise landing in Lithuania exposes his shaky grasp of new borders; he soon reaches Russia, noting women in the fields, men’s whiskers, and surprisingly easy customs. Finding no spies tracking him, he roams freely, tries and fails to see Trotsky, sketches Stalin’s backstage power, and chats with American radicals-turned-tourists. He then sizes up shortages and patched-up currency, the retreat from equal-pay dogma, the peasant’s refusal to sell grain at bad terms, and, in Leningrad, tours the Winter Palace and a grisly Revolutionary Museum—observing how propaganda and schooling start “at the cradle.” (This is an automatically generated summary.)