Sketches from Concord and Appledore Concord thirty years ago; Nathaniel Hawthorne; Louisa M. Alcott; Ralph Waldo Emerson; Matthew Arnold; David A. Wasson; Wendell Phillips; Appledore and its visitors; John Greenleaf Whittier

"Sketches from Concord and Appledore" by Frank Preston Stearns is a collection of personal memories and thoughts from the late 1800s, offering readers a peek into the world of famous people linked to Concord, Massachusetts. Stearns talks about the lives and work of people like Nathaniel Hawthorne, Louisa May Alcott, and Ralph Waldo Emerson, giving us details about who they were and the culture around them. Starting with a clear image of what Concord was like "thirty years ago,” Stearns describes the area, community, and its importance as the place where a revolutionary battle took place. He points out the simple beauty of the countryside, with its lovely nature and old-fashioned town life, and starts to hint at the important writers who made Concord a place of great thinking and writing. The storytelling has a feeling of looking back fondly, setting the scene for going deeper into the lives of the important people who shaped American books and ideas during a time of big change.