Self Help

No law, Samuel Smiles argues, can make the idle industrious or the drunken sober. The strength of a nation begins not in Parliament, but in the character of its people.

Writing amid debates over government, national independence, and social reform, Smiles turns the familiar maxim “Heaven helps those who help themselves” into a challenge: can any institution improve a people who will not work to improve themselves? He traces national progress to the industry, honesty, and perseverance of ordinary men and women, whose example quietly shapes the lives around them. Yet self-reliance, he insists, is more than private success—it is the surest ground of liberty and social strength. What can one person’s conduct change in the life of a nation?

With centuries of literature, it's inevitable that some will fall through the cracks. We hunt down public domain works and restore them so they're not lost to the world.

Who are we? We're Cairn Press. Our background is in design, publishing, typography, and technology. These skills fuel our mission to create the highest quality Public Domain eBooks available online, at an affordable price. We give them the treatment they deserve; our proprietary process restores books for a better overall user experience in design, readability, and e-reader compatibility.