Book Finder
Explore the catalog by subject or category. Filter through the 99 titles to find narratives, regimental histories, or personal accounts that fit your research or curiosity.
Do more with this book catalog
Welcome to the PIIQQ Modern History Library, a collection of 99 public-domain books covering modern-era history across four categories: Modern Nations, World Events, Revolutions, and Social History. These are primary sources and historical accounts from the 19th and 20th centuries, now freely available for reading and study.
Use the tools below to find books that match your interests, compare different works, or estimate your reading time. Each tool draws on the catalog's metadata, including subject headings, word counts, and reading times, to help you navigate the collection efficiently.
99
books in this catalog
4
catalog categories
99
books with reading-time data
Made for this collection
Ways the catalog data becomes useful
Compare Books
View side-by-side details of selected works, such as word count, reading time, and subject coverage. See how different titles relate in scope and content.
Reading Time
Estimate your time commitment for any book using median reading speeds. The catalog includes works from 45-minute reads to multi-day marathons.
Choosing, Comparing, and Tracking Your Reading in the PIIQQ Modern History Library
The PIIQQ Modern History Library holds 99 works that span revolutions, world wars, social change, and the formation of modern nations. With so much ground to cover, the three tools on this page work best when you treat them as one continuous process rather than separate utilities. Book Finder helps you narrow the field, Compare Books lets you weigh a few finalists side by side, and Reading Tracker turns your choice into a manageable daily plan.
Consider a title like Our Caughnawagas in Egypt a narrative of what was seen and accomplished by the contingent of North American Indian voyageurs who led the British boat Expedition for — Story, Setting & Ideas (id 259). It is a compact 12,793-word account of a little-known episode, but its subjects reach across Egypt, the Nile, and the Gordon Relief Expedition. That combination of brevity and unusual scope is exactly the kind of discovery the tools are meant to surface.
Start with Finder, but Let the Catalog Shape Your Criteria
Book Finder is the entry point because it lets you apply the catalog's own structure: category, word-count length, estimated reading time, chapter rhythm, sentence flow, and subject. The category counts alone tell a story—Modern Nations holds 47 titles, World Events 32, while Revolutions and Social History each have 10. If you want a broad survey, Modern Nations offers the most options; if you prefer a focused theme, the smaller categories reward attention.
The finder also lets you signal whether you want popular titles or hidden gems. No-preference choices do not penalize books, so you can experiment without worrying that a neutral answer will hide good matches. Because the catalog is small enough to scan, you can afford to be specific: a subject like United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 appears in 7 titles, while a more particular one such as World War, 1914-1918 -- Naval operations, British appears in only 3.
Use Compare to See What the Numbers Actually Mean
Once Finder gives you two or three candidates, Compare Books puts them side by side. The tool shows word count, estimated reading time, text sections, sentence flow, chapter rhythm, subjects, and page information when available. None of these metrics are quality ratings—they are descriptive facts that help you anticipate the texture of the reading experience.
For example, you might compare a 12,793-word narrative with a 314,674-word history. The first is a weekend commitment; the second is a month-long project. But word count alone does not tell you how the book is organized. A title with many short sections, like Yorktown: Climax of the Revolution — Edition Insights (id 295) at 26 sections in 13,556 words, invites a different reading rhythm than a continuous narrative of similar length. Compare lets you see those structural differences before you commit.
Finish with Tracker to Turn a Choice into a Plan
Reading Tracker is the natural third step. It records progress in pages, with a current page, total pages, and a daily page goal. If the catalog has no fixed page count, it estimates total pages by dividing word count by 250 words per page. You can replace that estimate with the total from your own reading app or edition, which is useful when you are working from a physical copy.
The tracker calculates estimated remaining time and finish days based on your daily goal. Progress history is stored in your browser's localStorage, so no account is needed. By pairing the tracker with a book you have already vetted in Finder and Compare, you move from choosing to reading without losing sight of how much ground you have covered.