You should go google up the Gutenberg Project and start reading some of the out-of-copyright works there.
E. E. "Doc" Smith is a personal favorite. Skylark of Space would be a great place to start.
Written around 1920, so no divorce, and men were men and women were women. Well, until Skylark DuQuesne(?) where the women strapped on revolvers.
Great space opera adventure, though.
First paragraph:
Petrified with astonishment, Richard Seaton stared after the copper steam-bath upon which he had been electrolyzing his solution of "X," the unknown metal. For as soon as he had removed the beaker the heavy bath had jumped endwise from under his hand as though it were alive. It had flown with terrific speed over the table, smashing apparatus and bottles of chemicals on its way, and was even now disappearing through the open window. He seized his prism binoculars and focused them upon the flying vessel, a speck in the distance. Through the glass he saw that it did not fall to the ground, but continued on in a straight line, only its rapidly diminishing size showing the enormous velocity with which it was moving. It grew smaller and smaller, and in a few moments disappeared utterly.
And from there, off we go!
The Skylark of Space
Skylark Three
Skylark of Valeron
and
Skylark DuQuesne
From there, the Subspace Explorers and Subspace Encounters books, The Lensman Series, The Vortex Blaster, Masters of Space, Spacehounds of IPC, and many more. Oh, and The Galaxy Primes.
