18 books like Victorian writing about risk
Life Writing and Victorian Culture
"In this collection of interdisciplinary essays, experts from Britain and the United States in the fields of nineteenth-century literature, and social and cultural history explore new directions in the field of Victorian life writing. Chapters examine a varied yet interrelated range of genres, from the biography and autobiography, to the relatively neglected diary, collective biography, and…
Shares: English prose literature, Great Britain, Biography & Memoir
War Lord
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER“I gulped it right down. Excellent, as always. . . . Cornwell brings battles to life like no one else.” –George R.R. Martin, Author of Game of ThronesThe final installment in Bernard Cornwell’s bestselling Saxon Tales series, chronicling the epic story of the making of England—the basis for The Last Kingdom, the hit Netflix series.THE FINAL BATTLE AWAITS…The epic…
Shares: Great Britain, English literature
The Evening and the Morning
1 New York Times BestsellerAn Amazon Best Book of 2020 The thrilling and addictive prequel to The Pillars of the Earth--set in England at the dawn of a new era: the Middle Ages"Just as transporting as [The Pillars of the Earth] . . . A most welcome addition to the Kingsbridge series." --The Washington PostIt is 997 CE, the end of the Dark Ages. England is facing attacks from…
Shares: Great Britain, English literature
Life Writing after Empire
A watershed moment of the twentieth century, the end of empire saw upheavals to global power structures and national identities. However, decolonisation profoundly affected individual subjectivities too. Life Writing After Empire examines how people around the globe have made sense of the post-imperial condition through the practice of life writing in its multifarious expressions, from…
Shares: Travel writing, Biography & Memoir
Victorian Diary
In her examination of neglected diaristic texts, Anne-Marie Millim expands the field of Victorian diary criticism by complicating the conventional notion of diaries as mainly private sources of biographical information. She argues that for Elizabeth Rigby Eastlake, Henry Crabb Robinson, George Eliot, George Gissing, John Ruskin, Edith Simcox and Gerard Manley Hopkins, the exposure or publication…
Shares: English prose literature, History and criticism, Biography & Memoir, History
The Dragon and the Raven
For many years England was assailed by Danish hordes whose barbarians reduced the Saxons to pitiable legions of disconnected and ravished communities. In the later 800's A.D. a man named Alfred emerged from the darkened European scene and by his wisdom and knowledge and bravery, he gathered together an army of valorous warriors who banished the Vikings back to the North. This true historic tale…
Shares: Great Britain, History
Journal of the discovery of the source of the Nile
This classic book is Speke's firsthand account of his second expedition, an exciting blend of adventure, exploration, and geographic and ethnographic data. The book begins with the expedition's preparations, departure from London, and arrival at Zanzibar in 1859. They then undertake the hazardous march into the interior, encountering hostile tribes, dangerous animals, thieves, and other…
Shares: Travel writing, Travel, Biography & Memoir
William Makepeace Thackeray Library
First published in 1996, The William Makepeace Thackeray Library is a collection of works written by and about the novelist. William Makepeace Thackeray spent part of virtually every year of his writing life in Paris and he wrote continually on France and French culture. This volume contains a selection of Thackeray’s travel writing, the majority of which centres around his time spent in France,…
Shares: British, History and criticism, Travel, English literature
Romancing the Self in Early Modern Englishwomen's Life Writing
Juxtaposing life writing and romance, this study offers the first book-length exploration of the dynamic and complex relationship between the two genres. Through close analysis of a wide variety of life writings by early modern Englishwomen, Eckerle shows how deeply influenced these women were by the controversial romance genre. Her analysis adds a layer of significant nuance to our understanding…
Shares: English prose literature, History and criticism, Biography & Memoir, History
Aspects de la biographie
« Y a-t-il une biographie moderne ? Est-elle une forme littéraire différente de la biographie traditionnelle ? Les méthodes qu'elle a suivies sont-elles légitimes, ou au contraire faut-il y renoncer ? La biographie doit-elle être un art ou une science ? Peut-elle être, comme le roman, un moyen d'expression, une délivrance pour l'auteur comme pour le lecteur ? Voilà quelques-uns des problèmes que…
Shares: History and criticism, English literature, Biography & Memoir
Miles Wallingford
The sequel to Afloat and Ashore, set in the Napoleanic era. The terrific scene enacted so directly before his eyes, produced an effect on the Albon-ny man, who consented to haul aft his main-sheet, lower his studding-sail and top-sail, come by the wind, stand across to the Wallingford, heave-to, and lower a boat. This occurred just as Drewett was taken below; and, a minute later, old Mrs. Drewett…
Shares: Foreign relations, History
Blood and Oil
Blood and Oil the explosive untold story of how Mohammed bin Salman and his entourage grabbed power in the Middle East and acquired a network of Western allies - including well-known US bankers, Hollywood figures, and politicians - all eager to help the charming and crafty crown prince.
Through astonishing interviews with powerful insiders, Blood and Oil tells how MBS's cabal played the Saudi…
Shares: Foreign relations, History
The man who would be king
It is about two British adventurers in British India who become kings of Kafiristan, a remote part of Afghanistan. The story was inspired by the exploits of James Brooke, an Englishman who became the first White Rajah of Sarawak in Borneo; and by the travels of American adventurer Josiah Harlan, who was granted the title Prince of Ghor in perpetuity for himself and his descendants. It…
Shares: British, English literature, Biography & Memoir
The situation and the story
"All narrative writing must pull from the raw material of life a tale that will shape experience, transform event, deliver a bit of wisdom. In a story or a novel the "I" who tells this tale can be, and often is, an unreliable narrator, but in nonfiction the reader must always be persuaded that the narrator is speaking truth.".
"How does one pull from one's own boring, agitated self the reliable…
Shares: English prose literature, History and criticism, Biography & Memoir
Diary of a Pilgrimage
While it is beyond doubt that Jerome K. Jerome is most well known for his comic masterpiece Three Men in a Boat, the range of his other literary achievements is staggering. Journalist, playwright and author, a wealth of his writing has remained just beyond the public gaze. Diary of a Pilgrimage is one such work.
The pilgrimage of the title is a journey to see the famous Passion Play at…
Shares: British, Travel, English literature, Biography & Memoir
Changing my mind
A sparkling collection of Zadie Smith's nonfiction over the past decade.Zadie Smith brings to her essays all of the curiosity, intellectual rigor, and sharp humor that have attracted so many readers to her fiction, and the result is a collection that is nothing short of extraordinary.Split into four sections—"Reading," "Being," "Seeing," and "Feeling"—Changing My Mind invites readers to witness…
Shares: History and criticism, Travel, English literature, History
Torches Together
Not many people talk about "joy" these days. Emmy Arnold's memoir radiates just that - an enthusiasm for life and an unflagging optimism grounded in faith. In a genre awash in sordid sex and dysfunctional relationships, she offers a refreshing account of a hard life lived victoriously, of people brought together, despite their own weakness and turbulent times, to experience new levels of freedom,…
Shares: Biography & Memoir, History
Modern selves
This book discusses gender and autobiography, and the politics of autobiography. It offers examples of ways of making sense of individual works or groups of works.
Shares: English prose literature, History and criticism, Biography & Memoir