Adventure and Adventurers
A Boy’s Fortune; Or, the Strange Adventures of Ben Baker.
Horatio Alger Jr. January 13, 1832 - July 18, 1899) was an American writer, best known for his many young adult novels about impoverished boys and their rise from humble backgrounds to lives of middle-class security and comfort through hard work, determination, courage, and honesty. His writings were characterized by the "rags-to-riches" narrative, which had a formative effect on the United States during the Gilded Age.All of Alger's juvenile novels share essentially the same theme, known as the "Horatio Alger myth" a teenage boy works hard to escape poverty. Often it is not hard work that rescues the boy from his fate but rather some extraordinary act of bravery or honesty. The boy might return a large sum of lost money or rescue someone from an overturned carriage. This brings the boy-and his plight-to the attention of a wealthy individual.Alger secured his literary niche in 1868 with the publication of his fourth book, Ragged Dick, the story of a poor bootblack's rise to middle-class respectability. This novel was a huge success. His many books that followed were essentially variations on Ragged Dick and featured casts of stock characters: the valiant hard-working, honest youth, the noble mysterious stranger, the snobbish youth, and the evil, greedy squire.In the 1870s, Alger's fiction was growing stale. His publisher suggested he tour the American West for fresh material to incorporate into his fiction. Alger took a trip to California, but the trip had little effect on his writing: he remained mired in the tired theme of "poor boy makes good." The backdrops of these novels, however, became the American West rather than the urban environments of the northeastern United States.
Benita an African Romance by H. Rider Haggard – Delphi Classics (Illustrated)
This eBook features the unabridged text of ?Benita An African Romance by H. Rider Haggard - Delphi Classics (Illustrated)? from the bestselling edition of ?The Complete Works of H. Rider Haggard?. Having established their name as the leading publisher of classic literature and art, Delphi Classics produce publications that are individually crafted with superior formatting, while introducing many rare texts for the first time in digital print. The Delphi Classics edition of Haggard includes original annotations and illustrations relating to the life and works of the author, as well as individual tables of contents, allowing you to navigate eBooks quickly and easily.eBook features:* The complete unabridged text of ?Benita An African Romance by H. Rider Haggard - Delphi Classics (Illustrated)?* Beautifully illustrated with images related to Haggard?s works* Individual contents table, allowing easy navigation around the eBook* Excellent formatting of the textPlease visit www.delphiclassics.com to learn more about our wide range of titles