A Man for the Ages: A Story of the Builders of Democracy

Bacheller, Irving, 1859-1950Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.3
Word count
546K words
Chapters
55

Tags

English Originals Historical Fiction Historical ReappraisalSocial ObservationPortrait GalleryGroup BiographyCivic AwarenessInspirationPatriotism

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.A Man for the Ages: A Story of the Builders of Democracy by Irving BachellerAuthor: Bacheller, Irving, 1859-1950,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Dec 5, 2005

Editor's review

Irving Bacheller's novel, subtitled "A Story of the Builders of Democracy," centers its narrative on ordinary people who shaped American democracy and everyday life; it belongs to the historical fiction category within American literature. Its appeal lies not in grand battle scenes but in the way individual fates connect the changes of an era: through specific characters' choices, migrations, and struggles, it shows how a generation took part in building a shared order. Such works carry a clear idealistic tone of their time, with sharply drawn good and evil and clear narrative lines, making them easy to read; today it is better suited as a sample for understanding late-19th-century American popular historical fiction than as strict historical source material. Readers can observe how popular literature of the time spoke of "democracy" and "builders," and compare it with real historical sources to distinguish literary imagination from fact. Read alongside social histories of the same period, it makes clearer how popular narrative helped shape national identity.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Not a good fit for

Reading tips

  1. Learn the historical background of the period first, then enter the plot; this reduces the sense of distance from characters' motives.
  2. Read the characters as carriers of the era's ideas, noting how the author uses their choices to express an understanding of democracy.
  3. After reading, check relevant historical events and compare literary narrative with historical records to form your own judgment.
  4. For English extensive reading, set a fixed number of chapters per day; read through the plot first, then return to vocabulary and long sentences.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

Contents

  1. 1
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FAQ

What kind of book is this? It is a historical novel by Irving Bacheller; the subtitle indicates it tells the story of the "builders of democracy" and belongs to the American literature category. It links individual fates to the changes of an era and has an idealistic tone, making it a useful sample for understanding popular historical narrative of its time.
Can it be used as a book on American history? It should not be treated directly as factual history. It is a novel; its characters and plot serve narrative and ideological expression and differ from real history. It can give an introductory sense of the historical atmosphere, but specific events and figures should be checked against historical works.
What English level is it suitable for? The work belongs to late-19th- to early-20th-century popular fiction; its sentences are longer than those of modern novels, but the plot moves clearly and difficult words are not numerous. Readers with intermediate English reading ability who are willing to look up words can try it; beginners should use an annotated edition or introductory materials.
What are the features of this electronic edition? This edition was released by Project Gutenberg as a free electronic text of a public-domain work; the main text is in English and it is classified under American and Canadian literature. It contains no modern editorial notes or historical introduction, so readers need to supplement relevant materials themselves.

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About the author

Bacheller, Irving, 1859-1950 Author

Irving Bacheller (1859–1950) was an American writer. Public information about his life and education is limited, but the library holds eighteen of his works, which shows the breadth of his subjects. He is known for his North Country novels, above all Eben Holden, a tale of rural life told in a plain and warmly human style; The Light in the Clearing continues this regional setting against the times of Silas. Bacheller also wrote historical fiction: Vergilius: A Tale of the Coming of Christ and In the Days of Poor Richard draw on the classical world and the colonial period, while A Man for the Ages portrays figures from American history. Books such as The Master of Silence and 'Charge It': Keeping Up with Harry show a gentle, popular narrative manner, often with moral concern and a local flavor. His works reached a broad readership and hold a place in early twentieth-century American popular literature, and some were adapted for stage and screen.