A True Hero: A Story of the Days of William Penn

William Henry Giles KingstonProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.0
Word count
190K words
Chapters
20

Tags

English Originals Foreign Literature Historical ContextPortrait GalleryLegendary LivesHeroismFirm BeliefComing of AgeJustice and CourageMoral CultivationNorth American SettlementColonial Era

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 True Hero: A Story of the Days of William Penn by William Henry Giles KingstonAuthor: Kingston, William Henry Giles, 1814-1880,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: May 16, 2007

Editor's review

Set in the age of William Penn, this book unfolds around the question of what makes a true hero, placing tests of personal character within the historical context of the colonial period. Kingston habitually injects moral propositions into adventure frameworks, and this work is no exception: loyalty, justice, and self-restraint are tested in concrete events rather than preached in the abstract. For Chinese readers, its highlight is offering a popular window onto seventeenth-century colonial Pennsylvania history, though that view is fictionalized. As a public-domain electronic text, it is convenient for searching, citation, and comparative reading, and suits as supplementary material for courses on historical fiction or children's literature. It should be noted that the book's treatment of historical figures and groups carries obvious period stances; today's readers should read with discernment, treating it as a text for understanding how nineteenth-century Britons imagined early colonial history rather than as objective historical narrative. The overall reading threshold is not high, but its appeal leans toward traditional narrative.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Not a good fit for

Reading tips

  1. Learn the basic outline of William Penn and Pennsylvania colonial history before reading for smoother understanding.
  2. Compare characters' words and deeds with historical records, noting differences between fictionalization and period stances.
  3. Read alongside other juvenile novels set in the colonial period to compare changing views of heroism.
  4. For English learning, proceed chapter by chapter and organize historical proper nouns.

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
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
  14. 14
  15. 15
  16. 16
  17. 17
  18. 18
  19. 19
  20. 20

FAQ

Who is William Penn in the title? William Penn was a seventeenth-century English Quaker and founder of the Pennsylvania colony, known for promoting religious tolerance and making treaties with local indigenous peoples. This book sets its story in his era but is a fictionalized narrative; readers should not treat it as a biography of Penn or rigorous historical source.
Is this book a historical work or a novel? It is a juvenile novel set against a historical background, classified as English literature rather than historiography. The author uses real times and figures to build a narrative frame, focusing on character and adventure rather than verifying historical facts. For understanding the history, read it alongside proper historical works.
What English level is needed to read this book? Written in the nineteenth century, the work bears period traces in vocabulary and sentence structure. Intermediate or higher English reading ability is recommended, along with a willingness to use a dictionary and read slowly. Absolute beginners or early learners will find the original difficult; they may start with a Chinese translation or simplified version to grasp the story.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

William Henry Giles Kingston Author · British · 1814–1880

William Henry Giles Kingston (1814–1880) was a British author of adventure stories for young readers. Born in London, he spent part of his youth with his father in Porto, Portugal. He rose to fame in 1851 with Peter the Whaler and thereafter devoted himself to tales of the sea and exploration, writing more than a hundred books over his lifetime and also translating works by Jules Verne. His notable works include The Three Midshipmen, Captain Cook: His Life, Voyages, and Discoveries, and Great African Travellers: From Mungo Park to Livingstone and Stanley, most of them drawing on seafaring, exotic adventure, and the deeds of the British Navy. He excelled at linking the adventures of young protagonists with informative and moral content, in briskly paced stories rich in maritime atmosphere that were widely popular with young readers in the Victorian era. The collection here contains 133 of his works. Public information on his early education and specific experiences is limited, so no conjecture is offered here.