Dave Ranney

Dave RanneyProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.9

Word count: 176K words
Chapters: 18

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.Dave Ranney by Dave RanneyAuthor: Ranney, Dave, 1863-,Language: English, Class: BV: Philosophy, Psychology, Religion: Christianity: Practical theology, Worship, Release Date: Oct 29, 2004

Editor's review

This is a nineteenth-century first-person narrative included in the Project Gutenberg collection. Its author, Dave Ranney, was born in 1863, and the book is classified under practical theology, being a narrative that interweaves personal experience with reflections on faith. Its value lies not in literary technique but in offering a slice of the era seen from an ordinary person's perspective: the living conditions, religious experience, and modes of self-expression of ordinary people in the late nineteenth century can all be read from this first-person account. For readers studying American social history, religious history, or the autobiographical genre, primary texts of this kind are more reliable than later retellings. It is best approached as a historical self-narrative, with attention to the author's narrative stance and period vocabulary, and without expecting a complete plot structure. It suits chapter-by-chapter reading in a quiet setting, and may be read alongside background material on nineteenth-century American society for a more solid understanding.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers of history and literature interested in nineteenth-century American social and religious life
Students and researchers needing first-hand autobiographical material for reference
Readers interested in public-domain English texts from Project Gutenberg
Readers who enjoy slow reading of personal narratives and do not seek strong plot

Not a good fit for

General fiction readers who prefer strong plot and fast-paced narrative
Readers with weak English proficiency who need a Chinese translation alongside
Readers expecting systematic theological exposition or a doctrinal manual

Reading tips

Read the table of contents and the opening chapters first to grasp the narrative timeline, then decide which chapters to read closely.
Prepare brief notes on the historical background, marking social and religious threads as you read.
For passages where the English is unclear, first read for the general sense, then return to look up words and read closely.
Stop after one or two chapters each time and write two or three sentences of summary to avoid information overload.

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.

FAQ

Is this book a novel or an autobiographical narrative?

According to the materials, it is classified under practical theology, the author is Dave Ranney himself, and it is a first-person text of personal experience and faith reflection rather than a fictional novel. It should be approached as autobiographical material, with attention to how the author tells his own experience, rather than seeking the complete plot structure of a fictional work.

Can someone with average English read this book?

The book is a public-domain English text, and its nineteenth-century language habits differ from present-day English, so readers with average English will find it challenging. It is advisable to sample the first two pages to assess the difficulty, and to use a dictionary or background materials as needed; if your reading purpose is clear and you are not pressed for time, steady progress is feasible.

Is this book suitable for academic citation?

As a public-domain primary text provided by Project Gutenberg, it can be used as first-hand material for studying nineteenth-century personal narratives and religious experience. Before citing, however, you should verify the edition information and page numbers, and note that the author's narrative carries personal bias; it should be cross-referenced with other historical sources and not used alone as a basis for conclusions.

Comments

Find this book

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

Dave Ranney Author · 1863

Dave Ranney (born 1863) is an author whose year of birth can be verified, yet whose biography remains very limited; his nationality and specific life experiences are not clearly recorded in publicly available sources. What can be confirmed is that only one work bearing his own name is known to be catalogued, namely Dave Ranney. Judging from the title and the way the name is used, the work appears to carry a strong autobiographical character and may revolve around the author's own observations and experiences, but its specific subject matter, writing style, and influence on readers are difficult to assess in detail given the limited information. Overall, Ranney belongs to the category of writers with few works and little-known lives, and his name survives in bibliographic records mainly because of this work of the same name. For researchers, he is better regarded as a bibliographic entry for an ordinary author of the mid-to-late nineteenth century than as a major figure in literary history.