Ferdinand of Bulgaria: The Amazing Career of a Shoddy Czar

AnonymousProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 2.9
Word count
244K words
Chapters
25

Tags

English Originals Political and Military LeadersPolitics Political AllegoryLegendary LivesPower GameAntiheroComplex HumanityFamous FiguresSatirical StyleWorld OrderTurbulent EraSocial Observation

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. Ferdinand of Bulgaria: The Amazing Career of a Shoddy Czar by Anonymous. Author: Anonymous. Language: English. Class: DR: History: General and Eastern Hemisphere: Balkan Peninsula, Turkey. Release Date: Feb 21, 2015.

Editor's review

An English historical biography of Ferdinand I of Bulgaria, published anonymously and made available as a free ebook by Project Gutenberg. The phrase "shoddy czar" in the title is clearly ironic, hinting at the controversial nature of its subject's rise. The book narrates Ferdinand's path from his accession to the Bulgarian throne to his political and military decisions during World War I, and serves as useful supplementary reading for understanding modern Balkan history and European court diplomacy on the eve of the Great War. Its value lies not in rigorous scholarly scrutiny but in offering a perspective shaped by the standpoint of its era, allowing readers to see how the early twentieth-century English-speaking world judged this Balkan monarch. Read it alongside serious histories of the Balkans and remain alert to the anonymous author's biases. The electronic edition makes it easy to search names and events, suiting researchers seeking quick leads as well as history enthusiasts pursuing further reading.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Not a good fit for

Reading tips

  1. Read the introduction and table of contents first to map the timeline of Ferdinand's life, then move into the details of the main text.
  2. Keep a map of the Balkans and a chronology of events around World War I at hand, checking locations and events as you read.
  3. Mark evaluative statements and cross-check them against later historical scholarship.
  4. Use the electronic edition's search function to compile an index of names for easy review of relationships between figures.

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
  21. 21
  22. 22
  23. 23
  24. 24
  25. 25

FAQ

Is this book a scholarly monograph or a popular biography? The available information indicates it is an anonymously published English biography narrating the life of Ferdinand I, with a marked evaluative tone; it is not a strict scholarly monograph. Read it as popular history writing from a particular era's perspective rather than an authoritative work of source criticism.
What does "shoddy czar" in the title mean? This is the wording of the original title, carrying a derogatory and ironic tone intended to question Ferdinand's image as a monarch and his political conduct. Its precise referents must be understood in the context of the main text and should not be equated simply with a formal historical verdict.
Can someone with no historical background read this book? Yes, but first build up background knowledge of modern Balkan history and World War I, or you will easily get lost among names, places, and diplomatic events. It is advisable to start with a concise overview of modern European history before turning to this book.
What kind of reading does the electronic edition suit? The Project Gutenberg edition is a free ebook, suited to search-based reading on a computer or e-reader. Browse the table of contents to locate chapters, then read key passages closely, using the search function to organize leads on people and events.

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

Anonymous Author

Anonymous is a collective designation used in English-language publishing for works whose authorship is unknown or unsigned, rather than the real name of a single author. The 716 titles attributed to this name include the Gospel of John, Psalms, Romans, Luke, Philippians, and 1 Corinthians from the World English Bible, as well as the Gospel of John and Psalms from the King James Version. Such texts are mainly religious classics and ancient folk traditions that were copied, translated, and compiled over long periods, making their original authors difficult to trace; they therefore circulated anonymously. Public information is limited, and neither nationality nor dates of birth and death can be confirmed. The significance of anonymity lies in focusing attention on the works themselves rather than on authorial identity, and in reminding readers of the collective and variable nature of texts in transmission.