With Kitchener in the Soudan: A Story of Atbara and Omdurman

Henty, G. A. (George Alfred), 1832-1902Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.2
Word count
755K words
Chapters
76

Tags

English Originals War and Military FictionHistorical Fiction Military AdventureHistorical AdventureImperial NarrativeMilitary StrategyColonial WarsSudan CampaignHeroismCourage and TrialForeign BattlefieldEnglish Youth

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.With Kitchener in the Soudan: A Story of Atbara and Omdurman by G. A. HentyAuthor: Henty, G. A. (George Alfred), 1832-1902,Language: English, Class: PZ: Language and Literatures: Juvenile belles lettres, Release Date: Jul 19, 2006

Editor's review

This work is a historical adventure novel by the British author G. A. Henty set against the Sudan campaign, with its narrative built around the battles of Atbara and Omdurman. Henty was known for placing young protagonists within real historical events, and this book follows that formula: readers can follow the tension of marches, fighting, and an exotic setting while also gaining a side view of the course of the late-nineteenth-century Anglo-Egyptian military campaign in Sudan. As a free e-book from Project Gutenberg, it is very easy to obtain and suits either English reading practice or a first try at historical fiction. Note that the book carries a pronounced period perspective and colonial narrative; today's readers should keep a critical eye and treat it as both a literary work and a historical document. Overall its value lies in the combination of readability and historical background rather than literary depth.

Who it's for

A good fit for

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Reading tips

  1. Read one chapter first to get a sense of the narrative pace, then decide whether to read the whole book
  2. While reading, check against a timeline of the Sudan campaign to distinguish historical fact from fictional plot
  3. Skip unfamiliar military and place-name vocabulary at first to keep reading smoothly
  4. After finishing, read a modern-perspective article on the war's history for contrast

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
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  19. 19
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  25. 25
  26. 26
  27. 27
  28. 28
  29. 29
  30. 30
  31. 31
  32. 32
  33. 33
  34. 34
  35. 35
  36. 36
  37. 37
  38. 38
  39. 39
  40. 40
  41. 41
  42. 42
  43. 43
  44. 44
  45. 45
  46. 46
  47. 47
  48. 48
  49. 49
  50. 50
  51. 51
  52. 52
  53. 53
  54. 54
  55. 55
  56. 56
  57. 57
  58. 58
  59. 59
  60. 60
  61. 61
  62. 62
  63. 63
  64. 64
  65. 65
  66. 66
  67. 67
  68. 68
  69. 69
  70. 70
  71. 71
  72. 72
  73. 73
  74. 74
  75. 75
  76. 76

FAQ

Is this a history book or a novel? It is a historical adventure novel. The author places a fictional young protagonist within the real background of the battles of Atbara and Omdurman; the plot serves the narrative and should not be used as strict historical research material.
How difficult is the English? It is late-nineteenth-century English fiction prose, with fairly long sentences and considerable military and place-name vocabulary, making it moderately to fairly difficult overall. Readers with some English reading ability and an interest in historical subjects will find it easier to finish.
What should I watch for while reading? The book carries the imperial perspective and colonial narrative of the author's era, and its portrayal of local society is not necessarily objective. It is best read as both a literary work and a product of its historical context, with critical understanding.

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About the author

Henty, G. A. (George Alfred), 1832-1902 Author

George Alfred Henty (1832–1902) was a well-known British writer of historical adventure novels for young readers in the nineteenth century. The collection here contains 107 of his works, most of them drawn from major historical events in Europe and the Americas: By Right of Conquest is set during Cortez's conquest of Mexico, Under Wellington's Command takes the Peninsular War as its background, and For the Temple deals with the fall of Jerusalem. He typically placed a young hero at the centre of real historical scenes, weaving military campaigns and political struggles together with personal adventure. The plots are tightly paced and rich in detail, and they reflect a distinctly British outlook and the moral tastes of the Victorian age. His output was considerable, and his books had a lasting influence on later historical adventure fiction. Public information about his family, education and career is limited, so no speculation is offered here.