Manco, the Peruvian Chief

William Henry Giles KingstonProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.3

Word count: 597K words
Chapters: 60

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.Manco, the Peruvian Chief by William Henry Giles KingstonAuthor: Kingston, William Henry Giles, 1814-1880,Language: English, Class: PZ: Language and Literatures: Juvenile belles lettres, Release Date: May 8, 2007

Editor's review

This work comes from the nineteenth-century British writer of juvenile adventure fiction W. H. G. Kingston and is set in Peru. As a free Project Gutenberg ebook, it preserves the typical features of Victorian adventure stories: exotic settings, historical conflict, and a young protagonist's growth. Its descriptions of South American scenery and human relationships let readers sense how popular English-language fiction of that era shaped images of distant lands. For readers studying the history of children's literature or colonial-era travel narrative, it is a usable primary text; for general readers, it serves as light reading that reveals the conventions of nineteenth-century English adventure fiction. Note that its language and attitudes bear clear marks of their time; read it with historical awareness and do not treat it as a realistic guide to present-day Peru. The electronic edition is easy to search and cite, suitable for reading in segments during commutes or spare moments.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in nineteenth-century English adventure fiction and the history of children's literature
Researchers needing a free English primary text for textual analysis or citation
English learners who enjoy coming-of-age stories in exotic settings
General readers curious about the character of Victorian popular literature

Not a good fit for

Contemporary fiction readers expecting modern pacing and complex psychology
Readers seeking accurate knowledge of Peruvian history or society
Beginners who find long English texts very difficult

Reading tips

Read chapter titles and opening paragraphs first to grasp the basic adventure-narrative frame, then decide what to read closely.
Jot down unfamiliar place names and ethnic terms as you go, and compare them with historical sources afterward.
Read alongside other adventure novels of the same era to observe similarities and differences in narrative conventions.
Use the electronic edition's search function to locate key plot points, handy for quick sourcing when writing papers.

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 suitable for English beginners?

Not very. It is nineteenth-century English in the original, with long sentences and period vocabulary and expressions, a heavy burden for beginners. Readers at intermediate level or above who are willing to look up words will benefit more.

Does the electronic edition differ from a print edition?

The book comes from Project Gutenberg and is an electronic text of a public-domain work, based on the original, usually without modern publishers' notes or introductions. Compared with annotated print editions it offers less reading support, but the main text is the same.

Can the descriptions of Peru in the book be used as historical material?

They should not be taken directly as historical fact. The author was a nineteenth-century British novelist and the work is adventure fiction, not history; its local descriptions and characterizations carry literary imagination and period bias. It can be used to study how Britons of the time imagined South America, not as a reliable source on Peruvian history.

Comments

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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.