The Frontier Fort

William Henry Giles KingstonProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.0

Word count: 193K words
Chapters: 20

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. The Frontier Fort by William Henry Giles Kingston. Author: Kingston, William Henry Giles, 1814-1880. Language: English. Class: PZ: Language and Literatures: Juvenile belles lettres. Release Date: May 15, 2007

Editor's review

The Frontier Fort is another adventure novel by Kingston for young readers, catalogued under juvenilia, which signals its focus on growth and adventure. Set on the stage of a frontier fort, the work typically revolves around garrison life, conflict, and the trials of young characters. The pacing is tight, the plot event-driven, and the book bears the clear hallmarks of period adventure fiction. Kingston excels at binding geographical setting to character action, making the fort—a closed space—a testing ground for courage and judgment. As a public-domain ebook released by Project Gutenberg, the text is easily available and makes a fine supplementary read within the tradition of English adventure fiction. Readers may treat it as light practice in reading English originals, or observe from a literary-historical angle how nineteenth-century juvenile literature conveyed values such as discipline, loyalty, and fortitude. Note that the book's attitudes carry clear period limitations and are best read with a critical eye.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who enjoy frontier adventure and garrison themes
Intermediate to advanced learners practicing reading English originals
Researchers of Victorian juvenile literature
General readers interested in military adventure stories

Not a good fit for

Readers seeking a Chinese translation
Readers who prefer nuanced psychological portraiture and slow narrative
Readers sensitive to the period attitudes of early works

Reading tips

Skim the table of contents first to grasp the event structure, then read chapter by chapter.
As you read, note how the fort's space constrains and drives the characters' actions.
You might excerpt typical adventure passages and keep comparative notes with similar works.
If reading for language study, retell each chapter's key points in English after finishing it.

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

How does this book differ from The Cruise of the Mary Rose?

Both are adventure novels by Kingston, but The Cruise of the Mary Rose is set on Pacific voyages, while this book takes a frontier fort as its stage, shifting the scene from sea to land garrison. The forms of conflict and the characters' situations differ accordingly, making the two rewarding to read in comparison.

Does the book carry obvious period prejudices?

As a nineteenth-century work, its imagining of frontiers, peoples, and order inevitably reflects the dominant attitudes of its time. Read it as a historical text, distinguishing narrative interest from value judgments, and there is no need to accept its positions wholesale.

What is the reading experience of the electronic edition like?

Released by Project Gutenberg, this is a public-domain electronic text, set mainly in plain text and easy to resize on various readers. It lacks modern notes and an introduction, so unfamiliar words or historical background must be looked up independently.

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.