Rudyard Kipling Books

I assume this is the book co-authored with Fletcher (alternatively titled as "Kipling's Pocket History of England"). One can purchase used copies quite inexpensively--especially given the contemporary odious reputation of the author. History will out.

This text was written for British school children (ala Dickens's). It is lots of fun. Short and succinct with Kipling's pertinent historical poems scattered throughout. Of course, it contains all of Kipling's well-known prejudices. Still a real treat--particularly given that it stops at 1911, right before the Great War. Very revealing of the British mind-set just prior to that calamity.

ISBN 0307003264 - I have had my illusions shattered by this edition of this book! Believing that Disney books are, essentially, flawless, I'm sad to report that this one doesn't quite reach the high standards of most others.

Mowgli, left in the jungle as an infant, is taken, by Bagheera the panther, to a wolf family's den to be raised. The animals are his friends and he learns from them until, suddenly, Shere Khan returns to the jungle. Like all tigers, Shere Khan hates man - and Mowgli, now ten, is a "man". His friends work to convince him to leave the jungle, but Mowgli doesn't want to go, facing various dangers to stay in the place he knows as his home. Until, that is, he sees a young human girl singing at the water and follows her home to her village.

Young fans of the Disney film might enjoy this book, but if this is your first introduction to the story, it's a good one but not a great one. The story, compacted to fit Golden Books' standard 24 pages, feels like it's missing far too much in an attempt to hit just the highlights. From the moment he is "sent away", Mowgli is kidnapped by and rescued from monkeys, and assaulted by and scares off Shere Khan - all of which seems to take place in an amazingly short time span.

The illustrations, however, are definitely stellar Disney. Bright and colorful, they depict the action in the story perfectly, from the jungle itself to the facial expressions of everyone in it. As a way to bring Kipling's classic series The Jungle Books (Signet Classics) into your child's life, this is a nice route to take, just lacks in detail.

'Kim' is a work that could receive very different reviews depending on the biases of the reviewer.

Any professor from the English department of my alma mater (Rutgers) would insist that 'Kim' should never under any circumstances receive any praise as it is racist, glorifies imperialism, was writen by a dead white male, and lacks a political philosophy acceptable to a modern progressive liberal. Well, I suppose that it lacks any real political philosophy (except some very general complimentary comments about democracy) and Rudyard Kipling is dead, white and male, but the first two comments are completely wrong and and this sort of review is the voice of ignorance.

A staunch traditionalist, conservative would insist that it is a canonical work that should be read by every school child as a superior example of English literature and the epitomy of the written Enlish language. This is equally ill-informed and ill-considered.

'Kim' is a wonderful story of an orphan in India (the part that is now Pakistan; Abid-please consider it a gesture of respect that I mention the change in geography) in the late 1800s. Kim is the son of an Irish soldier raised by locals, familiar with the customs and languages of the Hindus and Muslims of the area who gets recruited by the British to spy for them. Kim acts as a guide for a Tibetan Buddhist priest who is on a quest in India, broadening his knowledge of the cultures of his world and giving him an excuse to travel even further. He comes upon his father's regiment, and the officers of the regiment arrange for Kim to attend a 'proper' British school. Throughout the story, a British spymaster is helping Kim receive an education (both formal and in the skills needed to serve the British rule in India) and arranging for Kim to carry messages and run small but important tasks for him.

Throughout the book, the only Indian group that is treated with disrespect is Hindus who have sacrificed their own culture's customs in order to get ahead in the British goverment. Frequently, the low opinion of the British held by the Indians (Muslim, Hindu, and Buddhist) is mentioned, and is usually pretty funny. The other European powers that are mention in the book are not treated with respect, but that is understandable (at least to me in context; other readers will have to make up their own minds).

Kipling's passion for the land he was raised in and his love for the peoples he was raised with is unmistakable, as is his love/hate relationship with the British government (N.B. he was not knighted in a time when most prominent authors were; he was entirely too candid about the British rule in India and the Crown's treatment of her soldiers). The language of the book is a little hard to follow, between regional loan words and the English of the time, but a patient and persistant reader will find the effort rewarded.

A great spy novel, read it for yourself and don't trust the critics who speak based on assumptions rather than knowledge.

Adults and children will love this illustrated anthology of Kipling's best-loved versed. Many of us are well acquainted with Kipling's prose works that have given readers great joy throughout the years. In this particular work we encounter Kipling the poet whose verse was profound enough to attract the attention of both young and old.

Allow yourself to savor the wisdom from Sussex, 1902 and be inspired with his memorable poem If. Chant along with your children "The Law of the Jungle" and become enriched by its music. Kipling is a great balladeer of the the english language.

This anthology is illustrated with a selection of paintings that were inspired by his poetry. They provide a rich complement to this collection. I highly recommend this edition as gift to give to poetry lovers and to inspire others as they reflect upon their life's journey. It is certainly a "must have" in your poetry library.

H. G. Wells is best known for "War of the Worlds" and "The Time Machine", 2 groundbreaking, classic science fiction titles. But "Kipps: The Story of a Simple Soul" is a heart-warming account of a young man suddenly thrown into a higher class and managing to eventually marry his childhood sweetheart and live out a dream.

I really enjoyed this book, and the main characters stayed with me, and the events became my own experiences. I can vividly remember sipping a cappucino when Kipps met Chitterlow. I remember the song playing on the radio when Kipps heard what Walshingham had done. And I remember the rain outside when it was clarified why the story had a narrator that was not involved in the story itself.

Yes, this is truly a 'feel-good' novel that will stay with me for a long time, and I recommend it to anyone who likes to just sit down and read, and meet likeable characters, without a lot of tech talk, gory action and confusing subplots. Don't pass this one up

Sullivan attempts to alingn post-colonial theory (in the sense of the treatment of the Other in Kipling's works) with that of victorian race sensibilities and Kipling's childhood.Although the two obviously have many concepts in common-the idea of India itself as a helpless fledgling society-they are essentially concepts applied in a theoretical sense rather than that of a factual understanding of Kipling's work.Sullivan uses a method of personal autobiography to explain theories developped years after his death.This may be a way to explicate Kipling and his colonialism,but does not bear up to close scrutiny when we discuss a number of texts by kipling and other authors.Sullivan's work is an excellent introduction to colonial theory and kipling but one that is floored in its assumptions about the writer from biographical 'evidence'.
Matt Gordon elp010@bangor.ac.uk

When Kipling wrote the stories in "Plain Tales From The Hills" in the late 19th century, India was the centrepiece of the greatest Empire the world had known. He came to be one of its strongest popular advocates.

The soldiers and administrators of the British Raj felt a sense of mission. They believed strongly in doing their duty and "improving" the lives of Indians, often with the self-righteousness of religious conviction. They were optimistic and often self-sacrificing in serving their Empire.

While admirable in many ways, such people were also often ignorant, intolerant and
contemptuous of the ways of the people they ruled and dwelt amongst.

Kipling captures the optimism and energy of those vanished times. His writing is wonderfully evocative of the era. While his characters are brilliantly drawn, they are mostly caricatures and stereotypes that his readers in India would have recognised only
too well.

One character that really grates today is Private Mulvaney, the stereotypical Irish soldier who features in several stories. "The Daughter of the Regiment" is almost unreadable because Kipling tries to replicate Mulvaney's speech with text like: "Ould Pummeloe was sittin' on her beddin'-rowl, thryin' to kape little Jhansi quiet." Also to be avoided is "The Madness of Private Ortheris."

Stories like "The Gate of the Hundred Sorrows" deal compellingly with one of the more
notorious blights on the Raj - opium.

Despite their jingoism, Kipling's stories are still worth reading. Apart from their
literary merit, they demonstrate that some things never change. Among some leaders today we also see self-righteousness wrapped in religious zeal as they seek to change the ways of other peoples at almost any cost to those people.

We need to be reminded that this has all happened before and, in its turn, will pass
away. As the poem Ozymandias puts it "Nothing besides remains. Round the decay of that colossal wreck the lone and level sands stretch far away".

This is an exciting recording by multiple readers. Some poems are recited by Boris Karloff, who is best known from the film version of Frankenstein. Karloff is the stand-out in the group. Other more recent speakers do well also. Recommended.

Far too many mainstream biographies seem to be written primarily for besotted descendents of the subject or for graduate students plumbing the depths of minutiae for footnotes to their dissertation. I applaud those few series, such as Penguin's Lives and the Overlook Press Illustrated Lives, that seek to present in less than 200 pages an informative yet critical overview of the lives of noteworthies from the (admittedly) English-speaking, Eurocentric civilization in which we live. "Rudyard Kipling" by Kingsley Amis is one of the rare but exemplary short biographies that, in a more ideal world, would find much wider circulation than the more frequently published 500-page doorstops.

Amis was often thought of as a sort of curmudgeon of British letters, but here he is anything but. Indeed, he clearly is a fan of Kipling, both of his stories and of his writing. For example, Amis calls "Kim" "one of the greatest novels in the language." (I happen to concur with Amis' judgment -- confession, every ten years I re-read "Kim" for the sheer joy of it -- but I am gratified to learn that someone so much more qualified than I holds the same opinion.) Yet the book is balanced and critical. Amis does not ignore the unpleasant, arrogant, imperialist aspects of Kipling's character. But he is also sensitive to Kipling's insecurities and all-so-human weaknesses, and he highlights the determination, drive, moral code of conduct (although we, nearly a century later, may nitpick with that code), and basic humanity that ultimately made Kipling one of the most public of all Anglo-American literary figures and, at least to my mind, one of the more admirable ones.

In addition to more traditional biographical matters, Amis also touches on literary aspects of Kipling's works. The book is very liberally sprinkled with photographs and illustrations. I believe it is now o.o.p., but it appears to be readily available in the secondary market, and for anyone interested in an intelligent overview of Kipling it is worth the time and effort to acquire and to read (although the latter certainly requires no undue time and effort).

A healthy dose of Kipling: First and Second Jungle Books, Just So Stories, Puck of Pook's Hill, Stalky & Co., Captains Courageous, Kim, Plain Tales from the Hills, and selected short stories. Very nice pen and ink drawings. The bargain book is a real bargain. Paper is not acid-free, but it is a monster book nevertheless.