Kipling

by Jad Adams

Joseph Rudyard Kipling was the greatest writer in a Britain that ruled the largest empire the world has known, yet he was always a controversial figure, as deeply hated as he was loved. This accessible biography aims at an understanding of the man behind the image and gives an explanation of his enduring popularity

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Jad Adams is a historian working as an author and an independent television producer. He has specialized in work on radical characters from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and 'the decadence' of the 1890s.

Reviews

[Hamza Shafiq · Rating 3 out of 5]

I believe that a biography should not be judged on the merits of the individual rather than on the artistic style of the biographer. While I found Kipling to be a slightly complex writer, I still feel that this biography could have done a better job at painting a complete picture.

What I didn't like was that the author routinely dropped famous names and acquaintances without context, which sometimes made me wonder what's up and if the timeline is linear or not. Overall, I would've appreciated a little more detail and a more coherent style of story-telling that actually gave an insight into what anguish made Kipling great, rather than just everything trickling down to bias and the death of his children.

[Christophe · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short but not superficial biography of Kipling. Adams doesn't shun the sensitive issues : the guy who wrote The Man Who Would Be King when he was 23 years old was a an imperialist, a reactionary and a misogynist. And he didn't get any better with age.