- Hardcover: 927 pages
- Publisher: Little, Brown; 1st edition (17 Sep 1998)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0316643858
- ISBN-13: 978-0316643856
- Product Dimensions: 23.8 x 15.6 x 5.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,042,206 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
A Rage To Live
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details |
More About the Author
Product Description
Review
Scholarly ... Fabulous ... The biography shines its light on that remorselessly interesting period of British history, the Victorian era (TELEGRPAH )
A monumentual biography (THE TIMES )
Gripping (SUNDAY TELEGRAPH )
A RAGE TO LIVE is a splendid and very enjoyable book. Mary S Lovell does her hero and heroine proud (LITERARY REVIEW )
A monumentual biography (THE TIMES )
Gripping (SUNDAY TELEGRAPH )
A RAGE TO LIVE is a splendid and very enjoyable book. Mary S Lovell does her hero and heroine proud (LITERARY REVIEW )
SUNDAY TELEGRAPH
'A labour of love ... a lively, warmhearted book about a lively, woman'
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Browse and search another edition of this book.
First Sentence
Richard Burton began his autobiography, 'Autobiographers generally begin too late. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Richard Burton began his autobiography, 'Autobiographers generally begin too late. Read the first page
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
56 of 56 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a wonderful biography which portrays the Burtons well-travelled lives as a a couple, rather than focusing only on Richard. Mary Lovell has had access to papers and letters unavailable to previous biographers and has re-read the existing material. While minutely researched and scholarly, it is also a warm and personal story of two very alive people with a hunger for knowledge and experience exploring the world together. She feels a closeness to her subjects which is always apparent in the book without becoming cloying. Burton was the archetypal Victorian adventurer, beginning his career as an officer in the East India company and serving as consul in different parts of the world while pursuing his alternative careers of writing and exploration. Often in conflict with his superiors, a rebel and not an easy man to know. His books often throw light on little-known areas, male brothels in India, for example, which interested him as an anthropologist. As an adventure story alone the book is hard to put down. But the chief fascination lies in the intimate picture of this couple who had such a rage to live, and whom you feel you know by the end. Mary Lovell has struck the right balance of scholarship and personal warmth.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
One of the few things everybody knows about Sir Richard Francis Burton was that 'he was probably gay & his bigoted Catholic wife burned his papers after his death'. Unfortunately, it's not true.This superb joint biography of Richard & Isabel is the only Burton biography to date which uses all available papers & consequently gives a clear & irrefutable account of this extraordinary couple who suited each other so well. Monumental injustice has been done to Isabel's reputation after her death, & few people appreciate her own Lara Croft tendencies, chomping cigars & dodging snakes, sharks & assassins! This book is ESSENTIAL reading for anybody with an interest in Burton.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
If you've never read a Burton biography, then by all means start here. Lovell has found quite a bit more information about Richard and much more about Isabel than previously written about. Between Wright's RFB: A Biography and Fawn Brodie's The Devil Drives, somehow Lovell has captured a differing sense altogether of this fascinating couple. Great research, wonderfully written, and detailed to a level that even "Ruffian Dick" would have been proud of.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
- Books > Biography > Historical > 1701-1900
- Books > Biography > Historical > Britain > Georgian to Victorian: 1701-1900
- Books > Biography > Social & Health Issues > Family & Marriage
- Books > History > Britain & Ireland > British Heads of State > Richard I
- Books > History > Other Historical Subjects > Discovery & Exploration
- Books > Poetry, Drama & Criticism > History & Criticism > Literary Studies > 19th Century
- Books > Science & Nature > Earth Sciences & Geography > Education > Higher Education
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
