longman-dictionary-of-20th-century-biography

By asa-brigs and Asa Brigs

Book Overview

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B007Z03ZN2
• ISBN13: 9780582892132
• Release Date: January 1985
• Publisher: Longman Group United Kingdom
• Weight: 203.00 lbs.

Customer Reviews

A great accumulation of information. But facts are not all

The book opens by quoting Carlyle's " The history of the world is but the biography of great men" This is the way the editors define the work. It is " a work not of investigation or interpretation but of reference, and as such, it is conceived on new lines. It includes biographies of individuals from different countries and cultures who have contributed to thought as well as to action. It breaks, therefore, with traditions of ' national biography' and it covers varied aspects of human achievement'. However as any good historian will tell you even the most ' objective definition of a life' involves interpretation. And it seems to me a better work could have been done by actually interpreting and evaluating the work of those in question.