Historical Essays

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About this book

James Ford Rhodes, author of a history of the United States from the Compromise of 1850 to 1877, collected these essays in December 1909. His preface says that all but two had been read at various places and that he left them substantially as written, with a literary revision by his son, Daniel P. Rhodes.

One passage discusses Edward Gibbon and recalls the centenary commemoration in London in 1894, where Mommsen sent a tribute and the Times called Back to Gibbon the watchword of younger historians. Rhodes puts Thucydides and Tacitus at the head of historians and points to their compressed narrative. In another passage he tells Mr. Pierce that he showed restraint in leaving out valuable material, and Pierce answers with Lord Clive's line about his own moderation. The index lists an essay on E. G. Bourne and mentions Godkin on the Boer War.

About the author

James Ford Rhodes

James Ford Rhodes built his reputation as a historian through a multivolume account of American life from the Compromise of 1850 through the nineteenth century. After building a business career in Cleveland, he turned to historical writing and later worked in Boston near major libraries.