Our Heritage of Liberty - its Origin, its Achievement, its Crisis

Stephen Leacock

Jun 2015 · Read Books Ltd

About this ebook

This volume contains Stephen Leacock's 1942 wartime treatise, "Our Heritage of Liberty - Its Origin, Its Achievement, Its Crisis". This fascinating and thought-provoking text will appeal to those with an interest in war-inspired literature, and it would make for a worthy addition to collections of related works. The chapters of this volume include: "Britain and America", "The Good and the Bad Old Times", "The March of Progress", "Liberty in the Ancient World, "The Shadow of the Dark and Middle Ages", "National States", "The Growth of Popular Rights", and more. Stephen P. H Butler Leacock (1869 - 1944) was a Canadian writer, humourist, and teacher. He was amongst the most widely read English-speaking authors in the world during the early twentieth century, and is best remembered for his humourous novels. We are republishing this vintage book now in an affordable, modern edition - complete with a specially commissioned new biography of the author.

About the author

Born in Swanmore, England, Stephen Leacock was one of 11 children of an unsuccessful farmer and an ambitious mother, a woman to whom Leacock no doubt owed his energetic and status-conscious nature. In 1891, while teaching at the prestigious Upper Canada College in Toronto, Leacock obtained a modern language degree from the University of Toronto. In 1903, after receiving a Ph.D. in political economy from the University of Chicago, he joined the staff of McGill University, Montreal, as professor of politics and economics. Leacock's career as a humorist began when he had some comic pieces published as Literary Lapses in 1910. This successful book was followed by two more books of comic sketches, Nonsense Novels (1911) and Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town (1912), which is now considered his best book. Leacock continued this frantic literary output for the remainder of his career, producing more than 30 books of humor as well as biographies and social commentaries. The Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour was established after his death to honor annually an outstanding Canadian humorist.