Customer Reviews
A truly great Briton - By: The man who would be king, 21 Mar 2007 
It is unfortunate that Kipling is erroneously derided as a Fascist, racist & imperialist. His verse is often viewed in the context of our own time, rather than the period in which it was written, & his language is measured against modern standards of political correctness. As a result Kipling is seen to be jingoistic, a relic of the Empire, & of no relevance.
This is obfuscatory. An intelligent reading of Kipling's work will reveal that he was a prodigious writer of great scope, a critic of the Empire, & a great documenter of his time. This is essential reading for anyone interested in the late-Victorian & early 20th century periods.
Great Work ...... and Great Value - By: GeeJayBee, 03 Dec 2004 The late 20th century's trite & unjust dismissal of much of Kipling's work on the absurd charge of being a facist, a racist & an admirer of imperialism, have kept many of the marvellous works on this collection out of the public domain. He certainly was neither of the first 2 & it is doubtful if he reallly was the third given the degree of criticism he rails at those who governed, especiallly in India.
This subsequently damaged Kipling's reputation, his popularity & his acceptability in the modern PC world. OK "IF" was rather ludicrously voted as "The Nation's Favourite Poem", but that was largely because most people simply don't know of many if any other poems in general.
The introduction to the book goes some way to providing a more balanced view of Kipling & shows these absurd charges to be nothing more than slurs.
Many, I believe, make the mistake of interpreting the venacular language used by characters in the poems as representative of Kipling's own views & turn away from the brilliance of the verse. There is also an arrogant snobbery in some attitudes to the work.
As with anyone with such a prodigious output (and there are not many), not alll of the poems are of great stature, but most are highly readable, enjoyable, varied & there are some clearly great ones among them.
SO much for so very little makes this a great buy.
