Bøger af William Stearns Davis

René, Chevalier de Massac, insists upon marrying Virginie Durand --though she is not of noble birth-- gives up his position at the court at Versailles, and throws himself heart and soul into the cause of the people. This book tells the eventful story of De Massac's part in the Revolution and the equally dangerous and courageous part played by his wife. De Massac, who is a friend of Danton and Robespierre, takes part in the capture of the Bastille, the storming of the Tuileries, and the battle of Wattignies, and with difficulty saves his own children from an attack by the peasants. The author's aim has been to picture life as it really was lived in and around Paris during the Revolution. He shows with historical truth the French Court with all its glitter and its rottenness, and the life of the people in the homes and streets of Paris and in the little villages outside. Many famous characters appear in the story --Louis XVI and his Queen, Danton, St. Just, Mirabeau, and Robespierre-- and the book is alive with the conflicting passions of the time. At the time of original publication in 1929, William Stearns Davis was Professor of Ancient History, University of Minnesota.

A novel about the childhood of the man who became King of France and was later canonized.William Stearns Davis (1877-1930) was Professor of Ancient History, University of Minnesota, and the author of a number of highly-accurate historical novels.

The author of this narrative was of course the well-known Boston merchant (founder of the State Street firm of Gilman, Slater and Peabody) who at the close of the Revolution did so much to solidify the commercial prosperity of Massachusetts. As is herein suggested he served through the War for Independence, rising to the rank of colonel, and if his ambitions had carried him into politics he might have advanced far. As it was he served three times in the State House of Representatives and twice in the State Senate. He was counted a very moderate member of the Jeffersonian Republicans, probably on account of his marriage and a natural sympathy with France, but he always retained the good will of the Federalists, and enjoyed the personal friendship of John Adams during that veteran statesman's long retirement at Quincy. During the later part of his life Colonel Gilman was a valued member of the Harvard Board of Overseers, and was also a very active deacon of the Old South Church. This story of his life during the years 1770-75 was apparently written during the presidency of John Quincy Adams, at the instigation of Colonel Gilman's gift daughter Deborah. It will be recalled that her husband was the distinguished jurist, Justice Peltiah Gridley of the Massachusetts Supreme Court, and that her second son, General Roger Gridley, command a Union division in the Five Forks-Appomattox campaign and subsequently had a conspicuous part in the building of the Union Pacific Railroad. Colonel Gilman speaks frequently of the town of Bedford, which, it may be complained, cannot be found upon modern maps of Middlesex County. It is certain, however, that it cannot have been far from Lexington, Concord and Billerica, and indeed it may perhaps be identified with a town known at present under a slightly different name. In preparing this manuscript the editor has sometimes modernized the diction slightly, also he has omitted certain theological observations, which Colonel Gilman probably introduced for the benefit of his own family. Otherwise Roger Gilman is allowed to tell his own story, as a vivid reminder of "The times which tried men's souls." At the time of original publication in 1912, William Stearns Davis was Professor of Ancient History, University of Minnesota.

This book describes life in the England of Queen Elizabeth in terms of the concrete. Perhaps no Boroughport or Hollydean Hall can be discovered on the maps of the 1550's, but there were scores of towns and hundreds of rich manors in which the things discussed in this study were wholly typical. The Hollydeans were not wiser, more cultivated or better than a great many contemporaries among the wealthier gentry; the episodes laid in Boroughport could be duplicated in almost any chartered town near the seaboard. At the time of original publication in 1930, William Stearns Davis was Professor of Ancient History, University of Minnesota.