Rider Haggard and the Lost Empire
Tom Pocock

Rider Haggard and the Lost Empire

Rider Haggard is remembered as the author of adventure novels, which shocked and fascinated not only Victorian and Edwardian Britain, but the world. Films of his books - notable "King Solomon's Mines" and "She" have been made, but Haggard, a Norfolk squire, saw his writing only as an amusing and lucrative pastime. The other Haggard, statesman and creator of a world of fact is explored in this book. His imagination was held by the reality of the British Empire and its future rather than the lost civilizations of his literary fantasies.

Book Details:

  • Author: Tom Pocock
  • Published Year: 1993
  • Rights Sold
    • UK: Weidenfeld & Nicholson
Tom Pocock

Tom Pocock

Tom Pocock is the author of 18 books (and editor of two more), mostly biographies but including two about his experiences as a newspaper war correspondent.Born in London in 1925 - the son of the novelist and educationist Guy Pocock - he was educated at Westminster School and Cheltenham College, joining the Royal Navy in 1943. He was at sea during the invasion of Normandy and, having suffered from ill-health, returned to civilian life and in 1945 became a war correspondent at the age of 19,the youngest of the Second World War.After four years wth the Hulton Press current affairs magazine gro...
More about Tom Pocock

Book Reviews

  • "It is an excellent biography,scholarly and readable."
    Sue Gaisford,The Independent
  • "In this excellent biography, Tom Pocock draws a fascinating portrait of an imperialist"
    John Whitehead, Country Life
  • "A thoroughly good read."
    Paul Johnson, The Spectator
  • "A sympathetic and perceptive biography... Pocock presents a vivid portrait if this gifted, attractive man and does full justice to a varied career, rich in achievement and sorrows."
    Paul Johnson, Sunday Telegraph