Self-help by Samuel Smiles

Self-help by Samuel Smiles

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Summary

A tribute to the working- and lower-middle classes, this book encapsulates the aspirational Victorian desire for social advancement. Part practical guide, part proverbial testament, part secular hagiography, it turns biography into a medium that aims to awaken readers to their own potential and instils the desire to succeed.

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Self-help by Samuel Smiles

'The spirit of self-help is the root of all genuine growth in the individual; and, exhibited in the lives of many, it constitutes the true source of national vigour and strength.' A bestseller immediately after its publication in 1859, Self-Help propelled its author to fame and rapidly became one of Victorian Britain's most important statements on the allied virtues of hard work, thrift, and perseverance. Interpreted by some as a paean to personal avarice, Smiles's most celebrated book is in fact a practical and engaging tribute to the working- and lower-middle classes, in whom he identified the capacity for self-improvement and for whom he tirelessly advocated the right of social advancement. Part practical guide, part proverbial testament, part secular hagiography, this literary hybrid turns biography into an inspirational medium that awakens readers to their own potential and instils the desire to succeed. Smiles's book is the precursor of today's motivational and self-help literature, although its vision is significantly more cosmopolitan than that of most books in a still-expanding genre.This edition includes a fully indexed glossary to the more than 750 names discussed by Smiles.
SKU Unavailable
ISBN 13 9780192801760
ISBN 10 0192801767
Title Self-help
Author Samuel Smiles
Condition Unavailable
Binding Type Paperback
Publisher Oxford University Press
Year published 2003-01-01
Number of pages 432
Cover note Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.