# Liberal Epic: The Victorian Practice of History from Gibbon to Churchill - Hardcover

by **Edward Adams** (Author)

In _Liberal Epic,_ Edward Adams examines the liberal imagination's centuries-long dependence on contradictory, and mutually constitutive, attitudes toward violent domination. Adams centers his ambitious analysis on a series of major epic poems, histories, and historical novels, including Dryden's _Aeneid,_ Pope's _Iliad,_ Gibbon's _Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,_ Byron's _Don Juan,_ Scott's _Life of Napoleon,_ Napier's _History of the War in the Peninsula,_ Macaulay's _History of England,_ Hardy's _Dynasts,_ and Churchill's military histories--works that rank among the most important publishing events of the past three centuries yet that have seldom received critical attention relative to their importance. In recovering these neglected works and gathering them together as part of a self-conscious literary tradition here defined as liberal epic, Adams provides an archaeology that sheds light on contemporary issues such as the relation of liberalism to war, the tactics for sanitizing heroism, and the appeal of violence to supposedly humane readers.

_Victorian Literature and Culture Series_

### Author Biography

Edward Adams is Associate Professor of English at Washington and Lee University.

**Number of Pages:** 336

**Dimensions:** 1.1 x 9.4 x 6.4 IN

**Publication Date:** August 30, 2011

## Details

- **Price:** 93.6 USD
- **Vendor:** Books by splitShops
- **Type:** Books
- **Tags:** Books by splitShops, Shopify Collective

## Variants

| Variant | Price | Available |
|---------|-------|-----------|
| Default Title | 93.60 USD | In stock |

## Images

- Liberal Epic: The Victorian Practice of History from Gibbon to Churchill - Hardcover
- Liberal Epic: The Victorian Practice of History from Gibbon to Churchill - Hardcover

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