Rating: 
Summary: Delightfully bitchy, impeccably written
Review: This book dealt a death blow to hagiographic biography as it was practised well into this century. The deligtfully bitchy tone, with conspiratorial overtones, takes one instantly into the boudoir of the personages portrayed. This shows it is not necessary to read a 1000 page tome to properly understand a historical figure. Strachey was obviously biased against religion (particularly of the Catholic variety), and against politicians in general. He was also selective of the material he chose to disclose and never wavered from allowing his preconceptions to substitute for analysis. But could he write!
Rating:
Summary: Not what you'd expect
Review: This is a strange book. The author created quite a stir when he published it at the close of the First World War: it's not the laudatory, voluminous biography that was popular at the time. Instead, it's a more impressionistic work, artistic rather than factual. And since it's not one biography but four short ones, the individual sketches tend to be more along the lines of extended eulogies or obituaries.The four people studied in this book are Cardinal Manning (who almost became Pope), Dr. Arnold (who reformed the British public school system), Florence Nightingale, and General "Chinese" Gordon (killed defending Khartoum). The first difficulty, I would imagine, for the average American reader is that of these four, only Florence Nightingale will be familiar. The book only briefly touches on the events of the people whose lives are sketched here, and it's helpful to know something of the individual's background and life prior to picking up the current book. I only knew "Chinese" Gordon, and him not that well, so the four bios were only of moderate interest to me. The writing style, however, stood out. The author has a bad habit of stretching his thoughts out beyond all reason. Paragraphs, at various points, run upwards of two pages in length, and sentences fill line after line. The author is full of opinions, and pushes them at you rather relentlessly. The tone of the book, and the way it was recieved at the time, show a considerable irreverence, as all of the bios involved are at least somewhat negative. While "Chinese" Gordon has always been known to have been somewhat eccentric, and the criticism of Manning and Arnold are probably irrelevant to most now, Florence Nightingale is mainly criticized for being a pushy woman. I don't know that this will play very well these days, especially since she was right more than wrong. I enjoyed this book reasonably well, given the shortcomings that I knew it had going in. I would recommend it to those interested in the topic, the author, or the era of British history.
Rating: 
Summary: Every word has a purpose
Review: This is a stunning collection of biographies written by the father of the biography himself. Strachey set a standard for biographies with his master piece Eminent Victorians. He writes with a witty almost sardonic tone that makes each piece interesting, captivating, and original for the reader.
Rating:
Summary: A Historical View of History
Review: This is a very interesting book! It was written by a man writing during the Edwardian period over people living in the Victorian period. It's perspectives and biases are unique to anyone interested in Modern English History (19th cent.). It includes bios of Gen. Gorden Florence nightengale and more. It's tone is very unique and will give the reader insight and often a good laugh. Even if you're not a historian, it's an interesting way to learn a version of some famous Victorian's lives.
Rating:
Summary: A Historical View of History
Review: This is a very interesting book! It was written by a man writing during the Edwardian period over people living in the Victorian period. It's perspectives and biases are unique to anyone interested in Modern English History (19th cent.). It includes bios of Gen. Gorden Florence nightengale and more. It's tone is very unique and will give the reader insight and often a good laugh. Even if you're not a historian, it's an interesting way to learn a version of some famous Victorian's lives.
Rating:
Summary: The Original Expose of the Victorians
Review: This superb book, by a too-often overlooked author writing at the brink of the modern age, was an instant classic when it was released near the end of World War I. It exposed to the war-weary young the hypocrisy and hollowness of the Victorian ideals they believed they were fighting for, through its marvelous depictions of four leading Victorian figures. Strachey did a tremendous amount of background reading and research, which never shows in his tightly written, crystalline prose. But more impressive is how he managed to "re-imagine" these figures, based on their own writings and what was written about them, to understand why these figures were often held up as the ideal, but in reality had become stereotypes who did not deserve the reputations they had won (or deserved them for different reasons than were commonly acknowledged). Nightingale, Bennett, Gordon, Manning -- their names would taste bitter in the mouths of the first generation of the new century, because of this book.
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