Bøker av Laurence Oliphant

The British diplomat and writer Laurence Oliphant (1829-88) was the author of travel diaries and novels, including the very successful Piccadilly (1870). A keen traveller, he worked as a correspondent for The Times during the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1) and served as Secretary to British Diplomat Lord Elgin in Canada, China and Japan. This book is a narrative of the journey Oliphant made to Russia as a young man, with his friend Oswald Smith. Its publication in 1853 coincided with the beginning of the Crimean War, turning the book into an immediate success. From the splendour of mid-nineteenth-century St Petersburg, to the annexation of the Crimea, and the international consequences of Russian foreign policy for Europe, this illustrated book is also full of witty anecdotes and captivating descriptions. Very influential in its time, it remains an important resource for cultural and political historians.

In 1857 Laurence Oliphant (1829-88), lawyer, journalist, diplomat and sometime spy, became private secretary to Lord Elgin, accompanying him on a diplomatic mission to Japan and China, aimed at extended British trading interests. His 1859 account provides a highly informative analysis of the negotiations from a privileged vantage point.

Laurence Oliphant (1829-88) was a much-travelled British diplomat and writer. In the mid-nineteenth century, between two stints in the Caucasus, he spent several years in North America, helped Lord Elgin negotiate a trade treaty between Canada and the US, and was for a time Superintendent-General for Indian Affairs in Canada. In this book, first published in 1855, Oliphant expresses his enthusiasm for the rapid development in the American West that was being driven by industry and commerce. He documents a fact-finding journey around the Great Lakes region, travelling on the new railway and adventurously taking a bark canoe down rapids and across portages. From picnics, dances and sleigh rides to mining, forest clearance and land speculation, Oliphant conveys a vivid picture of the opportunities and hardships of the frontier society. He focuses in detail on the Native Americans he encountered, their customs, skills, way of life and future prospects.