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Tales of Chinatown is a collection of short stories that are all, essentially, situated in London's Chinatown (Limehouse at the time they were written). Similar to Sax Rohmer's collections of Egyptian short stories, they do not all include the same cast of characters, and Fu Manchu is conspicuously absent. Chief Inspector Red Kerry (of "Dope" fame) is a major character in the first narrative two. The third story, which concerns Detective Sergeant Durham and his superior Chief Inspector Red Kerry, is told by a friend of Paul Harley (who is not there). Paul Harley is back in action in the fourth, fifth, and sixth stories. The seventh story is arguably Rohmer's most well-known and strongest work. Even though Kerry is only mentioned briefly, the eighth story is set in his home city of Limehouse. In the ninth narrative, a buddy of Paul Harley (who is once more out of town) is once more entangled in a plot involving intrigue and retribution. The last story has a femme fatale who captivates and seduces every man she encounters. Is it hypnotism, drugs, or pheromones?

The founder of the well-known traveling circus and a well-known historical entrepreneur, P. T. Barnum, wrote The Art of Money Getting in which he imparts his business expertise and teaches readers how to succeed in creating money. This book serves as a great motivational read for those who want to succeed in business and make a lot of money as well as for those who are interested in learning from the personal success of a significant historical business leader. The title overstates what is actually in the article. If you're seeking advice on how to become wealthy, you won't find it here. However, Barnum does offer 20 guidelines for building moral character and achieving personal success. The guiding principles for making money and achieving personal success that Barnum outlines in The Art of Money Getting are included. Every young spender should read P.T. Barnum's The Art of Money Getting, which is an excellent manual. The book provides numerous explanations on how to spend your money wisely and efficiently in order to live your best life as a spender.

Johann Wolfgang Goethe published his epistolary book The Sorrows of Young Werther in 1774. It was one of the key works of German literature's Sturm und Drang era and had an impact on the subsequent Romantic movement. In five and a half weeks of intense writing from January to March 1774, Goethe completed Werther. A compilation of letters from Werther, a young artist with a sensitive and passionate nature, to his friend Wilhelm was published as The Sorrows of Young Werther. These provide a personal description of his time spent in the fictional village of Wahlheim, where he first met Charlotte, a stunning little girl who looked after her siblings after their mother passed away. Despite being aware that Charlotte is engaged to Albert, a man eleven years her older, Werther yet falls in love with Charlotte. After a while, his grief becomes so unbearable that he has to leave Wahlheim for Weimar, where he meets Fräulein von B. When he visits a friend unintentionally and unpreparedly has to attend the weekly gathering of the aristocratic set there, he feels tremendous discomfort. Werther shoots himself in the head, however, doesn't die until twelve hours after his wife's demise. The novel finishes with hints that Charlotte could pass away from a shattered heart.

Socrates and Phaedrus, an interlocutor in multiple dialogues, engage in a conversation in Plato's work The Phaedrus. Like Plato's Republic and Symposium, The Phaedrus was probably written around 370 BCE. Although the dialogue is apparently about the subject of love, it actually focuses on the art of rhetoric and how it should be used, as well as topics as varied as metempsychosis (the Greek belief in reincarnation) and sensual love. The classic Chariot Allegory, which depicts the human soul as consisting of a charioteer, a good horse heading upward to the divine, and a bad horse tending downhill to a material incarnation, is one of the dialogue's key passages. Unusually, the dialogue doesn't establish itself as a recounting of the day's events. The dialogue is presented in the straight, unmediated words of Socrates and Phaedrus; there are no intermediaries to set up the discussion or provide background information; it is delivered firsthand, as though we are present for the actual occurrences. This contrasts with dialogues like the Symposium, in which Plato openly provides us with a partial, fifth-hand account of the day's events by creating a number of layers between them and what we hear about them.

John Buchan, a Scot, wrote the adventure book The Thirty-Nine Steps.Richard Hannay, a mining engineer who had previously worked in Rhodesia, returns to London in 1914. Franklin P. Scudder, a neighbor, claims to be investigating a group of German spies known as the Black Stone who are attempting to steal Britain's naval defense blueprints in preparation for war. Hannay leaves his flat while it is being watched, feeling as though he now has to thwart the plan. He poses as the milkman. Hannay boards an eastbound train but deviates from the path by getting off between stops. He ultimately comes upon an inn and convinces the proprietor to let him remain the night.Fortunately, when on the moor, he comes upon a road mechanic who is severely intoxicated. The grateful employee is sent home for the day when Hannay offers to take over for him. Unfortunately, it turns out that person is Hannay's lethal foe and the head of the spy ring. Unexpectedly, he gets a call from London informing him that Karolides has been killed. The next morning, when Hannay and Sir Walter return to London, they clear his record with Scotland Yard, which then releases him.

One could consider Jefferies' book to be a groundbreaking piece of post-apocalyptic literature. After a sudden, unexplained tragedy has killed out the majority of England's population, the countryside returns to its natural state, and those who are left choose a fairly archaic way of life. The first section, The Relapse into Barbarism, is a description of the loss of civilization and its consequences by some subsequent historians. It features a lovely depiction of how nature reclaimed England. The second chapter, named Wild England, is an adventure that takes place in a culture and environment that are both wild and takes place many years later. The book's flaws are more than made up for by the great writing, notably the unsettlingly prophetic descriptions of the post-apocalyptic city and countryside. was released by Cassell & Company in 1885. "Everything became green in the first spring after London ended." The novel After London by Richard Jefferies is considered a classic work of "eco-apocalyptic" literature. Jefferies was married in 1874 and relocated closer to London in 1877 while still writing to support his wife and two kids. Though he was both unwell and penniless, the years from 1882 until his death in 1887 were when he was most creative.

The English naturalist Charles Darwin wrote an autobiography titled The Autobiography of Charles Darwin. Recollections of the Development of my Mind and Character is the title of a text written by Charles Darwin for his family. He claims to have begun writing it about May 28 and finished it by August 3. The work, which included an autobiographical chapter, was published in 1887 by John Murray as part of The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin, five years after Darwin's passing. Francis Darwin, Darwin's son, changed the text that appeared in Life and Letters, deleting key sentences reflecting his father's skepticism about Christianity and God. The missing chapters were eventually added by Nora Barlow, Darwin's granddaughter, in a 1958 edition published to mark the book's 100th anniversary of publication. The Autobiography of Charles Darwin 1809-1882 was the title of this publication, which Collins published in London. restored, along with the initial omissions edited with an appendix and notes by Nora Barlow, his granddaughter.

L. M. Montgomery is a Canadian author best known for her 1913 book The Golden Road. Beverley, a character in the story, recalls his younger years with his brother Felix and his cousins Felicity, Cecily, Dan, Sara Stanley (the "Story Girl"), hired kid Peter, and neighbor Sara Ray as well as friends and friends from their families. The kids had numerous adventures while playing in their family's orchard and even started their own newspaper, named Our Magazine. This book features more character development than its predecessor did, and the reader can watch the kids mature, especially as Sara Stanley leaves the Golden Road of youth for good. They can also see the beginnings of Peter and Felicity's relationship as their chemistry grows. It also appears that Beverley and Sara Stanley are attracted to one another, but this is left unexplored. Beverley also makes a strong suggestion that Peter and Felicity will wed. After Sara's father picks her up to give her a proper education, the story comes to an end, and their small group is never again whole.

Lucy Maud Montgomery wrote a book titled Kilmeny of the Orchard. The world is at Eric Marshall's feet because he recently graduated from college. He is charming, well-liked, prosperous, and surprisingly single. He hasn't given romance any consideration because he and his father, a widower, live the bachelor lifestyle. The remote island would be an excellent place for him to spend some time before becoming involved in the family company with his father.Kilmeny Gordon is lovely, bright, and perfect in all respects except that she is mute. Due to her disabilities and the controversy surrounding her birth, she has lived under protection all her life. She passes the time by playing her violin in her favorite lonely area and assisting her aunt and uncle on the farm. Eric brings a whole new universe and a friendship that excites and frightens her with him when he wanders into her secret orchard. Kilmeny is aware that he will soon have to return to his life on the mainland, a world filled with business meetings, parties, and prejudiced individuals, where she will hold him back and prevent him from ever fitting in. The fact that she believes the only way to love him is by letting him go makes it difficult for Eric to convince her that she is the one woman he will ever love.

The Scottish author J. M. Barrie's book The Little White Bird has a variety of moods, from fantasy and whimsy to social humor with dark, violent overtones.The first chapters of the novel are set in London, contemporaneous with Barrie's writing of them. They involve some brief time travel and other fantastical aspects while remaining in the London setting. All perambulators lead to Kensington Gardens is how the renowned London park is presented in the middle chapters, which ultimately became Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens.Particularly after ""Lock-Out Time,"" which Barrie describes as the time at the end of the day when the park gates are closed to the public and the fairies and other magical inhabitants of the park can move about more freely than during the daylight when they must hide from ordinary people, the Kensington Gardens chapters include detailed descriptions of the features of the Gardens as well as fantasy names given to the locations by the story's characters. Following the chapters about Kensington Gardens, the third half of the book is once more mostly set in London, but there are a few brief visits to the Gardens that are not related to the Peter Pan story.

The story opens when a comet named Gallia collects a few tiny bits of Earth while passing by it in midair. The disaster occurred close to Gibraltar on January 1st, 1885. There are still 36 people in the territory the comet has occupied who are of French, English, Spanish, and Russian nationalities. At first, they don't know what's happened and think there's been an earthquake instead of a collision. Adjutant Ben Zoof for Captain Servadac surprises himself by jumping 12 meters (39 feet) in the air as the first indication of weight loss. Soon after, Zoof and Servadac also observe that there are only six hours between day and night, that east and west have switched places, and that water begins to boil at 66 °C (151 °F), from which they correctly deduce that the atmosphere has thinned and the pressure has reduced. They observe the Earth and the Moon when they first arrive at Gallia, but they incorrectly think it is a newly discovered planet. Their research expedition, which included a ship that the comet also captured, produced additional important data.

Young Anne Shirley is an orphan from the fictional Nova Scotian town of Bolingbroke (based upon the real community of New London, Prince Edward Island). After spending her early years in orphanages and the homes of strangers, she is assigned to live with Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert, two unmarried siblings in their fifties and sixties. She also insists that her name should always be spelled with an e. She dislikes her red hair, freckles, and pale, slender frame but likes her nose and is defensive about her looks. She likes to chat, particularly when explaining her desires and dreams.The story follows Anne as she adjusts to Green Gables, the first real home she has ever known. It details her experiences at the country school where she excels academically, her friendship with Diana Barry, the girl who lives next door, her developing literary ambitions, and her rivalry with Gilbert Blythe, a classmate who teases her about having red hair.To Anne's dismay, Gilbert, Ruby, Josie, Jane, and many other students-but not Diana-go to Queen's Academy at age sixteen to get a teaching license. Anne forfeits the scholarship out of love for Marilla and Green Gables so that she can aid Marilla, whose eyesight is deteriorating, at home.

Knox and Paul Harley are speaking while seated in Paul Harley's office. In addition to being a private investigator, Harvey advises the British Empire's political establishment. When Colonel Juan Menendez enters the room, the two are discussing what position Paul should adopt next. Paul thinks that his fear of being pursued by someone is just delusion. Menendez has only ever seen the shadow of the person, but he is nevertheless certain that they are watching him. Then Menendez reveals a bat wing that had been left for him. Harley is then abruptly thrust into a world of voodoo, vampires, and murder!

Plato's conversation is known as Cratylus (Ancient Greek: Kratylos). In it, Socrates is questioned about whether names are ""conventional"" or ""natural,"" or if language is merely a set of random signals, or if words have an essential connection to the things they symbolize. The majority of contemporary academics concur that it was mostly composed during Plato's supposedly middle era.As an artist employs color to convey the core of his topic in a painting, Socrates compares the production of a word to the labor of an artist in Cratylus. The best way to talk is to use names that are similar to the things they name (that is, names that are appropriate for them), and the worst way to speak is to use names that are not like the things they name.According to one theory, names have developed owing to tradition and convention, thus individuals who use them can replace them with something unrelated. The opposite approach holds that names come about because they express the essence of their topic. Many of the terms that Socrates gives as examples may have originated from a concept that was formerly associated with the name, but they have since evolved.

Jules Verne's 1875 book The Survivors of the Chancellor: Diary of J. R. Kazallon, Passenger describes the fatal journey of the British sailing ship Chancellor from the viewpoint of one of its passengers.THE SURVIVERS OF THE CHANCELLOR, written by Jules Verne, was published in 1875. His only tale that is entirely focused on a shipwreck is this one. He has gathered in it every tragedy, enigma, and hardship the sea is capable of. The story is referred to as the ""imperishable epic of shipwrecks.""According to legend, a picture of a French frigate at sea called ""the Wreck of the Medusa"" served as the inspiration for Jules Verne's book The Medusa. After being tortured for days, several of the survivors managed to escape on a raft and were found by a passing ship. In 1857, the Sarah Sands, transporting British troops to India, caught fire off the coast of Africa. The burning and sinking ship finally reached a harbour after 10 days of valiant effort.

In the year 1861, the crew of the recently constructed ship Forward embarks on an unspecified mission. They don't know their path or the name of their skipper, but they assume they're traveling to the Arctic and perhaps the North Pole. Their commander only comes into view to them after they have planned their course and run into obstacles that cause them to consider turning around.He kept his identity a secret until it was too late for the team to reconsider their decision because his previous missions had failed. As their predicament worsens and they become stranded with little gasoline, Captain Hatteras embarks on a risky expedition with three other crew members to reach a location where records from previous ships' failed attempts to reach that location have specified fuel stocks. Will they make it? Will they succeed in their search? Will they return to the Forward in time? What has been going on while they were away on board?

The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne tells us about the adventure of a group of castaways who use their survivalist savvy to build a functional group on an unknown island. After hijacking a balloon from a Confederate camp, a group of five northern detainees gets away from the American Nationwide conflict. 7,000 miles later, they drop from the mists onto an unfamiliar volcanic island in the Pacific. Through cooperation, logical information, design, and diligence, they try to construct a state without any preparation. However, this island of bountiful assets has its mysteries. The castaways find they are in good company. A shadowy, yet natural, specialist of their unimaginable destiny is watching. What unfurls in Jules Verne's creative wonder is both an exciting secret and ultimate in survivalist adventures. Let's go on this adventure to know more about their thrilling journey!

James Joyce's book of poems titled Chamber Music was released by Elkin Mathews in May 1907. There were originally thirty-four love poems in the anthology, but two more were added before it was published ("All day I hear the noise of waters" and "I hear an army charging upon the land"). Although it is widely believed that the title refers to the sound of urine tinkling in a chamber pot, this is a later Joycean embellishment that gives an earthiness to a title that was initially proposed by his brother Stanislaus and that Joyce (by the time of publication) had come to dislike: "The reason I dislike Chamber Music as a title is that it is too complacent," he admitted to Arthur Symons in 1906. "I would prefer a title that criticized the work while avoiding outright trashing it." Chamber Music's poetry isn't at all racy or evocative of the sound of tinkling urine, in fact. The poems were well-received by critics despite poor sales (less than half of the original print run of 500 had been sold in the first year).

He was regularly met with Sarah's snobbish indifference, but he didn't care since he saw her as a commodity. In order to conduct a covert interview with Samuel, the mestizo accompanied him to the Chorillos Baths. Don Vegal, who was grieving the loss of his daughter Sarah, wandered aimlessly around Lima's streets. The large number of Indians, Zambos, and Chios that were walking the streets struck him as odd. These males, who often participated actively in the Amanca's sports, were now moving silently and with a single focus. Don Vegal had stopped considering Sarah in favour of Martin Paz.Taking the package, Gideon Spilett cracked it open. He brought a couple of the approximately 200 grains of a white powder it contained to his lips. Herbert has to be given this powder right away. After leaving Dakkar Grotto, Cyrus Harding and his friends took the route leading to the corral.All that was left of Granite House was a lone boulder that was thirty feet long by twenty feet wide and was only 10 feet from the river. No one from the ancient Lincoln Island colony was missing since they had promised to always live together. Neb was with his master, Ayrton was there willing to die for everyone, and Pencroft was more of a farmer than a sailor.

J. M. Barrie's fantasy drama Dear Brutus from 1917 depicts the characters' transition through alternate universes and eventual return to the real world. The phrase "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars but in ourselves" is taken from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar and is referenced in the title. Between 17 October 1917 and 24 August 1918, the drama was presented at Wyndham's Theatre in the West End for 363 performances. The play's central question is whether people might benefit from living their lives over again and making new decisions. The characters are unhappy spouses who all believe their lives have gone in the wrong direction. The group is escorted to the residence of an elderly man with the Shakespearean name Lob, who is referred to as "all that is left of Merry England." The philanderer is found trying a new conquest, much to the amusement of his wife and his mistress; an elderly man who had yearned for a second youth proposes again to his faithful spouse; the artist and his wife are reconciled; and the dream child of Act 2 has almost become real to both of them and lives on in their hearts.

J. M. Barrie wrote a biography on his mother and family in Scotland in the late 19th century titled Margaret Ogilvy: Life Is a Long Lesson in Humility. It was the seventh-best-selling book in the US in 1897, according to The Bookman. The book features family memories and was written as an homage to Barrie's mother. In the book, Barrie describes his mother telling him stories about her youth and attributes his passion for reading to her. The biography of her Scottish-born mother and family by J. M. Barrie is titled Margaret Ogilvy: Life Is a Long Lesson in Humility. It was the seventh-best selling in the US in 1897, according to The Bookman. The best-known work by Scottish author and playwright Sir James Matthew Barrie, 1st Baronet, is Peter Pan. He was grown and born in Scotland before relocating to London to pen a number of well-liked books and plays.

J. M. Barrie's book My Lady Nicotine is about a man's first love. The love, as implied by the title, is not for a lady but rather for tobacco, and more specifically for a particular mix of tobacco. The story mostly centers on his youthful years, when he would get together with his buddies to smoke his Arcadia tobacco blend, which they regarded as the pinnacle of all tobacco. In many ways, the story is less about tobacco and more about Victorian England's ideologies and the ways in which a group of men might come together to talk and have fun. The Arcadia blend may be what binds the buddies together, but most of the narrative focuses on their activities or sights when they are together. Of fact, this book and the same author's Little White Bird have a lot in common stylistically. Both stories revolve around single bachelors who spend a lot of time lazing around with close friends who also indulge in the same vices while being looked after by subpar individuals who are just suitable for serving. The aspects of his nephew's visit are uncannily identical to the games he used to play with his stepchildren.

Robert G. Ingersoll wrote a book titled Lectures of Col. For the free-thinking guy, it offers a series of lectures that also promotes women's rights and secular humanism in general. Throughout human history, Lectures of Col. R. G. Ingersoll has been regarded as a significant book. The first of two books that collect Ingersoll's talks is this one. The American political figure, Civil War veteran, and orator Colonel Robert Green Ingersoll was known for defending atheism during the Golden Age of Freethought. The book recounts a series of lectures given by the American political figure, Civil War veteran, and orator known for his defense of agnosticism. For the free-thinking guy, it offers a series of lectures that also promotes women's rights and secular humanism in general. According to the Rev. Dr. Ryder, most of Christendom rejects Calvinism. He is in error. Calvinism is the only orthodox faith practiced today. It accepts the demise of humanity, the inevitability of Hell, and salvation via faith. Dr. Ryder asserts that the Bible is a picture, whereas Prof. Swing claims it is a poem. He needs to know that the Bible supports the notion of Hell.

The well-known book King Solomon's Mines (1885) was written by English adventurer and fabulist Sir H. Rider Haggard. Adventurer and white hunter Allan Quatermain live in Durban in what is now South Africa. Aristocrat Sir Henry Curtis and his buddy Captain Good approach him and ask for his assistance in locating Sir Henry's brother. They bring a mystery native with them by the name of Umbopa who resembles a more regal, attractive, and well-spoken porter than others.They soon come upon a group of Kukuana warriors who are just ready to slay them when Captain Good fumbles with his dentures in nervousness. They identify as ""white men from the stars""-sorcerer-gods-to protect themselves and are forced to demonstrate their deity.She takes them to a treasure room hidden deep beneath a mountain that is stocked with gold, gems, and ivory. Then, as they are gazing at the riches, she cunningly slips away and activates a hidden mechanism that shuts the huge stone door to the pit. They discover an escape route after a few depressing days spent locked in the dark chamber, which is enough to make them wealthy. A distraught Ignosi tells them they must go back home to live with their own people and stops them.

J.M. Barrie's The Little Minister, a well-known emotional book, was first published in 1891 and was later dramatized in 1897. The Little Pastor follows Gavin Dishart, a young, destitute minister serving his first flock, and is set in Thrums, a Scottish weaving community modeled after Barrie's hometown. Soon after, the weavers he serves riot in opposition to salary cuts and unfavorable working conditions. The weavers get ready for battle after Babbie, a stunning and enigmatic Gypsy, informs them that the local laird, Lord Rintoul, has called the militia. Babbie is saved by Dishart from the troops in the subsequent brawl. Dishart and Babbie fall in love, and he has no idea that she is a well-bred woman who is compelled to marry the elderly Lord Rintoul. The two finally achieve happiness after numerous obstacles.

Frances Hodgson Burnett wrote a book titled Little Lord Fauntleroy. From November 1885 to October 1886, it was published as a serial in St. Nicholas Magazine. In 1886, Scribner's (St. Nicholas' publisher) published it as a book. When Burnett prevailed in a legal battle against E. V. Seebohm in 1888 for the rights to stage adaptations of the work, the novel established a precedent in copyright law, setting fashion trends with the illustrations by Reginald B. Birch. The Anglo-French surname Fauntleroy, which conveys the idea of being spoiled and pampered, is ultimately derived from Le enfant le Roy ("child of the king"). It is derived more closely from the Middle English version of defect from infant, which means child or infant. As a legitimate surname, it has been used since the 13th century. The Earl intended to impart aristocratic values to his grandson. Cedric instructs his grandfather instead on the virtue of having compassion for others who are reliant upon him. The Earl matures into the person Cedric had always mistakenly assumed him to be. Cedric is delighted to be reunited with his mother and Mr. Hobbs, who chooses to remain to assist in caring for Cedric.

Andrew Dickson White, a founding member of Cornell University, released A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom in two volumes in 1896. The original purpose of White's 1874 lecture on The Battlefields of Science is stated in the introduction. White expanded on this idea in a book titled The Warfare of Science that same year. He traces the growing separation of science from theology in numerous domains in these books. According to science historian Lawrence M. Principe, "No credible historians of science now continue to support the warfare thesis... The foundations of the warfare thesis may be found in the writings of two persons, John William Draper and Andrew Dickson White, from the late 19th century. Scientists have known for years that White and Draper's claims are more propaganda than history, according to science historian and atheist Ronald Numbers, who wrote in a collection about errors committed by White and others. The "battle" paradigm was based on a terrible oversimplification that required all facets of the history of science and religion to fit into one ill-chosen conceptual box. As a result, many scholars ignored the vast amount of historical information that simply didn't fit into that box.

The weather had appeared more than menacing all day. The sea was now rising, and Neptune's white horses had already started to gallop over the crests of the rising billows. All the galaxies of heaven were now present above, replacing the two or three unusual sentinels that had previously protruded from the firmament. Our second mate, Garry O'Neil, perished at sea while sailing the Star of the North. He had fled to the sea as a child before attending medical school in Dublin.After his mother passed away, he abandoned his newly-acquired dignity and went back to the sea since he felt no longer beholden to anything at home. The settings, the ship in the distance with its flag partially up, the light of the setting sun, and the resemblance of my boat then and now brought back memories of that special evening.

This collection of ten remarkable stories have Bunny telling tales of encounters from various times in his and Raffles' lives. Bunny bemoans the breakdown of his engagement in the book Out of Paradise, which he called off to save his fiancé the shame following his fall from social grace. In an effort to cheer him melancholy, Bunny suggests that the two rob the wealthy politician's estate. Following this depressing narrative, The Rest Cure is a peaceful story that centers on Bunny and Raffles as they hide away to avoid an incident with Inspector Mackenzie.Although Raffles and Bunny have repeatedly shown that they are an unbreakable team, Bunny is excited for the chance to show in A Bad Night that he can function independently. When Bunny tells the story of a time when Raffles' pride got the best of him and put him in a well-prepared trap, he remembers both his partner's good and bad attributes.A Thief in the Night by E.W. Hornung is a fascinating and entertaining collection of the exploits of the two legendary thieves, told via the hilarious and thoughtful narration of Bunny.

Jules Verne wrote The Courier of the Czar in 1876, according to Michael Strogoff. It is regarded as one of Verne's best books by critic Leonard S. Davidow. Jules Verne hasn't written a greater book than this, according to Davidow, and it is rightfully regarded as one of the most exciting stories ever written. It is not science fiction, in contrast to several of Verne's other books, but rather uses a scientific phenomenon as a plot element. A play based on the book was later created by Verne and Adolphe d'Ennery. The play's incidental music was composed by Franz von Suppé in 1893 and Alexandre Artus in 1880. The book has had numerous adaptations for movies, television shows, and cartoons. Michael Strogoff, a native of Omsk, age 30, serves as a messenger for Tsar Alexander II of Russia. Strogoff is dispatched to Irkutsk to inform the governor of the treacherous former colonel Ivan Ogareff, who was once degraded and exiled by this Tsar brother, who is now a traitor. Now that he has the governor's trust, he plans to betray both of them and Irkutsk to the Tartar hordes in order to exact revenge.