James Boswell is a hard act to follow. His Life of Johnson, written at close range after more hours in pubs and miles of travel with his eccentric subject than most could have withstood, is detailed, ...

David Nokes, a prominent scholar of 18th-century English literature, takes a fresh look at Samuel Johnson, the man known as the creator of the dictionary. In doing so, Nokes shows a very human side of ...

MR. LONGFELLOW’S volume, 1 made up of a biography of some one hundred and fifty pages, and a series of lectures, sermons, essays, and addresses, selected with excellent judgment from the mass of Mr.