Excerpt from Charles Robinson: The First Free-State Governor of Kansas Biography is, after all, quite essential to a true knowl edge of the history of a people, and, moreover, one of the best of teachers, for by it we come close to the lives of those who make history. It gives an insight and a living touch quite unknown, to the details of plain historical records. The historian who tells the story of national progress, even though he describes causes and results, is forced to treat men as things tossed upon the waves of public Opinion or borne on by the current of events. The biographer deals with an individual life and character from which spring the motives that rule the community or make the destiny of nations. He sets the object of his description in the midst of the phenomena of history, and describes him in his relations to the environments. In the warm heart of the great man beats the hope of the nation; in his fertile brain dwells the thought that rules, and from his lips fall the words of wisdom that command. So biog raphy teaches history by example. It gives, not a pano rama of moving society, but the intensified thought. Feeling and action of a single individual, as the center of events. Though it is not general history, it touches it at many points; and the greater the man, at more points will he touch human society. The biography of a great man will need a strong historical background as its setting, and if properly written will vitalize every part of history with which it comes in contact. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.