Now re-formatted and typeset for clarity. Nominated as one of the "All-time Top 100 Non-Fiction Books" by the UK Guardian newspaper in 2011. Lytton Strachey's biographical essays on four 'eminent Victorians' caused uproar when the book was published in 1918. Instead of being laudatory or jingoistic - like many biographies up to that time - Strachey pulled no punches in describing England's adored heroes; his wit, insight and engaging narratives thrilled as well as shocked his contemporaries. Debunking Church, Public School and Empire, his portraits of Cardinal Manning, Florence Nightingale, Dr Arnold of Rugby, and General Gordon of Khartoum changed perceptions of the Victorians for a generation.