A Man of Contradictions

A Life of A. L. Rowse

By: Richard Ollard

Narrated by: Geoffrey Howard

Length: 11 hrs and 58 mins

Publisher's summary

A.L. Rowse, who died in 1997, was the author of a vast number of books, all of them readable and most of them fiercely arrayed against what he considered to be declining standards of manners, morals, and politics. He was more than a mere curmudgeon, though. His background was extraordinary: from a working-class family, he got a scholarship to Oxford, and from there was elected to All Souls College, the most exclusive of all faculties. He was a Shakespearean scholar who identified the Dark Lady of the sonnets, a historian of vast scope, and a biographer and memoirist, most notably of his beloved Cornwall. He never shied from controversy, and tore great chunks out of other writers in print. In short, Rowse led a fascinating life that bears reading about.

©1999 Richard Ollard (P)2001 Books on Tape