"Never forget that unless the outward and visible signs of Our Authority are always before a native he is as incapable as a child of understanding what authority means, or where is the danger in disobeying it." Born in the midst of the Imperial Raj, Rudyard Kipling was the son of the principal of the School of Art in Lahore. Sent away to the United Services College in Westward Ho! in Devon, he had, what is assumed, to have been a traumatic childhood away from his parents. His surrogate parents are thought to have treated Rudyard and his sister quite appallingly and their mother had to return from India after Rudyard had a nervous breakdown. He returned to India in 1880 to take up a career as a journalist on the Lahore Civil and Military Gazette. It was soon apparent that he had a flair for imagination and he developed a loyal following with his satirical verses Departmental Ditties in 1886 and a collection of short stories Plain tales from the Hills in 1888. In 1889 he moved to London where he had The light that failed published, although it was not altogether a success. He then worked together with Wolcott Balestier on the much more successful The Naulaukha. Although this collaboration had an even more fruitful result when he married Wolcott's sister Caroline in 1892. He moved to his wife's home state of Vermont in the USA. This was not to prove a happy time in his life and he frequently quarrelled with his in-laws and the local populace. However, it was an immensly productive time and he wrote many of his most famous tracts whilst living there. He wrote Barrack Room Balladsin 1892, Many Inventions in 1893, The Mowgli stories, that were to become Jungle Book, in 1895, The Seven Seas in 1896 and The Day's Work in 1899. He would return home to England, where he would spend the rest of his life, in that same year. He was already an established Imperial Novelist and was famous for his exhortation of taking up the White Man's burden. His imperial reputation was to be crowned with the story of Kim published in 1901. This heady mixture of admiration for Imperialism and for Indian mysticism was to be a recipe that inspired and entertained many imperial sons and daughters. It also left subliminal messages doused in the Social Darwinism of the day in the form of a strict heirarchy and the idea of dominion over others; ideas not unlike those espoused in the Mowgli stories. His appeal to children was to find its high water mark with the publication of The Just So Stories in 1902. The powerful portrayal of animals with human qualities was to draw on both classical and Indian mythology. But they were written in a wholly original style of Anglo-Indian English and were to show such an otherworldly wisdom that generations of English speaking children would be utterly enchanted with them. Long regarded as a bard for Imperialism and patriotism, he is often forgotten as also being one of quickest to point out the injustices and incongruities of the Empire. His use of satire to achieve these aims has often meant that later commentators have misunderstood his use of the imperial platform that he had made for himself. His, at times, disparaging descriptions of natives and locals has also meant that later generations have had a hard time reconciling their pleasure at his high quality work with his seemingly racist undertones. However, not only was he a product of his times, but he was also one of the only authors of his day who even bothered to write about the common man; be he a private soldier or a poor native boy. His work was never highbrow and he spoke to and was appreciated by all classes and levels of British and Imperial society. Kipling was to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for Literature in 1907. His patriotic fervour took a heavy toll during The Great War when his own son was killed in action. He found it difficult to recover from this emotional blow but he did remain productive for many more years before dying in London in 1936.