The history of the life of every individual who has, for any reason,
attracted extensively the attention of mankind, has been written in a
great variety of ways by a multitude of authors, and persons sometimes
wonder why we should have so many different accounts of the same
thing. The reason is, that each one of these accounts is intended for
a different set of readers, who read with ideas and purposes widely
dissimilar from each other. Among the twenty millions of people in the
United States, there are perhaps two millions, between the ages of
fifteen and twenty-five, who wish to become acquainted, in general,
with the leading events in the history of the Old World, and of
ancient times, but who, coming upon the stage in this land and at this
period, have ideas and conceptions so widely different from those of
other nations and of other times, that a mere republication of
existing accounts is not what they require. The story must be told
expressly for them. The things that are to be explained, the points
that are to be brought out, the comparative degree of prominence to be
given to the various particulars, will all be different, on account of
the difference in the situation, the ideas, and the objects of these
new readers, compared with those of the various other classes of
readers which former authors have had in view. It is for this reason,
and with this view, that the present series of historical narratives
is presented to the public. The author, having had some opportunity to
become acquainted with the position, the ideas, and the intellectual
wants of those whom he addresses, presents the result of his labors to
them, with the hope that it may be found successful in accomplishing
its design.
