The Making of Dr Johnson : Icon of Modern Culture

Few literary figures have undergone more transformations than Samuel Johnson.

Attacked by his contemporaries for his 'deformities' of personal appearance and aggressive intellectual style, Johnson has attained the status of an uncanonised English saint.

Crucial to this making of Johnson into 'Dr Johnson' was his Life by James Boswell and the work of its subsequent editors, as this book shows.

It demonstrates, too, how different a man is revealed in the biographies of his other friends, John Hawkins, Hester Thrale and Frances Burney, and in the impressive set of portraits by Joshua Reynolds.

Copiously illustrated, this book tracks the eventful course of Johnson's reputation over the past 250 years.