author
A. H. (Augustus Henry) Keane
1833–1912
An Irish journalist, linguist, and ethnological writer, he spent a long career turning wide reading and language study into ambitious surveys of peoples and cultures around the world. His books are a vivid window into Victorian scholarship—useful, influential, and also very much of their time.
1 Audiobook
Man, Past and Present
by A. H. (Augustus Henry) Keane
About the author
Born in Cork on June 1, 1833, he studied in Cork, Dublin, and Rome and was originally educated for the Roman Catholic priesthood. He did not go on to ordination, and instead moved into journalism, language study, and later ethnological and geographical writing.
Keane became known for large, synthesizing works that tried to classify languages and human groups on a global scale. He wrote widely on geography and ethnology and was associated with well-known reference works and periodicals, building a reputation as a prolific Victorian man of letters.
He died in London on February 3, 1912. Readers coming to him now will find both energetic scholarship and the clear limits of nineteenth-century anthropology, making his work interesting not only for its subject matter but also for what it reveals about the ideas of its era.