Book Description
This digital document, covering the life and work of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, is an entry from Contemporary Authors, a reference volume published by Thompson Gale. The length of the entry is 3279 words. The page length listed above is based on a typical 300-word page. Although the exact content of each entry from this volume can vary, typical entries include the following information:

• Place and date of birth and death (if deceased)
• Family members
• Education
• Professional associations and honors
• Employment
• Writings, including books and periodicals
• A description of the author's work
• References to further readings about the author

Book Description
Charles L. Dodgson's publications on political subjects offer a very different view of Lewis Carroll, the man made famous by his “Alice” books. Better known for whimsical and nonsense writings, Dodgson wrote on the entire spectrum of voting theory, applying it to issues of local governance at Christ Church College in the University of Oxford, where he was employed all of his professional life—mainly as Mathematical Lecturer—and to issues of national politics. Yet this work remained largely unknown at his death.

This third volume of a planned series of six is a comprehensive account of Dodgson's publications on voting theory. Francine F. Abeles offers a fresh perspective on his contributions to what was then an embryonic school of politics. Drawing together all of Dodgson's pamphlets, letters, diary entries, and other pieces on this subject, Abeles traces the development of Dodgson's theory of voting from its beginnings in his participation in the academic affairs of the University of Oxford to his attempts to influence the outcome of bills before the British Parliament affecting the extension of the voting franchise and the redistribution of seats in the House of Commons.

Collected together for the first time, these writings deal with such topics as ranking methods, voting anomalies, sophisticated voting, proportional representation, apportionment, and applications of game theory to voting strategies. Dodgson's commitment to objectivity and fairness also led him to employ his methods in such sports applications as horse racing wagers and tennis tournament schedules.

Each chapter of this book is preceded by an introductory essay providing background information and analyses to assist both the general reader and the specialist. The Pamphlets of Lewis Carroll will be of interest to students and scholars of Carroll's work, to political scientists, historians, and mathematicians, and to readers concerned with Victorian studies. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

For the REALLY obsessive fan
You have to be VERY deeply into Lewis Carroll to even consider this book. It has NOTHING whatsoever to do with Alice or any of the other classic characters.

What we do have is a very well collected, orderly, nicely edited and annotated collection of Carroll's political pamphlets, items which are otherwise almost impossible to read otherwise. But you really have to be interested in this stuff to appreciate it, otherwise why bother at all?

One thing I do really appreciate, and this probably accounts for the price, is the quality of the imprint. The print quality is very clear and easy on the eyes, something that is becoming a lost art. ... Read more

Book Description
`This is a book about a well-known writer, Lewis Carroll,and about a little-known subject, the theory of voting' (fromthe Editors' Introduction).
This book has been edited from the manuscripts of the late Scottisheconomist Duncan Black. Shortly after the publication of The Theoryof Committees and Elections Black started to collect materialfor papers and a book on Lewis Carroll's theory of proportionalrepresentation. Black's chapter plans made it clear that the book wasto be in three parts, written by himself, followed by a reprint ofCarroll's Principles of Parliamentary Representation and itsmain sources. Part I is biographical, introducing Lewis Carroll andgiving relevant details of his life. Part II is Black's alreadypublished work on Lewis Carroll. Part III comprises the more detailedarguments about Carroll's reasoning, and Part IV contains reprints ofrare original material on proportional representation by Carroll,James Garth Marshall, and Walter Baily. Taken together, the editorshave provided a complete reference source for the theory of voting andproportionalrepresentation. ... Read more