Kipling was one of the most popular writers in English, both prose and verse, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Henry James famously said of him: "Kipling strikes me personally as the most complete man of genius (as distinct from fine intelligence) that I have ever known." In 1907, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. This book is the world famous autobiography that Kipling penned toward the end of his life and sheds much detail on his life, career, travels and influences.