Quo Vadis (Barnes & Noble Digital Library)

Born in Poland in 1846 and educated in Warsaw, Henryk Sienkiewicz published his first literary works in 1872. Sienkiewicz was also a successful journalist, a social and political activist, and a Polish patriot. After his wife died from tuberculosis, Sienkiewicz established a foundation and an artists' fund that was devoted to helping artists and writers suffering from the disease. But Sienkiewicz also wrote novels, short stories, and essays while abroad, and many of his works were inspired by his travels. He was furthermore very active politically, writing protests against the policies of Prussia and Russia toward Poland. Sienkiewicz was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1905. He spent his final years in Switzerland, where he continued to work on behalf of the Polish people, co-organizing the Swiss central committee of an organization devoted to helping Polish victims of World War I. He died in Switzerland in 1916.