The present biography was written by Wm. Kingsland, a student and close associate of H.P. Blavatsky-founder of the Theosophical Society. Blavatsky's theosophical teachings, based on what she herself was taught by Eastern adepts, paint a grand picture of who and what we are as human beings, where we come from and what is our shared destiny. These ideas are so inseparable from the way in which she viewed the world and herself, that to attempt any biography of her one must also understand, to some degree, those teachings. In this regard, Kingsland's biography is second to none. -- From the Preface: "In speaking of the Real H. P. Blavatsky I use the term first of all as correcting the false representations and misconceptions which have been so commonly and so lightly accepted by the world at large; and, secondly, as signifying-what in fact each of us possesses-an inner Self, a real Self as distinguished from the fluctuating, changing personality; a Self which, in the majority of us, is only very feebly active in or through the temporary personality. This distinction between the higher and the lower Self is a fundamental one, not merely in Theosophy but also in all Mysticism, both philosophical and devotional. . . . Yet, even when we have done this, the fact remains that it is not the personality of H. P. Blavatsky that matters at all, either in its outer or its inner aspects. What really matters is the message which she gave to the world. And perhaps the giver of that message can only be appreciated in proportion as the message itself is received. Where it is not received: where it runs counter to hard and fast conventions, prejudices, beliefs or dogmas, one can hardly expect in the present state of society, or the present characteristics of human nature, that the moral law "Judge not, that ye be not judged" will be respected any more in the case of H. P. Blavatsky than it is in other cases. Nevertheless, I may possibly hope in the following pages to do something towards correcting many of the misrepresentations and slanders to which the detractors of Theosophy have so freely lent themselves. This work is, therefore, as much a study of Theosophy as a Memoir of H. P. Blavatsky."-William Kingsland