I have a lot of time for Kipling. He was an imperialist, but not an uncritical or brutal one, and a lot of what he wrote is not really concerned with Empire so much as people - people from different cultures, how they relate, where the meeting points are. And his writing style is gorgeous...

People read 'the white man's burden' and judge him solely on that, which is unfair : he was a product of his time of course, but who isn't? And I'm not even sure that poem is quite as simple in message as people make out if you read it along with all his other stuff, particularly the Indian material.

I love Bagheera too (though personally I am not keen on the Disney version). He's so laid back, so smooth and dangerous. :-)