Newton Booth Tarkington

Ramsey Milholland illustrated Newton Booth Tarkington

Booth Tarkington (1869-1946) was one of the most popular writers of the early 20th Century, who first achieved acclaim with his historical romance "Monsieur Beaucaire" (1900). But his more characteristic work was found in such novels as "The Gentleman from Indiana" (1899), "The Conquest of Canaan" (1905), and the trilogy consisting of "The Turmoil" (1915), "The Magnificent Ambersons" (1918) and "The Midlander" (1921). He won two Pulitzer Prizes for novels, for "The Magnificent Ambersons" and for "Alice Adams" (1921). "The Magnificent Ambersons" was memorably filmed by Orson Welles in 1942. Tarkington is also noted for several charming, idealized novels about childhood and adolescence, such as "Penrod" (1914) and "Seventeen" (1916), which occur squarely in the middle of the line of literary development that leads from Mark Twain's "Tom Sawyer" up to Ray Bradbury's "Dandelion Wine." They are classics of period Americana.