Booth Tarkington

America Moved: Booth Tarkington's Memoirs of Time and Place, 1869-1928 brings together for the first time all of the autobiographical writings of Booth Tarkington, one of the most successful and best-loved writers in American history. These are the memoirs of one of America's greatest literary figures--and one of the keenest interpreters of American manners and mores. During his lifetime, Tarkington was immensely popular. From 1902 to 1932, nine...

Booth Tarkington's award-winning masterpiece, "The Magnificent Ambersons", chronicles the grandeur and downfall of a once-great family. Set against the backdrop of a rapidly transforming Midwest, Tarkington weaves a mesmerizing tale of pride, passion, and the decline of American aristocracy in the face of industrialization and social upheaval. George Amberson Minafer, the only child of Major Amberson and his wife Isabel, grows up in a lavish mansion,...

Penrod, Booth Tarkington's classic and hilarious tale of one 11-year-old boy's unceasing series of misadventures in an early Twentieth Century Midwestern town, has fallen into disrepute in some quarters for ethnic descriptions and dialogue that many today find offensive. Lasso Books has taken the bold step of abridging the original text and removing questionable passages and rewriting select portions so that children and adults may now read this delightful...

"The Beasley Christmas Party" is a short story by Booth Tarkington, first published in 1917. Booth Tarkington, a renowned American author and Pulitzer Prize winner, is known for his keen observations of society and his engaging storytelling. In "The Beasley Christmas Party", Tarkington presents a humorous and satirical take on the holiday season. The story revolves around the Beasley family and their annual Christmas party, offering a vivid portrayal...

Booth Tarkington's first novel, The Gentleman From Indiana, lays out a number of the recurring themes that would reappear in many of the author's later works, including a Midwestern setting and a highly moral protagonist who battles against forces of evil which are often symptomatic of deeper problems in the United States. In this story, the upright John Harkness returns to his hometown after law school, only to find himself locked in conflict with...

"In the summer after his seventeenth birthday, William Baxter finds himself coming-of-age in his family's small vacation home." *** "'Seventeen' is the hilarious story of William Sylvanus Baxter, just seventeen, who is in love with Miss Pratt, a summer visitor in the neighborhood. The adolescent antics of a small-town Lothario are beguiling and utterly harmless, and the completely normal but demoniacal actions of Jane, William's pesky sister, are...

Old Carewe was bringing his daughter home from the convent to wreck the hearts of the youth of Rouen. When Tom Vanrevel set eyes on Miss Betty, he knew she was the one.

Another collection of tales about Penrod Schofield and his playmate Sam. Together, the two of them get into more trouble than Dennis the Menace and the Little Rascals combined.

This novel is about how the artistic soul is sacrificed on the altar of big business. Except in this case the artist willingly makes the sacrifice and has no regrets afterward. Thus, the novel can't be counted a tragedy. John Sheridan lives by one mantra: Bigger is better. He owns the Sheridan Pump Works and is determined to make it an industrial giant. He brings his two oldest sons into the business only to see them fail. His youngest son, Bibbs,...

This is the story of a middle-class family living in the industrialized "midland country" at the turn of the 20th century. It is against this dingy backdrop that Alice Adams seeks to distinguish herself. She goes to a dance in a used dress, which her mother attempts to renew by changing the lining and adding some lace. She adorns herself not with orchids sent by the florist but with a bouquet of violets she has picked herself. Because her family cannot...