Booth Tarkington: Novels & Stories

“The estimable Library of America may revive [Tarkington’s] reputation with a hefty placemark in the canon… . The Magnificent Ambersons and Alice Adams won Pulitzer Prizes, in 1919 and 1922, a rare double for a single author. One can see why readers devoured them, and … one can see why Scott Fitzgerald was influenced by his best sentences… .His satirical asides are perfectly modern.” — The Wall Street Journal“Alice Adams is by far Tarkington’s most accomplished novel—worthy of being compared to Wharton’s The House of Mirth.” — The New Yorker

Booth Tarkington (1869-1946), a native of Indianapolis, Indiana, published the first of his many novels, The Gentleman from Indiana, in 1899. He served a single term in Indiana’s House of Representatives in 1902-1903. His long and commercially successful literary career was divided between the writing of fiction and plays. Two of his novels, The Magnificent Ambersons and Alice Adams, were awarded the Pulitzer Prize. His Penrod books for young adults were widely popular in their time.Thomas Mallon, editor, is the author of nine novels, including Watergate, Finale, and Fellow Travelers, and seven books of nonfiction. He is a regular contributor to The New Yorker and The New York Times Book Review.