Newton Booth Tarkington (1869–1946) was an American dramatist and Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist. Among only three other novelists to have won the Pulitzer Prize more than once, Tarkington was one of the greatest authors of the 1910s and 1920s who helped usher in Indiana's Golden Age of literature. First published in 1929, Tarkington's novel “Penrod Jashber” is the third installment to "The Penrod Series". Following on from his earlier novels “Penrod” (1914) and “Penrod and Sam” (1916), "Penrod Jashber" continues the story of the eponymous 11-year-old boy living in a small city in the Midwest who has now developed a penchant for solving mysteries. A charming tale of youth reminiscent of Mark Twain's “Huckleberry Finn” that will not disappoint fans of Tarkington's wonderful work. Other notable works by this author include: “Monsieur Beaucaire” (1900), “The Turmoil” (1915), and “The Magnificent Ambersons” (1918). Read & Co. Classics is proudly republishing this novel now in a new edition complete with a biography of the author from “Encyclopædia Britannica” (1922).

The story of a boy growing up in Indianapolis at the turn of the century.

Even well-meaning fiction writers of the late Jim Crow era (1900-1955) perpetuated racial stereotypes in their depiction of black characters. From 1918 to 1952, Octavus Roy Cohen turned out a remarkable 360 short stories featuring Florian Slappey and the schemers, romancers and ditzes of Birmingham's Darktown for The Saturday Evening Post and other publications. Cohen said, "I received a great deal of mail from Negroes and I have never found any resentment from a one of them." The black readership had to be satisfied with any black presence in the popular literature of the day. The best known white writers of black characters included Booth Tarkington (Herman and Verman in the Penrod books), Irvin S. Cobb (Judge Priest's houseman Jeff Poindexter), Roark Bradford (Widow Duck, the plantation matriarch), Hugh Wiley (Wildcat Marsden, the war veteran who traveled the country in the company of his goat) and Charles Correll and Freeman Gosden (radio's Amos 'n' Andy). These writers deservedly declined in the civil rights era, but left a curious legacy that deserves examination. This book, focusing on authors of series fiction and particularly of humorous stories, profiles 29 writers and their black characters in detail, with brief entries covering 72 others.

"A midwestern tycoon on tour in Europe." Cf. Hanna, A. Mirror for the nation

Eleven-year-old Penrod Schofield and his wistful dog Duke go on a hilarious romp through turn of the century Indianapolis. "Penrod" (1914) chronicles his life, loves, and mostly the trouble he gets into. His adventures in pre-World War I Midwest have been likened to those of Tom Sawyer (Mark Twain), and this first collection of comic sketches by Booth Tarkington was followed by two further episodes: "Penrod and Sam" (1916) and "Penrod Jashber" (1929). Booth Tarkington (1869-1946) was an American novelist and dramatist. Originally from Indianapolis, he attended both Purdue University and Princeton, as well as getting an honorary doctorate from Columbia. His family was well-off, though they lost some of their wealth in the Panic of 1873 (the Great Depression). He won the Pulitzer Prize twice, for "The Magnificent Ambersons" (1918) and "Alice Adams" (1921), making him one of only three to win it more than once, putting him alongside William Faulkner and John Updike. Whilst he is less known today, he was considered to be America's greatest living author during the early 20th century.

Originally published in 1916. Twelve-year-old Penrod Schofield and his friend Sam get into a mountain of mischief in pre-World War I America, including adventures involving an abandoned horse, a rough initiation into a club, a snake made of socks, and two neighbor African-American boys.