Booth Tarkington

Booth Tarkington was an Indianapolis novelist, dramatist, and chronicler of social change in the American Midwest. The Gentleman from Indiana, his 1899 debut, follows a newspaper editor in a fictional Indiana town, while Penrod collects the misadventures of a Midwestern boy. The Turmoil, The Magnificent Ambersons, and National Avenue form the Growth trilogy, tracing industrial expansion and the decline of an established urban family. National Avenue was first published as The Midlander. Alice Adams examines status and aspiration through a young woman and her family. The Magnificent Ambersons and Alice Adams received the Pulitzer Prize for the years 1919 and 1922, making Tarkington among the few novelists honored twice. Together, these books show his movement from provincial comedy toward sustained criticism of class, wealth, and modernization.