I am woefully remiss in bringing this article to your attention.  Last fall at The University Bookman, Jeremy Beers published a fine extended essay evaluating the literary legacy of Booth Tarkington.  Here’s his opening salvo:

During a recent lecture, the eminent and usually trustworthy literary critic Joseph Epstein befuddled at least one audience member (me) by referring to Theodore Dreiser as the “greatest American author of the twentieth century.” Huh? Dreiser was not even the greatest twentieth-century author from Indiana. In fact, in Beer’s Genuinely Objective Rankings of Indiana Authors, Twentieth Century Division, Dreiser ranks third, just a smidgen ahead of Ross Lockridge Jr. (who wrote Raintree County and nothing else) and considerably behind runner-up Kurt Vonnegut.The champion, several lengths ahead of the field, is Newton Booth Tarkington. In fact, Tarkington stands, if not among the first rank of American writers, squarely and securely among the second. His obscurity is unjustified and unjustifiable.

I can’t recommend this essay highly enough.  It’s literate, passionate, and informed.  And it praises Tarkington!  So in Wright’s Truly Objective Rankings of Online Tark Essays, this one ranks behind only those I have yet to write.