One of the books in the Kansas City Public Library was, yes, the Woodress biography of Tarkington. Thanks to the government of India, you can now not only get a used copy of the original edition (I recommend abebooks.com), you can also get it as a Nook book, in a rather pricey paperback facsimile edition, or… browse it online for free! One catch… the Indian government apparently created a new title for the book. See if you can spot the difference.

When Princeton University fondly recalls Booth Tarkington’s ivied days as a member of the class of 1893, they consistently omit one little detail: he may have started out with the class of ‘93 upon matriculation, but he never actually finished. It’s possible that Tarkington may in fact be Princeton’s most famous dropout–sort of a 19th Century version of Bill Gates and Harvard.