But as Tarkington’s sight dimmed and even went out all together, and as America, along with the rest of the world, found itself in the throes of the Great Depression, Tarkington’s attention turned away from the more external symptoms of industrialization and the Automotive Age (such natural topics for an Indianapolis native) and toward the more internal struggles of average Americans (and women in particular) as the pressures of social fragmentation and suburbanization mounted.

Born in 1869 and deceased in 1946, Newton Booth Tarkington was for many years one of America’s most celebrated authors. He was a child of both poverty and privelege, a scholar and rogue, a lover of children yet ultimately childless. His legacy has sadly been squandered by the literary establishment.