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21. Beasley's Christmas Party
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22. The Beautiful Lady
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23. His Own People
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24. Ramsey Milholland
$0.99
25. The Magnificent Ambersons
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26. Alice Adams
 
27. Claire Ambler
$13.79
28. The Turmoil
 
$32.95
29. My Amiable Uncle: Recollections
$19.63
30. Penrod and Sam (Library of Indiana
 
$38.50
31. The World Does Move

21. Beasley's Christmas Party
by Booth, 1869-1946 Tarkington
Kindle Edition: Pages (2004-06-01)
list price: US$0.99 -- used & new: US$0.99
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Asin: B000JQUGLS
Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars
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Book Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.Download Description
The maple-bordered street was as still as a country Sunday; so quiet that there seemed an echo to my footsteps. It was four o'clock in the morning; clear October moonlight misted through the thinning foliage to the shadowy sidewalk and lay like a transparent silver fog upon the house of my admiration, as I strode along, returning from my first night's work on the Wainwright Morning Despatch. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

4-0 out of 5 stars Nice Holiday Tale
It is a short novel, about 100 pages, large print.Has nice illustrations that make it a worthy keep sake.

Aside from that, it is the story of a rather quiet man who hardly says anything at all.He is in the state'scongress and is well respected by his peers and constituents.However, hisneighbors begin to see him acting strangely.He talks to himself and isdoing strange things around his house.

However, all is not what it seemsto be and comes to fruition on Christmas Eve.

I didn't find myselftotally into the holiday spirit after reading the book, however, I did likethe "quaint" and "folksy" attitude of the book. Something fun to read in the course of an hour.Not Tarkington's best, butdefinitely interesting and motivating for the holidays. ... Read more


22. The Beautiful Lady
by Booth, 1869-1946 Tarkington
Kindle Edition: Pages (2004-05-01)
list price: US$0.99 -- used & new: US$0.99
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Asin: B000JQUFLY
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Book Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.Download Description
Nothing could have been more painful to my sensitiveness than to occupy myself, confused with blushes, at the center of the whole world as a living advertisement of the least amusing ballet in Paris. ... Read more


23. His Own People
by Booth, 1869-1946 Tarkington
Kindle Edition: Pages (2006-02-26)
list price: US$0.99 -- used & new: US$0.99
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Asin: B000JQU7I0
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Book Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.Download Description
The glass-domed palm-room of the Grand Continental Hotel Magnifique in Rome is of vasty heights and distances, filled with a mellow green light which filters down languidly through the upper foliage of tall palms, so that the two hundred people who may be refreshing or displaying themselves there at the tea-hour have something the look of under-water creatures playing upon the sea-bed.They appear, however, to be unaware of their condition; even the ladies, most like anemones of that gay assembly, do not seem to know it; and when the Hungarian band(crustacean-like in costume, and therefore well within the picture) has sheathed its flying tentacles and withdrawn by dim processes, the tea-drinkers all float out through the doors, instead of bubbling up and away through the filmy roof. ... Read more


24. Ramsey Milholland
by Booth, 1869-1946 Tarkington
Kindle Edition: Pages (2001-04-01)
list price: US$0.99 -- used & new: US$0.99
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Asin: B000JQU82U
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Book Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.Download Description
He had not forgiven her four years later when he entered high school in her company, for somehow Ramsey managed to shovel his way through examinations and stayed with the class. By this time he had a long accumulation of reasons for hating her: Dora's persistent and increasing competency was not short of flamboyant, and teachers naturally got the habit of flinging their quickest pupil in the face of their slowest and "dumbest." ... Read more


25. The Magnificent Ambersons
by Booth, 1869-1946 Tarkington
Kindle Edition: Pages (2005-09-01)
list price: US$0.99 -- used & new: US$0.99
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Asin: B000JQV1XU
Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars
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Book Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.Download Description
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize when it was first published in 1918, The Magnificent Ambersons chronicles the changing fortunes of three generations of an American dynasty. The protagonist of Booth Tarkington's great historical drama is George Amberson Minafer, the spoiled and arrogant grandson of the founder of the family's magnificence. Eclipsed by a new breed of developers, financiers, and manufacturers, this pampered scion begins his gradual descent from the midwestern aristocracy to the working class. Today The Magnificent Ambersons is best known through the 1942 Orson Welles movie, but as the critic Stanley Kauffmann noted, "It is high time that [the novel] appear again, to stand outside the force of Welles's genius, confident in its own right." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (41)

2-0 out of 5 stars Less Than Magnificent
Coming from a blue-collar neighborhood, I've never had much tolerance for the Victorian-style books dealing with balls and courting rituals, where a huge scandal is created if someone uses the wrong fork at the dinner table.The excess, shallowness, arrogance, and outright stupidity of these wealthy people is usually enough to make my non-blue blood boil.So it's a good thing only the first third or so of "The Magnificent Ambersons" follows this Victorian model.

Because as the song says, the times they are a-changin as the 19th Century becomes the 20th in an unnamed Midwest town.Since after the Civil War, Major Amberson has been the wealthiest man in town, building one of the world's first subdivisions on his country estate to go along with his mansion and the one he builds for his daughter.Into a life of privilege and excess is born George Amberson Minafer.His mother dresses him like Buster Brown and gives him a pony to terrorize neighbors.Everyone--including this reader--would love for Georgie to get what's coming to him.And so he does.Georgie wants nothing more than to be a professional gentleman, American royalty, failing to see how inventions like electric lights and automobiles are changing the town around him into a city threatening to swallow the Amberson empire.

There is of course a girl named Lucy Morgan whom Georgie falls in love with and like many women, she can't help falling for the wrong man--Georgie in this case.Complicating matters is that Lucy's father Eugene, an automobile manufacturer though not a copy of Henry Ford, is an old flame of Georgie's mother Isabel.They say a change will do you good, but for these four people change is anything but good.The ending is silly and contrived as well as ambiguous, making it less than satisfactory.

This book was first published in 1919, but some of it still has relevance.The problems of suburban sprawl, pollution, and people being displaced by technology are ones our modern society still deals with.At the same time, some of this novel is hopelessly outdated, like the blatantly racist depiction of the black characters.You have to take the good with the bad in this case.

From Tarkington's descriptions on how dirty industrialization makes everything, one wonders if Georgie's resistance to change isn't an attitude the author shares.To hear Tarkington tell it, the 1880s-1890s in the Midwest town were a regular Camelot where everything was clean, everyone knew everyone else, and everyone knew his/her place.From the description on how many immigrants--especially Jews--move into the city you could make another assertion as well.Or perhaps I'm reading too much into things.

Depending on how you define progress, the fall of the Ambersons could represent the fall of the "good old days" or simply the natural order of things.No matter what, the warning to socialites is clear:nothing lasts forever.Perhaps Paris Hilton should read this--or have someone read it to her.

That is all.

5-0 out of 5 stars Better than Marquand
Assuming you have read the synopsis and a few other reviews, I thought a comparative review might serve as a change of pace.I purchased this book some time ago after The Atlantic ran a few reviews for early 20th century `transformation' novels slowly reclaiming their place in American Literature.Included in that list were The Late George Apley, H.M. Pullham Esquire (both by John P. Marquand), Alice Adams, and The Magnificent Ambersons (both by Booth Tarkington).Booth Tarkington had the added honor of an article in the New Yorker discussing his merits (structure and theme) and his demerits (awkward prose) during his `rediscovery.'

Each of these books takes as its theme the cultural transformation of America in the early 20th century (less so Alice Adams), which I found appealing given what I consider to be a cultural transformation currently taking place.I can only hope I am not becoming as out-of-touch as the characters in these novels when I question society's direction.And if I am, I hope I am more George Apley than Georgie Minafer.

I enjoyed both Marquand novels for their directness and humor.While The Magnificent Ambersons lacks these qualities (and their clean prose), its net effect is much more profound in my mind.The Marquand novels function as well-crafted time capsules rather than emotional appeals to the necessity of change.In today's world, it is easy to dismiss the codgerly annoyance and trifling social involvements of George Apley as the consequence of an East Coast aristocracy in decline.It is similarly easy to dismiss the honor-bound desperation and cognitive dissonance of Harry Pulham as the follow-on effects of Apley's generation, passed on to children faced with the Great War and the Great Depression.However, it is not easy to dismiss Georgie Minifer's behavior and ultimate `comeuppance.'The reason is simple - his character is so completely worthless and needlessly arrogant that it is impossible not to HATE this character.It is impossible not to beg for his `comeuppance.'Most frustratingly, by story's end it is difficult not to feel sorry for his character and hope that a better tomorrow waits him...the reader becines guilty of the very same motherly coddling which created Georgie's faults in the first place.

As opposed to the Marquand Man who has simply been passed by a newer generation, here we have someone actually IN the new generation who scornfully rejects every opportunity to change.In the end, he is literally run over by his town's agent of change while pining for his symbol of the way things used to be.Most like the Marquand Man, he is actually returned to the bosom of the old world by simple virtue of being unable to function in the new.Does he deserve forgiveness simply for asking?Maybe.Does he deserve a second chance because he forces himself to adopt the bedrock principles which initially provided his family's fortune (hard work and respect for family)? Possibly.Is it fair to Apley and Pulham to reward a spoiled brat for refusing to give in?I don't think so.

However, this is the point of comparison - it is the emotional impact of this novel that sets it above other transitional works in the same vein.Tarkington has captured one of the few truths of the human experience - some people never change.Tarkington has also created a much more effective message - change or fall into oblivion in spite of your most violent protests.This is the transition both Tarkington and Marquand were witnessing, yet Tarkington seems to have better anticipated impact.America does not bypass the elites because their time has passed, it bears down with the entire weight of its populace on those unwilling to innovate, work hard, and cast off conceits falsely placed in the achievements of their forebears.

4-0 out of 5 stars A Classic Early 20th Century Novel
I think Tarkington's "Ambersons" is the first great Post-WWI American novel.Written in 1918, the novel chronicles the transition of the midwestern American postwar society from the contol of the robber baron gentry to industrialized, modern consumerism-- all personified in the precipitous decline of the Ambersons and their world of priveledge and social status.

With a surprisingly dry and sophisticated sense of cynicism, Tarkington's prose shows the beginnings of the style of Sinclair Lewis, Hemmingway, and Steinbeck that became ascendant in the period after the war.

4-0 out of 5 stars The Magnificent Stuck in Amber Family
Set somewhere in heartland (actually, "Midland") America around the turn of the 20th century, "The Magnificent Ambersons" is a sharp and ultimately melancholy look at change.Founded on old money, the family's generations glide easily along in extravagance, until the cash runs out.Their unwillingness to adapt to new times and new industry dooms their lives of comfort and inertia, as their mansions decay and their neighborhood becomes one of common housing and polluted air.

The protagonist is George Amberson Minafer, the sole inhabitant of the third generation and an insufferable snob.He gets his come-uppance in the end, but the Ambersons have fallen so far so quickly that hardly anyone notices or cares anymore.He's chagrined to find after the fall ofthe house of Amberson that his once-prominent family is not even mentionedin the city history of great family names.His mother is irrationally, almost beyond belief, defensive and protective of her little scion.It's no wonder he was the terror of the town for so many years.

Booth Tarkington gradually clues the reader in that something's going wrong with the Amberson empire.He points out, mostly through Minafer'sagonized thoughts, that nothing is permanent.The great fortunes and mansions that displace the Ambersons will themselves fade one day, and the customs and people one knows from infancy on will likewise shift.Midland undergoes a jarring shift from the wealthy and their poorer but settled neighbors to a bustling, dirty city of what Minafer sees as money-grubbing ethnic immigrants and incessant change.The old rich who didn't adaptfall victim to what one modern political commentator has called "creative destruction."

As if to underscore the transitory nature of things, Tarkington kills off most of the Amberson family as if it were itself somehow defective and weak.Minafer redeems himself somewhat at the end but only because of necessity.The few Ambersons who are left find themselves in a nearly alien culture that took only several decades to establish itself.Like Ozymandias, the Ambersons thought themselves and their way of life to be endless. Tarkington's rather bleak message seems to be that nothing is forever, no future is guaranteed, and that those who follow have no more claim on permanence than the mighty who have fallen before them.

4-0 out of 5 stars Riffraff!
Possibly what keeps Barth Tarkington from going the way of the Magnificent Ambersons, completely rolled over and forgotten by history, is that this novel is on the Modern Library's top 100 list of books to read.A quick look at the imdb movie database shows that a number of his works were made into films and starred such pantheons of the golden age of movies as Orsen Welles and Rudolf Valentino.An amazon check shows that he won the Pulitzer Prize--twice!As I was sick in bed without a book of interest at hand Tarkington was perfect: his was a free ebook easily downloaded. It is a regrettable that this towering novelist of another time has become rather obscure today.
The Magnificent Ambersons excels in highlighting a rapidly changing time in American history: dress, language, style,breeding, importance, aristocracy and more all went through transformation as cities grew, fortunes were made and lost and life changed.These changes, seen and experienced by the author, an Indianapolis resident his entire life, are narrated from the living room (or parlor, or "reception" room) outwards.In the case of the Amberson family, the city they helped grow now thrives beyond them and their faltering fortune can't maintain the family as it swirls into obscurity and is surpassed by the modern motor car and sooty grime that defines the city.A touching scene occurs when the proud grandfather, stooped and aged, sits at his desk in his once impressive mansion going over ledger books to a gaslight while the boarding houses all around it have electric lights, and cars speed past the old stables where his rather now shabby carriage sits. Turmoil, Tarkington's previous novel that serves as a prequel to The Magnificent Ambersons, describes a midwestern city scene that could easily find a place here:

And then, as the car drove on, the chimneys and stacks of factories
came swimming up into view like miles of steamers advancing abreast,
every funnel with its vast plume, savage and black, sweeping to the
horizon, dripping wealth and dirt and suffocation over league on
league already rich and vile with grime.

The book's center is the grandson George Amberson Minafer, who grows up spoiled, proud, selfish and limited, and views those around him as riffraff.His goal to "be" rather than "do" prepares him for nothing, and his world view works to destroy him and undue his mother's last chance at happiness. The town in earlier years always wanted to see him have his "come uppance", (to get what was coming to him), and it comes casually, slowly, as his family is forgotten to poverty, and his own self importance iseventually shared by no one.That he is only 24 when this occurs, and has nothing to combat it but frayed pride, is pathetic. Amberson regrets that the new section of the town cemetery doesn't take into account that the older section holds the most important names, and views his uncle's entry into Congress for its ability to make family members ambassadors, allowing for easier family travel abroad.He takes all as his due, and offers little but arrogance in return. In the hands of a lesser writer George might be unbelievable or a caricature, but Tarkington makes him real, and George's failure to see beyond his own point of view is tragic.
The book's only weakness is its ending.Those who can help him do so only when his mother "speaks" to them during a seance, and its wraps up the novel too quickly.George has by this time shown some redemption, but his lifelong obstinence is still intact, and his faltering attempts at apologies should not hide that the kindness being shown him is not due so much to a light at long last glowing in his soul, but rather the pity being shown by others whose character is far surpasses his own.


... Read more


26. Alice Adams
by Booth, 1869-1946 Tarkington
Kindle Edition: Pages (1997-07-01)
list price: US$0.99 -- used & new: US$0.99
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Asin: B000SN6ISC
Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars
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Book Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.Download Description
The device of the absentee partner has the defect that it cannot be employed for longer than ten or fifteen minutes at a time, and it may not be repeated more than twice in one evening: a single repetition, indeed, is weak, and may prove a betrayal. Alice knew that her present performance could be effective during only this interval between dances. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (12)

5-0 out of 5 stars Timeless novel
I have thought about Alice Adams a lot these two weeks after reading it, and the thought brings a smile to my face.
First published in 1920, Alice Adams is a fresh, timeless story because we can see ourselves in it. The characters are what people call "good people," ordinary people who are characterized by pride, greed, deception and revenge. Half way through the book the reader can see what is coming, but Booth Tarkington had a knack for a happy ending, or at least one that leaves the reader satisfied (just as we learned in The Magnificent Ambersons that George was made of the right stuff after all). Booth Tarkington liked people. That shows in his books. He understood human nature, but he liked people.
Some demographics might help you evaluate my view of Alice Adams. I am a man who has been a small-town attorney for forty-two years, and I like people.

3-0 out of 5 stars charming
This Pulitzer Prize winning novel from 1922 is the sort of thing I would normally hate.I put down The Age of Innocence for some of the things contained in this novel: high society and classism, pretensions of upward mobility in society, and being with the "right" people.Yet I ended up enjoying this novel.Why?Well, because of Alice Adams.Not the book, the title character.Alice used to be her era's version of the "It" Girl in her community.Beautiful, from a good family, and style perfect.But with her father's lack of rise in income comparable to those of her friends and peers Alice's star has fallen.She is desperate to get it back but is also loyal to her family.Her desperation mixed with the understanding of her father's situation makes her an immensely likeable character even as she is attempting to be part of a crowd which I detest as a reader.This is a comic novel, though I would not go so far as to say it is "Laugh Out Loud Funny".Alice goes through a period of growth and her desperate maturity is charming.That's the word of Alice Adams: Charming.Considering that I find many novels of this era to be a bit dreary, Alice Adams is a charming novel and far more enjoyable than I had anticipated.

-Joe Sherry

5-0 out of 5 stars "Ambition has no rest."
One of the great novels about failed ambition in an attempt to rise above the ordinary. Alice Adams is a dreamer who wants the things her struggling middle-class existence can't provide her, especially college and high-ranking prospects in the romance department. When the wealthy Arthur Russell comes within her sights, she fabricates a web of lies to impress him; but when he attends a family dinner at Alice's home he learns the truth about her real life and her posturing; the results are disastrous for Alice. To make matters even worse, her father is having his own humility issues involving a glue factory he owns and her brother has just stolen $300 from his employer to go gambling with. Alice loses Russell, but also her affectations, and the novel ends with her grimly entering Frincke's Business College.

This is Tarkington's best novel, and Alice is certainly his greatest fictional character. She is realistically drawn, and because she is so realistic we sympathize with her and feel every discomfort she experiences along with her. We wish we could get her to stop her pretending, but we know we can't, and sit by helplessly as she destroys all her dreams. We know her behavior is reprehensible and she gets what she deserves, but we can't help but feel sorry for her. It's an engaging novel, and can be read often without ever becoming dull.

4-0 out of 5 stars Boring But Interesting.Does That Make Sense?
The story is very boring.A middle class family has high aspirations for obtaining upper class status and this `class consciousness' controls everything they think and do.Despite their foolishness, one can't help but feel sorry for each character (with the exception of the mother) who continually finds failure and disappointment.The characters are not developed to the point that I usually enjoy, and there are quite a large number of characters.An interesting thing about the characters is, none of them are `good.'Probably the closest thing to a good character is Virgil's Boss, Mr. Lamb.But even he is a business monger, ultimately concerned with his own business.This reflection on man is insightful.In real life, are there any people without flaws?Major flaws?Even the Bible presents the heroes of the faith as people with big problems (King Solomon was a womanizer, David was a murderer, Peter was a coward, etc.).In general, people are selfish.Our motives are selfish, and our own desires drive everything we do.However, often fiction reflects one or two main characters who are flawless.In an attempt to make characters likable- reality is bypassed.This doesn't happen here in Alice Adams.

I believe this book is about expectations.The Adams' family lives in the false hope of a brighter future, all the while neglecting the life they are currently living.I feel that this is the same discontenting experience that Westerners face.Maybe this is even a reflection of the way the author wrote the book- seemingly slow, but with flashes of brilliant foreshadowing which gives hope to the reader that something more grand is on the horizon.

The story is interesting because of the absolute stupidity of this family, and the fact that it probably is a very real experience for many. The story, though slow, is written very well, and was very easy for me to read (a plus for me, I am a bit slow). It is also interesting because even though the story takes place in America- it seems a different culture.This different culture was interesting.I think the difference came in that the story is supposed to have taken place in the South (a foreign country as far as I am concerned), and it probably took place in the very early part of the 20th century.One aspect of Tarkington's writing that I appreciated was the way he foreshadowed things.Maybe I appreciated the subtle foreshadowing hints because of the drudgery of the story, but whatever the reason- I think he did an excellent job.

4-0 out of 5 stars The smell of boiling Brussels sprouts can dissolve any daydream.
The growing pangs experienced by the United States during the first couple decades of the twentieth century provided the literary fodder for a whole new school of American authors.William Dean Howells, Sherwood Anderson, Ernest Poole, Theodore Dreiser and Henry James all added their comments regarding the dissolution of traditional American values by the rise of industrialization, capital accumulation, and the strengthening of a caste system based on wealth rather than on family name.Booth Tarkington treated this subject in his The Magnificent Ambersons, but added an interesting twist: the scene of this novel was not set in the large industrial and financial cities of the East, but in a mid-sized Midwestern city as if to demonstrate the pervasiveness of this social and cultural revolution.

With this novel, Tarkington takes his demonstration one step further by writing about a middle class household in that same mid-sized Midwestern city.The Adams family, although comfortable enough, is excluded from the exclusivity shared by those families that are bound together by either name or wealth.Alice Adams is particularly chagrinned by this fact and atempts to imitate the actions and tastes of this exclusive group but can only act out daydreams in which she achieves the happiness and love that she desperately seeks.When she finally meets Arthur Russell, an elibible bachelor who belongs to that exlusive group, and futhermore, has a genuine affection for Alice, she can only fabricate lies in which she hopes to raise her own social station in his eyes.It is these pitiful, but humorous, attempts that give the novel much of its life and brilliance.

Tarkington does a fine job in developing his characters: the romantic yet incorrigible Alice; her scheming and henpecking mother, who although acting for what she sees as Alice's own betterment, brings the family to ruin; her henpecked father who falls prey to his own duplicity and fanciful ambitions; and her brother who has sense enough to see through the banality of what Alice is trying to do, only to fall victim to his own weaknesses.Although this novel won Takington his second Pulitzer Prize, it is not as well known as The Magnificent Ambersons; however, it is in every way the earlier novel's equal.His depiction of middle class society during the 1920's is judicious, balancing satire with the author's own sympathetic treatment of character.The major highlight of the novel is Tarkington's brilliant description of the dinner at which the Adams family attempts to impress Arthur Russell, a scene which makes the reader simultaneously squirm and laugh out loud.

Without giving away the ending, let it be said that the 1940s Hollywood film of the novel did Tarkington an injustice in that the filmmakers, intent on pleasing a movie audience, completely missed the point of the novel. ... Read more


27. Claire Ambler
by Booth, 1869-1946 Tarkington
 Hardcover: Pages (1928)

Asin: B000OMRJCG
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28. The Turmoil
by Booth Tarkington
Paperback: 376 Pages (2002-12-16)
list price: US$18.95 -- used & new: US$13.79
(price subject to change: see help)
Asin: 0252071131
Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars
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Book Description
A familiar midwestern novel in the tradition of Sherwood Anderson and Sinclair Lewis, The Turmoil was the best-selling novel of 1915. It is set in a small, quiet city--never named but closely resembling the author's hometown of Indianapolis--that is quickly being transformed into a bustling, money-making nest of competitors more or less overrun by "the worshippers of Bigness."

"There is a midland city in the heart of fair, open country, a dirty and wonderful city nesting dingily in the fog of its own smoke," begins The Turmoil, the first volume of Pulitzer Prize-winner Booth Tarkington's "Growth" trilogy. A narrative of loss and change, a love story, and a warning about the potential evils of materialism, the book chronicles two midwestern families trying to cope with the onset of industrialization. Tarkington believed that culture could flourish even as the country was increasingly fueled by material progress. The Turmoil, the first great success of his career, tells the intertwined stories of two families: the Sheridans, whose integrity wanes as their wealth increases, and the Vertrees, who remain noble but impoverished. Linked by the romance between a Sheridan son and a Vertrees daughter, the story of the two families provides a dramatic view of what America was like on the verge of a new order. An introduction by Lawrence R. Rodgers places the novel squarely in the social and cultural context of the Progressive Era. The book also features illustrations by C. E. Chambers.Download Description
We must Grow! We must be Big! We must be Bigger! Bigness means Money! And the thing began to happen; their longing became a mighty Will. We must be Bigger! Bigger! Bigger! Get people here! Coax them here! Bribe them! Swindle them into coming, if you must, but get them! Shout them into coming! Deafen them into coming! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

4-0 out of 5 stars Business 1, Art0 (Game still in progress)

This novel is about how the artistic soul is sacrificed on the altar of big business. Except in this case the artist willingly makes the sacrifice and has no regrets afterward. Thus, the novel can't be counted a tragedy. John Sheridan lives by one mantra: Bigger is better. He owns the Sheridan Pump Works and is determined to make it an industrial giant. He brings his two oldest sons into the business only to see them fail. His youngest son, Bibbs, is sickly and dreams of becoming a writer. But his father won't hear of it and puts him to work in the company, too. Surprisingly, Bibbs thrives in this setting and pushes the company onto ever greater levels of success. His fiancé is appalled that he would go along with his father's wishes, but Bibbs assures her he never would have made it as a writer and he made the right decision. It's a surprising development: one expects Bibbs to stand up to his father and declare his artistic endeavors more important. But I think Tarkington is being realistic here, and he is careful to develop Bibbs's character so that we can see him appreciate the usefulness his life takes on from the emptiness he'd known before because of his illness. Tarkington was not afraid to praise big business, though he also knew what to criticize about it, too (one thing he was quick to point out was how it spoiled natural beauty). If John Sheridan could declare, "Wealth! I will get wealth! I will make Wealth! I will sell Wealth for more Wealth," his son Bibbs could remark on how his father had served business blindly while he, Bibbs, believed "If man would let me [business] serve him, I should be beautiful." There is no irony intended in this, just a statement of belief. The first volume in a trilogy on industrialism, it's an interesting work.

5-0 out of 5 stars Solid Tarkington
Tarkington manages to cram an East of Eden epic into 350 pages.The story begins with the sallow and sickly Bibbs coming home from a sanitarium.He has been placed there because of his nerves.His father, known asSheridan, is the leading capitalist in the bustling Indiana town and hisother two sons are at the helm of his money making machine.Sheridandespises his son for being weak. Bibbs, is a poet and dislikes work. He is very smart and not interested in making money.He'd rather write andthink. The primary focus of the story is his rehabilitation.Hediscovers his next door neighbor, Mary, and falls in love with her (typicalTarkington romance).His father forces him into the company's"inner" works were he is forced to work at a noisy machine allday.Hedislikes what capitalism and greed has done, noting the heavysmog in the air (ashes come down like snow) and the problems of capitalism. However he grows stronger and we find him to be a very capable man.The "turmoil" is Bibbs finding a balance between working and"living."Tarkington almost comes off as a Sinclair Lewis orEllen Glasgow at times, but overall there is a LOT going on in this novel,which carries it along extremely well.I wasn't that happy with theending, as I didn't think Bibbs had found a compromise but rather anacceptance of his fate.One of the best Tarkington books I've read,though. ... Read more


29. My Amiable Uncle: Recollections About Booth Tarkington
by Susannah Mayberry
 Hardcover: 148 Pages (1984-01-01)
list price: US$32.95 -- used & new: US$32.95
(price subject to change: see help)
Asin: 0911198660
Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars
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Editorial Review

Book Description

The author of this volume draws primarily upon her own personal experiences, family lore, and letters to portray her uncle, Booth Tarkington. She tells of the pleasure it ga va him to entertain his young nephews and nieces at his tudor-style winter home and recalls vacations which she spent at his home. Author Susannah Mayberry shares with readers a treasure of fanily photographs within the pages of this volume. This book will appeal to the general reader and the scholar.
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Customer Reviews (2)

3-0 out of 5 stars Biography Out There...
I haven't received this book yet, but I'm looking forward to reading it; I love Booth Tarkington's writing and affectionate (gently barbed) humor. I just finished a slim compilation of his letters called On Plays, Playwrights, and Playgoers.

If you're a relative you may already know that there is a biography of Tarkington out there by James Woodress (who I believe also contributed to this memoir by Susanah Mayberry). The biography is Booth Tarkington: Gentleman From Indiana. Good luck!

2-0 out of 5 stars Idolatry
As a distant cousin of Booth Tarkington's, I was interested in reading a biography of the man.The book left me with the impression that Booth was idolized by his own family and treated as royalty. A niece returning from school was granted an audience with her uncle. His wife (second) was very protective of him. I am amazed he kept any sense of humility. ... Read more


30. Penrod and Sam (Library of Indiana Classics)
by Booth Tarkington
Hardcover: 356 Pages (2003-05)
list price: US$32.95 -- used & new: US$19.63
(price subject to change: see help)
Asin: 0253342287
Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars
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Editorial Review

Book Description
1916. Tarkington was one of the most popular American novelist and dramatist of his time. The Penrod series of novels deal with the daily life and trials of a boy of eleven and twelve in turn of the century Indiana. The humor is found in the petty hypocrisies of the adults and the naïveté of the children and how those two things intertwine. Penrod is not alone in his travels in this volume he is accompanied by his loyal yet aging dog Duke, his best friend Sam Williams, and two African Americans across the alley, Herman and Verman. Contents: Penrod and Sam; The Bonded Prisoner; The Militarist; Bingism; The In-Or-In; Georgie Becomes a Member; Whitey; Salvage; Reward of Merit; Conscience; The Tonic; Gipsy; Concerning Trousers; Camera Work in the Jungle; A Model Letter to a Friend; Wednesday Madness; Penrod's Busy Day; On Account of the Weather; Creative Art; The Departing Guest; Yearnings; The Horn of Fame; The Party; and The Heart of Marjorie Jones. See other titles by this author available from Kessinger Publishing.Download Description
PENROD SCHOFIELD, having been "kept-in" for the unjust period of twenty minutes after school, emerged to a deserted street. That is, the street was deserted so far as Penrod was concerned. Here and there people were to be seen upon the sidewalks, but they were adults, and they and the shade trees had about the same quality of significance in Penrod's consciousness. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

4-0 out of 5 stars More Penrod Schofield.
Not quite up to "Penrod," but still a lot of fun.The ending lacks the satisfaction of that of its predecessor--but there's no way it could match THAT.

4-0 out of 5 stars Good and Funny Book
Another collection of tales about Penrod Schofield and his playmate Sam. Together, the two of them get into more trouble than Dennis the Menace and the Little Rascals combined.

The tales contained weren't as interestingas the original Penrod however I was laughing out loud a time or two. Tarkington has the mannerisms down pat for a twelve year-old boy livingaround the WW1 area.

This book is listed as a juvenile book, however, Iwouldn't recommend it for children unless they weren't afraid ofdictionaries and some politically incorrect references toAfrican-Americans. There is also a chilling tale about Penrod and Samfinding an old gun in Sam's father's drawer and what occurred with it.Tooreal in today's world, however the result of the tale was sobering.

5-0 out of 5 stars Charming classical piece of literature from the early 1900s
A wonderful classic and a prime example of literature in the early 19th century. Booth Tarkington explores the bumptious rambles of a youth from 1913 named Penrod. Penrod does not bump through life alone however, and he is accompanied by his loyal yet aging dog duke, his best friend Sam Williams, and two African Americans across the alley, Herman and Verman. I found this book to be a charming and hillarious classic and is a must for any serious bookworm.

4-0 out of 5 stars A warm and funny picture of a boy's life in pre-WWI America.
A warm and very funny picture of small town boy's life in pre-World War One America. It's told in a series of episodes that center around the two twelve year old or so boys of the title.It's not really a boy's book, despite its reputation.Tarkington's very interested in the psychology of Penrod's family as well as in the ways that kids relate to each other -- but it's all played for laughs.Also a clear picture of the mores of small-town America at a time when homes still had carriage houses in the back -- but no carriages or horses. ... Read more


31. The World Does Move
by Booth Tarkington
 Hardcover: 294 Pages (1976-07-28)
list price: US$38.50 -- used & new: US$38.50
(price subject to change: see help)
Asin: 0837188768
Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars
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Customer Reviews (1)

4-0 out of 5 stars History from Tarkington
Tarkington has filled a book with a hodge-podge of essays and short stories on the coming of the mechanical age.The book covers the changes of people's morals and habits with the coming of electricity, cars, andother inventions.The perspective is written by someone who has livedthrough the tumultuous changes of the time.

Each story or chapterexplains exactly what impact a particular invention made upon society.Thebiggest one, according to Tarkington, is the car.The car appears to haveushered in major societal changes:people went into debt to purchase one,people's live became more rushed and hurried, speed was important, theybecame a status symbol, necking parties occurred, women cut their hair andwore short clothes so as not to be harassed by the wind.The book alsomentions the invention of the airplane, electricity, women's suffrage,prohibition, and the introduction of "sex" plays, novels, andmovies.Also, the changing of the moral guard is also writtenabout.

This book is more like a Tarkington-perspective history bookrather than awork of fiction.Also, those who wonder why the moralchanges in the youth of today and yesterday can look into this book and seethat people back at the turn of the century were raising the same questionsand were dealing with the same issues.Tarkington attempts to answer them,but I felt his answers and explanations fell short.The book was also abit of a challenge to read -- as sometimes it drifted into very deep andsubjects.Also, the chapters themselves were discontinuous and were jumpy. This is not a book for light reading (like many other Tarkington novels). ... Read more


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