The Gentleman From Indiana [Hardcover]

John (editor) / Tarkington, Booth Beecroft (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Doubleday (1957)
• ASIN: B000HM85CQ
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A beautiful book, June 30, 1999

By 

Stephen (New Haven, CT, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gentleman from Indiana (Hardcover)

This was the first novel of a great master of American literature - now, unfortunately, practically forgotten - Booth Tarkington.

While nearly all of his books that I've read have been this good, none has been better. It captures to perfection (I think :) country life of the later 1800s, and politics as it fit into it. The descriptions are beatiful but not overdone, and the plot is gripping.

Highly recommended.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fighting the good fight in rural Indiana, March 12, 2006

By 

Bomojaz (South Central PA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Gentleman From Indiana (The Works of Booth Tarkington) (Library Binding)

This is Booth Tarkington's first novel, which set the stage for many of his future novels set in Indiana involving strong, ambitious characters. John Harkless comes to the small Hoosier town of Plattville to edit the failed weekly newspaper he's bought. Finding much to be desired about the dealings within his adopted town, especially the near terrorizing of the place by a band of thugs known as the "White Caps," he wages was against them in his newspaper. They attack him physically and when Harless disappears, everyone assumes he's been killed. Helen, a woman he's come to love, takes over the newspaper, which grows in strength and popularity. Harkless, of course, was not murdered, only recovering from his wounds, and when he returns he runs for Congress and purges his town of it's evil forces.

Tarkington walks a fine line between realism (the intrigue with the White Caps) and romanticism (the love interest between Harkless and Helen), but his vivid writing style is what impresses most. Questionable is Tarkington's portrayal of Plattville's citizens as backwoods hicks, though he always defended the accuracy of his depictions. The book was a huge success when first published.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An underrated gem, May 10, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Gentleman from Indiana (Hardcover)

I had moderately high expectations for this novel and it did deliver.

Considering the time it was written (1899) "The Gentleman From Indiana" is filled with forward thinking -- diversity, condemnation of prejudice, equal rights for women. As a native Hoosier, Tarkington is clearly projecting himself through the main character, offering insight into his own passage into middle age (at the ripe old age of 30!) and uneasiness facing mortality. More subtle and slower-paced than some of his more well-know works, such as "The Magnificent Ambersons," it's definitely worth forging through. Tarkington's eloquence shines.