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Harold Bell Wright: Storyteller to America (Great West and Indian Series)

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Harold Bell Wright was one of the favorite authors of President Ronald Reagan. In fact, Reagan credited Wright's first book for convincing him to be baptized. But more than that, Harold Bell was one of the most popular American Authors of the early 20th Century. From 1903 to 1942, Wright authored 19 novels that yielded 15 movies. From 1911 to 1923, six of his books made top ten best seller lists. His first seven novels had a combined sales exceeding seven million, a world's record at the time. He was far more popular than his contemparies Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and H.L. Menken. But the latter three live on, while today hardly anybody has heard of Harold Bell Wright. Why has he disappeared from the literary scene? Why was he the most ridiculed writer of his generation even though his books appeared in more homes than any other save the Bible? That's the mystery biographer Lawrence V. Tagg tries to answer in this book as he sketches Wright's life, a life that began in such poverty and desperation that Wright's health was adversely affected throughout adulthood. In the '20s, according to Tagg, if a child went into a library requesting a Wright book, the librarian would try to talk him into something else. Even with his immense popularity, it is almost impossible to find a Wright book in today's libraries. Most are confined to garage sales and flea markets. Could the answer lie in the fact that Wright, a preacher, used his books as a pulpit as he pushed his agenda for "practical" Christianity and non-denominational religion? Tagg lays out a case for this and other theories. It's a well-researched, interesting read about a literary giant who is all but forgotten. If nothing else, the book will make you want to search out Wright books and give them a try.