Poor White [Paperback]

Sherwood Anderson (Author), 1stWorld Library (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 15, 2005

Purchase one of 1st World Library's Classic Books and help support our free internet library of downloadable eBooks. Visit us online at www.1stWorldLibrary.ORG - - Hugh McVey was born in a little hole of a town stuck on a mud bank on the western shore of the Mississippi River in the State of Missouri. It was a miserable place in which to be born. With the exception of a narrow strip of black mud along the river, the land for ten miles back from the town - called in derision by river men "Mudcat Landing" - was almost entirely worthless and unproductive. The soil, yellow, shallow and stony, was tilled, in Hugh's time, by a race of long gaunt men who seemed as exhausted and no-account as the land on which they lived. They were chronically dis-couraged, and the merchants and artisans of the town were in the same state. The merchants, who ran their stores - poor tumble-down ramshackle affairs - on the credit system, could not get pay for the goods they handed out over their counters and the artisans, the shoemakers, carpenters and harnessmakers, could not get pay for the work they did. Only the town's two saloons prospered. The saloon keepers sold their wares for cash and, as the men of the town and the farmers who drove into town felt that without drink life was unbearable, cash always could be found for the purpose of getting drunk.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Anderson's story of inventor Hugh McVey, which he originally published in 1920, the year after Winesburg, Ohio , is considered by many to be his finest novel.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 364 pages
• Publisher: 1st World Library - Literary Society (October 15, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1421815974
• ISBN-13: 978-1421815978
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,210,342 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent tale of America's transition to industrialism!, September 11, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Poor White (Revived Modern Classic) (Paperback)

If you thought that Winesburg Ohio was good, then you'll absolutely love Poor White. It has a similar feel as Winesburg, except this story revolves around two main characters, Hugh McVey and Clara Butterworth. Poor White tells of how the spread of industrialism affected the agrarian towns of the Midwest.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An important document of America's changing landscape., June 14, 1999

By 

Duane Simolke "author, The Acorn Stories, Deg... (Lubbock, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Poor White (Revived Modern Classic) (Paperback)

Sherwood Anderson captures America's change from agrarian to industrial, with insightful and poetic writing. This is a perfect companion to Anderson's best-known work (Winesburg, Ohio) as well as to the many non-fiction books on the same topic (The Machine in the Garden, etc.).

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars no title, November 15, 2005

By 

C. L Wilson (Elmhurst, Illinois United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Poor White (Revived Modern Classic) (Paperback)

" The machines men are so intent on making have carried them very far from the old sweet things."
This quote from the book sums up its core philosophy very nicely. Surely this is Anderson's best book, also depressing, but not as much as "Winesburg, Ohio", and quite sweet in its depiction of a life now lost. Anderson must have deeply loved the country and its farms to have described it so wondrously. And his skill in depicting even the most minute of characters is quite remarkable. This ability to draw out of the smallest things such vivid detail, is really outstanding. I liked this book very much and would almost wish to return to those "old sweet things". He really abhored the machine age and, as in "Winesburg", all his people, especially Clara and Hugh, are abysmal at trying to connect with their fellow human beings. Created with a lot of suspense.