Aide to Glory, by Louis Devon. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company. [1952.] 246p.

The life of John Aaron Rawlins, aide-de-camp to General Ulysses S. Grant during the Civil War, and appointed Secretary of War at the beginning of the Grant administration, supplies the background for this biographical novel. Born and reared near Galena, Illinois, Rawlins is a prosperous, hard-working lawyer with strong political opinions and varied governmental interests when he and Grant meet in Galena prior to the Civil War. At the outset of war, Grant returns to active duty in the Union Army and asks Rawlins to serve him as aide. Rawlins agrees, and serves Grant faithfully during the war years and throughout the presidential campaign, and could have helped him weather the difficult years of the presidency had it not been for his untimely death in 1869. Aide to Glory covers Rawlins' life from early adolescence until his death at age thirty-nine. Although the major emphasis of the novel is on the Grant-Rawlins relationship from 1859 to 1869, several chapters are devoted to Rawlins' early life in and around Galena, and frequent references and flashbacks during the years of war reflect the influence of the Illinois backgrounds of the two men.

Book Review Digest, 1952, p. 248.

The Chariot of Fire; An American Novel, by Bernard DeVoto. Author of "The Crooked Mile." New York: The Macmillan Company, 1926. 356p.

De Voto draws an incredibly ugly picture of the beginnings of an evangelistic, revivalist sect, adds an ounce of romance and a pound of melodrama, and ends up with a bitter indictment of hysteria in religion on the Illinois prairies in the 1820s.

Book Review Digest, 1926, p. 187-8.

The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit, by Charles Dickens. With Illustrations by Phiz, [pseud.] London: Chapman and Hall; 186, Strand, MDCCCXLIV. 624p.

One of Charles Dickens least successful novels, Martin Chuzzlewit is a satire set largely in Great Britain around 1840. However, several episodes, based on Dickens' unsuccessful tour of America prior to writing the novel, are judged by critics to be by far the cleverest of his career. Young Martin Chuzzlewit, disowned by his father, ill-treated by his employer, and suffering gravely from misdirected love, decides to embark on a voyage to the United States to seek his fortune. One of his importunate adventures while in America takes young Martin into the Illinois swamps in search of a tract of land he has purchased from an unscrupulous land speculator. These passages, containing some of the most brilliant caricature and inspired satire in the English language, are the salvation of an otherwise mediocre tale.

Monthly Review, 9/1844, p. 137, 146. National Review (London), 7/1844, p. 134-50.

The American, by Louis Dodge. New York: Julian Messner, Inc., Publishers, [1934.] 634p.

From his youth, Leander Calvert is beset with periodic recurrences of wanderlust which cause him to desert the comforts of his home for the uncertainty of the road in 1850. Leander is middle-aged, married, the father of four teen-aged children, and owner of a fertile prairie farm near Hebron, Illinois. But Leander is discontent. Three years of drought, a destructive tornado during the growing season of the fourth year, and reports of fabulous riches to be had in California arouse the old urges in him. When his youngest son Jesse runs away from home, Leander decides to follow. Leaving wife, daughter, and one son at home, Leander heads for the gold fields of California with two unlikely neighbors, two local ruffians, and his eldest son Eli. The American is the story of Leander's adventures on the road, the progress of the family left in Illinois, and their readjustment to life together after Leander's return three years later. Based on the unpublished writings of one of Hebron's early settlers, this is a fictionalized account of the life of an actual family. In a forthright, picturesque style it represents the stories of many early settlers with little attention to embellishments and artistry, but a bold, dramatic story line which devotees of the historical novel will find hard to resist.

Book Review Digest, 1934, p. 259-60.

The Mormon Prophet, by Lily Dougall. Author of The Mermaid, The Zeitgeist, The Madonna of a Day, Beggars All, Etc. New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1899. 427p.

The Mormon Prophet focuses on the life of Susannah Croome who becomes the wife of Angel Halsey, a devotee of Joseph Smith. A young and impressionable girl, Susannah is fascinated by the rumors circulating in the neighborhood about her neighbor Joseph Smith, and decides to find out more about him. Fascination quickly leads to involvement, and Susannah casts her lot with the new religious sect after meeting and falling in love with Angel Halsey. Susannah is never really converted to Mormonism, and she soon becomes disillusioned with her husband, but she remains with the Mormons for duty's sake, until the group has moved from New York State into Ohio, then to Missouri and Illinois. The Mormon Prophet is a basically accurate, somewhat biased recounting of the Mormon movement, stopping short of the final trek to Utah where the church is based today.

Literary World, 4/29/1899, p. 141. N. Y. Times Book Review, 4/29/1899, p. 277. N. Y. Times Book Review, 9/23/1899, p. 636.

Wolf Point; An Adventure In History, [by] Leonard Dubkin. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, [1953.] 184p.

See No. 24.

The Conquest; The True Story of Lewis and Clark, by Eva Emery Dye. Author of "McLoughlin and Old Oregon." Chicago: A. C. McClurg & Company, 1902. 443p.

See No. 25.

The Graysons; A Story of Illinois, by Edward Eggleston. Author of "The Hoosier Schoolmaster, '' "Roxy," "The Circuit Rider," Etc., Etc. With Illustrations by Allegra Eggleston. New York: The Century Co., [1887.] 362p.

Young Abraham Lincoln consults his almanac to determine the time of the moon's rising and thereby proves the key witness to be a liar and the accused man to be innocent in the legendary courtroom scene around which this romantic novel is constructed. Embellished with traditional dialect, the story concerns Tom Grayson, accused of murdering an acquaintance because of ill feelings resulting from a gambling episode and rivalry for the affections of a local beauty. Tom's sister and a school teacher add a whimsical touch of romance. Lincoln's role is short but heroic as the rural folk gather to watch the trial and find a young unknown lawyer who has apparently taken a hopeless case.

Athenaeum, 1/12/1889, p. 48-9. Atlantic, 2/1889, p. 274-80. Critic, 11/10/1888, p. 231. Dial, 11/1888, p. 161-2. Epoch, 10/19/1888, p. 193-4. Literary World, 11/10/1888, p. 388. Nation, 2/14/1889, p. 142.

Running the River; A Story of Adventure and Success, by George Cary Eggleston. Author of "Camp Venture," "The Last of the Flat Boats," ''The Bale Marked Circle X," "Dorothy South," etc. Illustrated. New York: A. S. Barnes & Company, 1904. 295p.

Theodore, Allan, and Edgar Faraday are on their father's riverboat, the Highflyer, returning home from school, when a freak accident at the confluence of the Cumberland and Ohio Rivers demolishes the Highflyer and her sister ship, the Morning Star. The wreck and their father's injuries bring the family to the brink of financial disaster, but the boys rise to the occasion. Selling their household furnishings and combining the proceeds with their sister's savings account, the boys accumulate enough capital to build a small store-boat, stock it with general merchandise, and begin commerce at the landings along the Illinois River. This is a successful venture until disaster strikes again. Yet, the boys persevere and through their own efforts and the help of interested friends, are able to rebuild the two ships in the Faraday fleet and return to the shipping business that their father had begun. The heroes in Running the River are a bit too perfect and the villains much too evil to be believable, but the author's familiarity with the Mississippi River and its tributaries enables him to write a credible account of riverboating in the 1850s.

Atlantic, 6/1904, p. 852. N. Y. Times Book Review, 4/9/1904, p. 253.

With a Task Before Me; Abraham Lincoln Leaves Springfield, by Virginia S. Eifert. Illustrated by Manning de V. Lee. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1958. 218p.

The last of four books by Virginia S. Eifert concerning the life of Abraham Lincoln prior to his election to the presidency, With a Task Before Me begins in 1832 when Lincoln is a captain in the volunteer army sent to remove Black Hawk and his followers to a reservation in Iowa. From that point, the book follows Lincoln's business, legal, and political activities as he rises to state, then national prominence. A revised edition containing three new chapters was published by Dodd, Mead in 1966.

Book Review Digest, 1958, p. 331.

They Sought for Paradise, by Stuart David Engstrand. New York and London: Harper & Brothers, Publishers. 1939. 272p.

The dramatic story of the founding of Bishop Hill is told in this powerful novel of pioneer Illinois in the 1840s. The factual basis of the Swedish immigration and settlement is closely adhered to, although the two main characters, Nils Nilsson and his betrothed, Helga, are fictional. In Sweden, Helga becomes a follower of the strange cult leader, Eric Jansson, but Nils refuses to accept the new religion. But when Jansson and a small band of women, including Helga, flee to America to build a New Jerusalem in Illinois, Nils is determined to accompany Helga in order to protect her from the unscrupulous Jansson. Little does Nils anticipate the adventure, the good fortune, and the tragic misfortunes he will encounter before Jansson is finally dead and Helga is freed from his spell.

Book Review Digest, 1939, p. 292.

The Bright Land, by Janet Ayer Fairbank...Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Company; The Riverside Press Cambridge, [1932,] 525p.

For the first twenty years of her life, Abby-Delight Flagg accepts unquestioningly the little tyrannies of her New England bred father. Yet, she rebels as readily as she accepts when her cause seems just, and when locked into her room to prevent her seeing Stephen Blanchard, she defiantly frees herself and elopes with the man. Fortune smiles on Abby-Delight as she and Stephen build a life together in the river town of Galena, Illinois. The routine problems of daily life--marital adjustment, finances, child rearing--are interrupted momentarily by the urgency of war as north and south take up arms against one another; but peace eventually returns, and life goes on. The Bright Land is a pleasant, unpretentious novel containing a wealth of historic and social detail, including some vivid impressions of Ulysses S. Grant, whose home was Galena prior to the war. Spanning a number of years, from the late 1830s to the post-Civil War era, The Bright Land evokes a sense of perspective which is as valuable as it is rare.

Book Review Digest, 1932, p. 312-3.

Children of God; An American Epic, [by] Vardis Fisher. New York and London: Harper & Brothers, Publishers. [1939.] 769p.

A novel approaching epic proportions,Children of God relates the history of the Mormon Church from its inception with the controversial modern prophet Joseph Smith in Palmyra, New York, during the 1820s, to a time several years after the Civil War, when the Mormon believers, settled in Utah and weary of nearly fifty years of persecution, at last consent to abide by the laws of the United States and live together in harmony with settlers of other faiths. Fisher's sympathetic attitude toward the church and its followers sheds a new and different light on the troubles experienced by the Mormons in New York, Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois, explaining and minimizing the eccentricities which led to the death of Joseph Smith and the final move to Utah under the leadership of Brigham Young. No novel has been written on the history of Mormonism which surpassesChildren of God for depth, authenticity, thoroughness, and truth. It is the author's major contribution to American literature, displaying a genius seldom achieved by historical novelists.

Book Review Digest, 1939, p 327-8.

Female Robinson Crusoe; A Tale of the American Wilderness...New York: Printed by Jared W. Bell; No. 17 Ann Street, 1837. 286p.

Female Robinson Crusoe is only one of a vast number of novels built on the Robinson Crusoe theme, all of which emulate, but none of which approaches the quality of the original. This anonymous rendition, which is set in extreme southern Illinois around 1820, concerns Lucy Ford, who is lost in the forest at age nine and lives the lonesome life of a hermit for approximately ten years before she is rescued. During that interval she exists on berries, eggs, and such wild life as she can capture and kill; she constructs her own primitive shelter from sticks and underbrush; she discovers and maintains that most precious of possessions, fire; and she even begins to cultivate and harvest provisions to sustain her during the winter months. Shortly after Lucy loses her way and resigns herself to her lot, Tommy Williams, a friend who has suffered a similar fate, wanders into Lucy's camp and becomes, in effect, Lucy's man Friday, until he is carried away by Indians some years later. From that time on, Lucy encounters no one until Tommy eventually escapes his captors, arranges her rescue, and ultimately becomes her husband. Female Robinson Crusoe is vague, unbelievable and reeks of sentimentality, but is a good example of early Midwestern literature, probably penned by an author who never set foot west of the Alleghenies. Four short stories also appear in the volume.

CONTENTS: Female Robinson Crusoe.--Indian Legends.--Imlac and Clara.--The Missed Ship.--The Drunken Wife.

With the Church in an Early Day, by Frances, [pseud.] Published at Lamoni Decatur Co., Iowa: [n. p.] 1891. 391p.

A pro-Mormon account of the persecutions and travels of the early followers of Joseph Smith, With the Church in an Early Day delineates the hardships suffered by the Clark family of western New York State and their fellow Latter Day Saints from 1831 to shortly after the death of Joseph Smith in Carthage, Illinois, in 1844. The basis for this novel is emotion rather than fact, although the plot adheres faithfully to the details concerning early Mormon growth and movement. Its major value lies in the promotion of a greater understanding of the faith that compelled hundreds of thousands to abandon home and religion for an uncertain future in a hostile environment.

Hannah Herself, by Ruth Franchere. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company [1964.] 176p.

Shy, feminine, pampered, and terribly over-sensitive, teen-aged Hannah Fairfield begins to mature emotionally during a visit with her elder sister on the Illinois frontier. Assuming an attitude of martyrdom over the discomforts of her trip from Connecticut, the inconveniences of life on the prairie, and the casual attitude of the town's people toward ladies, Hannah cultivates her adolescent insecurity until a crisis in her brother-in-law's life brings her to realize the pettiness of her difficulties when compared with the problems of others. Mrs. Franchere deals knowledgeably with the topics of education on the frontier and the underground railroad in Illinois during pre-Civil War years.

Book Review Digest, 1964, p. 416.

The Travels of Colin O'Dae, by Ruth Franchere. Illustrated by Lorence Bjorklund. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, [1966.] 261p.

In 1836, Patrick O'Dae is employed as a laborer in the building of the Illinois and Michigan Canal, and his son Colin reluctantly joins him in his occupation. On impulse, Colin follows a troupe of traveling minstrels out of Chicago one day and is invited to join them, thus launching an entirely new life for himself. He readily adapts to the rigorous life of the traveling entertainer, struggles to overcome stage fright, and learns by trial and error to maneuver the cumbersome showboat that the troupe eventually obtains. A charming book filled with rollicking good humor, The Travels of Colin O'Dae is an enchanting narrative of life on the stage in the wilds of the Illinois River country during the 1830s and 1840s.

Book Review Digest, 1967, p. 449.

The Devil's Rainbow, [by] J. C. Furnas. New York: Harper & Brothers, [1962.] 341p.

The life of Joseph Smith is viewed through the eyes of youthful Joe Pomeroy, who joins the Mormons in Ohio and travels with them to Nauvoo, Illinois, living with Smith and his wife Emma until Smith's assassination in 1844. The author adheres closely to fact in his presentation of the Mormon movement, but analyzes characters and situations differently than most writers who have chosen this interesting, but over-worked segment of American history for fictionalization. Building on a theory that Bernard DeVoto also propounds in an essay in Forays and Rebuttals, Furnas interprets Joseph Smith as a paranoiac bent on his own destruction. He tells the story in a backwoods dialect, with an abundance of humor which belies the seriousness of the subject.

Book Review Digest, 1962, p. 423-4.

Emma Smith, The Elect Lady, a novel based on her life, by Margaret Wilson Gibson. Independence, Missouri: Herald House, 1958. 322p.

A fictionalized biography of the wife of Joseph Smith, founder and prophet of the Mormon Church, this novel is based largely on church history and records of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Employing more in the way of zeal than literary ability, the author shows Emma to be a devoted and capable wife and mother, and presents a strenuous case attesting to Joseph Smith's innocence in regard to the question of polygamy in the early church.

Land Poor; A Chicago Parable, by Snivig C. Trebor, [pseud.] Chicago: [The Franklin Printing Company,] 1884. 117p.

Barnabee Smith and family move to the new state of Illinois and stake a claim on the DuPage River near Naperville, dreaming of one day being wealthy. Unaccustomed to farming, having formerly been a school teacher, Barnabee struggles with the land, learning by trial and error to force a living from the soil. Therefore, he is an easy mark when an unscrupulous land agent offers to trade a worthless section of land near Chicago for Barnabee's fertile DuPage River Valley farm. After several years of bare existence, drudgery, and threatened foreclosure the Smiths' dream is finally realized when a corporation pays them $2,000,000 for their worthless farm in order to build a factory. Land Poor is a simple, somewhat contrived story with a long discourse on the pros and cons of Communism coming in the midst of the action, but paving the way for the conclusion that "...the basis of all security is LAND." When written about, the novel appears dull and uninteresting. Not so at all! For the author applies a testy wit and a vigorous style to the otherwise ordinary plot, and the result is a classic exercise in camp that a reviewer can never hope to duplicate nor adequately describe.

The Country Jake; or, Recollections of a City Boy who ''Lived, Moved and Had His Being'' with the Suckers in the Backwoods of Illinois in the '40s, by Oliver Woodruff Gogin. Montreal, New York [and] London: Broadway Publishing Company, [1903.] 129p.

A city boy, who one suspects represents the author himself, migrates into the Wabash River area of Illinois during the 1840s, and begins the process of adjusting to the primitive life of the frontier. Unaccustomed to backwoods life, he learns by trial and error how to deal with horses that won't "pack double," how to repay a neighbor for a kindly deed, and how to tell a calf from a deer when hunting in the woods. The city boy discovers a good friend and advisor in Jake Scroggins, the country Jake, who helps him avoid, but is sometimes a party to, his misadventures. Relying on his recollections of Illinois in an earlier day, Gogin describes the house raisings, fishing trips, corn shuckings, apple cuttings, and the quilting bees which were a part of early frontier life. He gives detailed accounts of frontier schools and primitive justice. He compares the various attributes of the early Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, and Campbellites. He describes the day-to-day existence of the settler. The Country Jake is perceptive and entertaining fiction, leaning heavily toward the style of the personal narrative or memoir, giving it an air of authenticity which many early novels lack.

Struck a Lead; An Historical Tale of the Upper Lead Region, by James M. Goodhue Founder of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. Chicago: Joseph Cover, Jr., Publisher; Jameson & Morse, 162-164 Clark Street, 1883. 115p.

Telling the story of lead mining as it actually existed in southwestern Wisconsin and northwestern Illinois during the 1840s James Goodhue combines an abundance of information with a rollicking story, adds a dash of love, then seasons it all with liberal amounts of wry humor to create a delightful novel based on fact, but freely interpreted. James White's appearance in Galena shortly after the War with Mexico marks the beginning of Struck a Lead and enables the author to discourse freely on the processes of staking a claim, mining a lode, grafting a dry hole for the purpose of selling it to a sucker, and jumping a claim, as White goes about the business of obtaining, working, and disposing of the Little Blue Rabbit Diggings across the border in Wisconsin. His love for Mary Leech, a lawsuit brought by Mack Black, the ensuing trial before Judge Gosling in which the weather is the deciding factor, and the fate of the villains give the story characteristics familiar to the romance, the tall tale, the history, and the religious tract. It is informative; it is entertaining; it is a gem!

A Man Should Rejoice, by Virginia Gordon. Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, [1943.] 360p.

John and Delia Vinton, with Michael Cavanaugh, settle on the eastern bank of the Mississippi River in 1830, and begin the arduous task of carving a homestead out of the Illinois wilderness. The daily life of the early settler is depicted vividly as the three persevere against harsh weather, hostile Indians, uncertain harvests, and multitudes of other hardships, always looking to the future for the courage to endure the present. Taking place during the years of the Black Hawk Rebellion, A Man Should Rejoice presents the incidents leading to the Indian uprising from the point of view of the weary, often frightened, but doggedly determined settler.

Book Review Digest, 1944, p. 289.