Hoosier Chronicles

by A Hoosier Chronicle

Meredith Nicholson (1866-1947) was a best-selling Indiana author, and later a politician. Three of his books were yearly national best sellers: "The House of a Thousand Candles," "The Port of Missing Men," and "A Hoosier Chronicle."

Genres: Classics, Fiction

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1912

Reviews

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars
Wow...606 pages of fiction about Indiana politics in the early 1900s!! The book is pretty brilliantly drawn and shows Dan’s career and that of his mentor, but honestly so much politics just makes me snooze. :)

[Jay C · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite an enjoyable (if sometimes almost humorously dated) read. A sprawling cast of characters I either cared about or “loved to hate” made it quite the page-turner. My only complaint is that Sylvia - oh, sorry, “Miss Garrison” - was outrageously too good to be true, but I guess this fact is also what drove the novel. This is third novel of Meredith Nicholson’s that I’ve read (and won’t be the last).

[L. · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book starts out following the life of Sylvia Garrison, an orphan being raised by her grandfather. There's a secret in Sylvia's past, a secret being kept from her. But just as I was getting interested in her story, after only a few chapters, Sylvia is seemingly tossed out with the bathwater. The book shifts focus to another character, Dan Harwood, and his involvement with Indiana state politics. A huge chunk of the novel is devoted to nothing but these politics. (Ergo I skimmed through a huge chunk of the novel.) It isn't until nearly the very end that we return to Sylvia and her mystery.

There's not much to say about the characters. I can't say much of anything about Sylvia as she's AWOL for most of the story. Dan Harwood is your typical early 1900's hero: handsome, strong, moral, a man's man and an American man at that. He does have trouble understanding WomanSpeak. When a woman says something like, "I don't want to get married right now. I want to concentrate on my career," Dan is completely baffled.

Sally Owen had potential. She was an Independent Widow Woman who was able to carve out a place for herself in a man's world. Too bad she was a bigot. Rose Farrell was more down to earth, more real. I would have liked to have known more about her story as well. Too bad she was a very minor character.

[Joan · Rating 5 out of 5]

The sensibilities expressed in this novel are a hoot to read. It's very dated and spreads a golden glow over Indiana. For example, "A woman would have seen at once that this was a man's work; it was all a little too regular, suggesting engineering methods rather than polite gardening." after this quote I expected more of the "little woman" attitude but education for women was strongly advocated and this was before we got the vote.(I think)
Next we have the idealist's belief in his fellow citizens expressed, "We've kept bosses out of this state pretty well," Professor Kelton was saying, "but I can see one or two gentlemen on both sides of the fence trying to play that game. I don't believe the people of Indiana will submit to it. The bosses need big cities to prey on and we aren't big enough for them to work in and hide in. We all live in the open and we're mostly seasoned American stock who won't be driven like a lot of foreign cattle. This city isn't a country town any longer, but it's still American. I don't know of any boss here."
Then the hook is cast baited with fine sentiment, "Bless you, my dear boy; it's not the saloons we try to protect; it's the plain people, who are entitled to the widest and broadest liberty. If you screw the lid down on people too tight you'll smother 'em. I'm not a drinkin' man; I go to church and in my newspaper I preach the felicities of sobriety and domestic peace. But it's not for me to dictate to my brother what he shall eat or wear.
Then the bait is swallowed, "He saw his life in sharp fulgurations; the farm (cleared of debt through Bassett's generosity, to be sure!) where his father and brothers struggled to wrest a livelihood from reluctant soil, and their pride and hope in him; he saw his teachers at college, men who had pointed the way to useful and honorable lives; and more than all, Sumner rose before him—Sumner who had impressed him more than any other man he had ever known. Sumner's clean-cut visage was etched grimly in his consciousness; verily Sumner would not have dallied with a man of Bassett's ilk. He had believed when he left college that Sumner's teaching and example would be a buckler and shield to him all the days of his life; and here he was, faltering before a man to whom the great teacher would have given scarce a moment's contemptuous thought. He could even hear the professor's voice as he ironically pronounced upon sordid little despots of Bassett's stamp".
I enjoyed this book. The author clearly loved his state. It was a fun plot with plenty of who, what, why and where in it and had a very satisfactory happy ending unlike Henry Adams' DEMOCRACY: an american novel where the villain remains vile.

[Tabitha Ormiston-Smith · Rating 2 out of 5]

rather tedious and not nearly as good as some of his other work