The Growth Trilogy Books

A familiar midwestern novel in the tradition of Sherwood Anderson and Sinclair Lewis, "The Turmoil" was the best-selling novel of 1915. It is set in a small, quiet city - never named but closely resembling the author's hometown of Indianapolis - that is quickly being transformed into a bustling, money-making nest of competitors more or less overrun by 'the worshippers of Bigness'. 'There is a midland city in the heart of fair, open country, a dirty and wonderful city nesting dingily in the fog of its own smoke', begins "The Turmoil", the first volume of Pulitzer Prize-winner Booth Tarkington's "Growth" trilogy. A narrative of loss and change, a love story, and a warning about the potential evils of materialism, the book chronicles two midwestern families trying to cope with the onset of industrialization. Tarkington believed that culture could flourish even as the country was increasingly fueled by material progress. "The Turmoil", the first great success of his career, tells the intertwined stories of two families: the Sheridans, whose integrity wanes as their wealth increases, and the Vertrees, who remain noble but impoverished. Linked by the romance between a Sheridan son and a Vertrees daughter, the story of the two families provides a dramatic view of what America was like on the verge of a new order. An introduction by Lawrence R. Rodgers places the novel squarely in the social and cultural context of the Progressive Era. The book also features illustrations by C. E. Chambers.

The second book in Booth Tarkington’s “Growth” trilogy, “The Magnificent Ambersons”, is considered by many to be his greatest novel. The novel depicts Mid-Western life from the post-Civil War era to the early twentieth century. First published in 1918, and awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1919, this novel follows, through three generations, the decline of the Ambersons, an aristocratic family of the upper-class society of Indianapolis. Following the American Civil war, the second industrial revolution gives rise to a new group of wealthy individuals whose fortunes and political prominence begin to displace that of the aristocratic families of the past. “The Magnificent Ambersons” explores this phenomenon of late 19th century and early 20th century American life by tracing the fall in wealth and social prominence of one fictional family who find themselves displaced by the rise of industrial tycoons and land developers in a new and emerging urban landscape. By following the changes in the social and economic circumstances of the Ambersons, Tarkington gives readers a realistic glimpse into a time of great social and economic upheaval in the United States. This edition is printed on premium acid-free paper.

In The Midlander, Booth Tarkington creates a set of distinctive characters whose behavior weaves a plot that feels inevitable. Despite the novel’s complexity, Tarkington’s lean prose here makes The Midlander both entertaining and rewarding reading. Tarkington published the first edition of The Midlander in 1924, wrapping up a set of three novels which he brought out in a single volume under the name Growth in 1927.