Booth Tarkington

Penrod and Sam Booth Tarkington

Newton Booth Tarkington (1869-1946) was an American novelist and dramatist best known for his Pulitzer Prize-winning novels The Magnificent Ambersons and Alice Adams. Booth Tarkington was born in Indianapolis. He first attended Purdue University but graduated from Princeton University in 1893. While at Princeton he was the editor of the Nassau Literary Magazine and formed the Princeton Triangle Club. He was also voted the most popular man in his class. He was one of the most popular American novelists of his time, with The Two Vanrevels and Mary's Neck appearing on the annual best-seller lists nine times. Tarkington's best known work today is The Magnificent Ambersons, which traced the growth of the United States through the decline of the oncepowerful and aristocratic Amberson family dynasty, contrasted against the rise of industrial tycoons and "new money" families in the economic boom years after the Civil War leading up to World War I. Amongst his other works are The Man From Home (1908), The Flirt (1913), Penrod (1914), Harlequin and Columbine (1918), The Gibson Upright (1919), In the Arena (1920) and Gentle Julia (1922).