Hamlin Garland
Hamlin Hannibal Garland (born
September 14,
1860 in
West Salem, Wisconsin; died
March 4,
1940 in
Hollywood, California) was an
American novelist,
poet,
essayist, and
short-story writer. He is best known for his
fiction involving hard-working
Midwestern farmers.
Born into a
Wisconsin farm family, he lived on various Midwestern farms throughout his young life, but he settled in
Boston, Massachusetts, in
1884, to pursue a career in writing. His first success came in
1891 with
Main-Traveled Roads, a collection of short stories inspired by his days on the farm. He serialized a
biography of
Ulysses S. Grant in
McClure's Magazine before publishing it as a book in
1898). In 1898 Garland travelled to the Yukon to witness the
Klondike Gold Rush, which inspired him to write
The Trail of the Gold Seekers in
1899.
A prolific writer, Garland continued to publish novels, short story collections, essays, and short fiction for numerous publications. In
1917, Garland published his
autobiography based on his own life and his family, as well as the American Midwest, titled
A Son of the Middle Border. The book's success prompted a sequel,
A Daughter of the Middle Border, for which Garland won the
1922 Pulitzer Prize for biography. After two more volumes, Garland began a second series of
memoirs based on his
diary.
Hamlin Garland died at age seventy-nine, after moving to
Hollywood, California, where he devoted his remaining years to investigating
psychic phenomenon, an enthusiasm he first undertook in 1891. He was buried in Neshonoc Cemetery in West Salem, Wisconsin. In his is final book,
1939's
The Mystery of the Buried Crosses, he tried to defend such phenomenon and prove the legitimacy of psychic mediums.
Middle Border Series
A Son of the Middle Border (1917)
A Daughter of the Middle Border (1921)
Trail-Makers of the Middle Border (1926)
Back-Trailers from the Middle Border (1928)
Memoir Series
Roadside Meetings (1930)
Companions on the Trail (1931)
My Friendly Contemporaries (1932)
Afternoon Neighbors (1934)
Other works
Under the Wheel (1890)
Main-Travelled Roads (1891)
Jason Edwards (1892)
A Member of the Third House (1892)
A Little Norsk (1892)
A Spoil of Office (1892)
Prairie Folks (1893)
Prairie Songs (1893)
Crumbling Idols (1894)
Rose of Dutcher's Coolly (1895)
Wayside Courtships (1897)
The Spirit of Sweetwater (1898)
Ulysses S. Grant: His Life and Character (1898)
Boy Life on the Prairie (1899)
The Trail of the Gold Seekers (1899)
The Eagle's Heart (1900)
Her Mountain Lover (1901)
The Captain of the Gray-Horse Troop (1902)
Hesper (1903)
The Light of the Star (1904)
The Tyranny of the Dark (1905)
Witch's Gold (1906)
The Long Trail (1907)
Money Magic (1907)
The Shadow World (1908)
The Moccasin Ranch (1909)
Cavanagh, Forest Ranger (1910)
Other Main-Travelled Roads (1910)
Victor Ollnee's Discipline (1911)
The Forester's Daughter (1914)
They of the High Trails (1916)
A Pioneer Mother (1922)
The Book of the American Indian (1923)
The Westward March of American Settlement (1927)
Prairie Song and Western Story (1928)
Iowa, O Iowa (1935)
Joys of the Trail (1935)
Forty Years of Psychic Research (1936)
The Mystery of the Buried Crosses (1939)
*
The Hamlin Garland Society*
Free ebook of Hamlin Garland at
Project Gutenberg
