Between the Covers

One of the most popular late 19th-century American authors and perhaps the most socially influential American writer of his generation... with the publication and sensational success of Ragged Dick (1868), the story of a poor shoeshine boy who rises to wealth, Alger found the vein in which he was to write more than 100 volumes. In a steady succession of books that are almost alike except for the names of their characters, he preached that by honesty, cheerful perseverance, and hard work, the poor but virtuous lad would have his just reward - though the reward was almost always precipitated by a stroke of good luck. - Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literaturemore