Erskine Caldwell 's more than fifty volumes of fiction and nonfiction represent a major contribution to twentieth-century American letters, and they have probably had as powerful an effect on American life as the works of Hemingway or Fitzgerald. Caldwell has, at various times, been highly regarded critically, as well as one of the world's most widely read authors, and while both his critical reputation and his popularity have suffered during the past two decades, a Caldwell revival seems imminent.

Caldwell was born in Moreland, Georgia. His father, the Reverend Ira S. Caldwell, was a pastor for the Associate Reformed Presbyterian church, a small, independent Protestant sect with a long tradition of outspokenness among its ministers. His mother, Caroline Preston Bell of Staunton, Virginia, was a teacher at the Women's College of Erskine College when she met Ira Caldwell, and she continued to teach, both at home and in...