Hamlin Garland wrote over forty books, two of which remain important today. One of these is Main-Travelled Roads (1891), realistic short stories about midwestern farmers, while the other is Garland's autobiography, A Son of the Middle Border (1917), a definitive portrait of American character. Both books are respected more for their historical value than for their literary merit. Because much of his work was mediocre and has faded in interest, Garland is recognized, not as an artist, but rather as a representative mind and career.

Garland's writing divides quite clearly into three periods. Until 1895 (when he was thirty-five), he wrote reform journalism and realistic fiction set in the recently settled areas of the Middle West, and it is for this early work that he has always been most admired. From about 1896 to 1916 he wrote popular romantic novels set in the Rocky Mountains. And from 1917 (when he was fifty-seven) to his...