During a productive and varied literary career Hamlin Garland published almost fifty volumes. But his reputation rests principally on his short fiction written before 1895, and particularly on his volume of short stories Main-Travelled Roads (1891) and on his autobiographies, A Son of the Middle Border (1917) and A Daughter of the Middle Border (1921). In these volumes Garland demonstrated that it had at last become possible to deal realistically with the American farmer in literature instead of seeing him simply through the veil of literary convention. By creating new types of characters, Garland hoped not only to inform readers about the realities of western farm life but to touch the deeper feelings of the nation.

One of America's foremost local colorists, Garland graphically depicted the countryside of his native Middle West in verse, fiction, and powerful autobiographical narratives in which he memorably portrays the futility of farm life. His writings include...