SOURCE: "A Caldwell Item," in The New York Times Book Review, December 20, 1936, p. 7.

In the following review of The Sacrilege of Alan Kent, written at the time of the work's publication as a separate volume, Strauss finds it an interesting but "youthful and unsuccessful" experiment.

Erskine Caldwell has had a curious literary career, and the obscure record of his publications will tantalize and delight the collectors, for whom this handsome volume [The Sacrilege of Alan Kent] is obviously designed. His early work was privately printed, and his first short stories appeared in such out of the way and now extinct little magazines as Clay, Contact, Contempo, Folk-Say, The lion and Crown, The New English Weekly and Pagany. A collection of stories appeared under the title American Earth, and was passed by almost unnoticed. Tobacco Road first brought Caldwell to the attention of the public, although it didn't sell...