SOURCE: “The Presence of the Past in the Heartland: Raintree County Revisited,” in MidAmerica IV, Vol. 4, 1977, pp. 112-21.

In the following essay, Jones examines the significance of Lockridge's re-creation of a historical period in Raintree County.

Much care is taken to recreate the artifacts, tenor, and style of life in nineteenth century Indiana. These “antiquities” are evoked with deep feeling for that fading fabric of life. They delight, and are their own reason for being. And yet, for Lockridge this is hardly enough. He is bent on discovering the principles of American development, the foundation of American character.

(Gerald Nemanic, MidAmerica II, 1975)

In 1898, Harold Frederic chastized many of his fellow writers by stating that he had once felt a measure of respect for historical fiction, “in the days before the historical novel was a money-making business, and when an author expended all his learning and skill and strength...