Story of a Country Town

The Story of a Country Town is a pioneering triumph of realistic fiction and a landmark of 19th-century American classic literature.

Edgar Watson Howe wrote it at night after a hard day's work as editor and publisher of an evening newspaper in Aitchison, Kansas. The novel represents a retreat from the nineteenth-century romantic image of rural life in the American Midwest. Set in the fictional town of Twin Mounds, the narrative serves as a sharp critique of an environment that cripples the mind and corrodes the spirit. It is marked by a sense of harsh pessimism and a feeling of lost opportunities.

Ideal for readers interested in American classic literature, small-town fiction, rural life novels, and historical fiction. The Story of a Country Town invites reflection on the realities of small-town existence and the bittersweet nature of rural community life. As a novel, it marks the moment the myth of small-town America gave way to the wasteland of broken dreams.

E. W. Howe (1853 - 1937) was an American novelist and newspaper and magazine editor, best known for his magazine, E.W. Howe's Monthly.

William Dean Howells was a realist novelist, literary critic, and playwright, nicknamed "The Dean of American Letters". He was particularly known for his tenure as editor of The Atlantic Monthly, as well as for his own prolific writings.