Horatio Alger, Jr. was the author of over one hundred
books that inspired young people from the post-Civil War era through
end of the nineteenth century. His novels of courage, faith, and
hard, honest work captured the imagination of generations of young
Americans and gave them a model of hope and promise in the face
of hardships.
Born in Revere, Massachusetts, on January 13, 1832, he was the
son of a Unitarian church pastor who instilled a strong religious
belief in his son. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Harvard, Horatio
Alger, Jr., studied under Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and had intended
to become a poet. Alger worked at one time as a teacher and a
newspaper correspondent for the Boston Transcript and the New
York Sun. Affected by asthma, Alger was rejected by the Union
Army and eventually became a minister on Cape Cod.
Horatio Alger, Jr., wrote more than 120 books with
the inspiring theme of onward and upward. He began writing his
rags-to-riches tales just after the Civil War. He patterned the
hero of his book, Ragged Dick, after the homeless newsboys and
bootblacks he observed in his neighborhoods in New York. The heroes
of his books almost always had the same qualities-moral, brave,
generous, kind, diligent, industrious, and persevering. His novels
told everyone, no matter how poor, orphaned or powerless, that
if they persevere, if they do their best, if they always try to
do the right thing, they can succeed. Success was earned by hard
work and right action. Alger trumpeted the doctrine of achieving
success through self-reliance, self-discipline, decency, and honesty.
His books were always best sellers and almost every home, school,
and church library in America boasted a large collection of his
works. Horatio Alger, Jr. died in 1899 of lung and heart ailments
at the age of 67. More than 250 million copies of his books have
been sold worldwide. Through his body
of work, Horatio Alger, Jr., captured the spirit of a nation
and helped to clarify that spirit.
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