Winesburg, Ohio

Hardcover, 303 pages

Published 1919

Modern Library 100 Best Novels (1900-1998)

To Sherwood Anderson, more than to any other American Writer, belongs the distinction of having converted mere sectional writing into a universal experience. As the interpreter of mid-western life, he wrought a change in mood and method that was revolutionary. His masterpiece, Winesburg, Ohio, became the forerunner of a new and vital school of contemporary humanity, its inescapable conviction of truth and its brooding, tender insight make it a book by which Anderson has earned a leading rank among the important novelists of America and certainly among the best of our storytellers.

Winesburg, Ohio depicts the strange, secret lives of the inhabitants of a small town. In "Hands," Wing Biddlebaum tries to hide the tale of his banishment from a Pennsylvania town, a tale represented by his hands. In "Adventure," lonely Alice Hindman impulsively walks naked into the night rain. Threaded through the stories is the viewpoint of George Willard, the young newspaper reporter who, like his creator, stands witness to the dark and despairing dealings of a community of isolated people.