First published in 1896, this unsung masterpiece of American
literature details the rise and fall of a Methodist minister in upstate
New York. Part of Belt's Revivals series and with a new introduction by
Ruth Graham.
The Damnation of Theron Ware is the story of a young pastor who comes
to a small town in the Adirondacks to spread the gospel. Once he gets
there, his congregation slowly leads him down a path of secular
enlightenment, encouraging him to question the very same scripture he
has devoted his life to. Through new friends, he has encounters
beautiful art and music and gains new insights into the world of
Darwinian science. But when he finds himself carried away by these fresh
new experiences, where they lead him is not at all what he expected.
A forerunner of the classic naturalistic novels of the early twentieth
century, Harold Frederic's work is considered one of the great American
novels of his time, a book that belongs on the same shelf with Stephen
Crane, Frank Norris, and Theodore Dreiser.