Belt Revivals

Part of Belt's Revivals Series, a classic of muckraking journalism with a new introduction by Elizabeth Catte, author of What You Are Getting Wrong About Appalachia and Pure America . Cleveland oil tycoon Jo

Part of Belt's Revivals Series and with a new introduction by Belt Publishing founder, Anne Trubek. A novelist, critic, and playwright, William Dean Howells was friends with such luminaries as Mark Twain, Henry James, and O

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. Th

The true story of Marshall ‚ÄúMajor‚Ä Taylor, who overcame racial prejudice to become one of the most dominant cyclists in history. Part of Belt‚Äs Revival series and with an introduction by Zito Madu. The Fastest Bicycle Rider in the World, which Taylor self-published in 1928, gives a riveting first-person account of his rise to the highest echelons of professional cycling. Born in Indianapolis, he eventually became the first African American cycling world champion, going on to set seven world records in the sport. Readers will learn about Taylor‚Äs exploits as an athlete, including his early taste of success in a grueling six-day race, his unparalleled dominance as a sprinter, and some of his most bitter defeats. But the man who achieved international fame as the ‚ÄúBlack Cyclone‚Ä also details the extreme prejudice he faced both on and off the track. It‚Äs a story about one of the greatest athletes in American history but also a moving testament to Taylor‚Äs resilience and determination in the face of overt racism and seemingly impossible odds. As he tells us himself, ‚ÄúI am writing my memoirs . . . in the spirit calculated to solicit simple justice, equal rights, and a square deal for the posterity of my down-trodden but brave people, not only in athletic games and sports, but in every honorable game of human endeavor.‚Ä

Hugh McVey moves from Missouri to the agrarian town of Bidwell, Ohio. He invents a mechanical cabbage planter to ease the burden of famers, but an investor in town exploits his product, which fails to succeed. His next invention, a corn cutter, makes him a millionaire and transforms Bidwell into a center of manufacturing. McVey, perennially lonely and ruminative, meets Clara Butterworth, who attends college at nearby Ohio State and is perennially harassed by her potential matches. Published one year after Winesburg, Ohio, in 1920, Poor White has a modernist style, an realist attention to every day life, and an eerily contemporary resonance.

A new collection from a trailblazing writer of science fiction. Part of Belt's Revival Series and with an introduction by Brad Ricca. Science fiction has historically been seen as a man's game, but from the very beginni

Booth Tarkington's Pulitzer Prize–winning 1921 novel about a young woman's close encounter with her social striving dreams, now republished in a gorgeous new edition. Alice Adams is young and pretty, but is struggling to improve her station. Her world revolves around dances put on by richer girls, for which she ingeniously strives to turn her less fashionable dress into something more fashionable and explain away the embarrassing behavior of her younger brother. Money structures this unnamed small town in the Midwest, but Alice's father has never made much of himself, thus foiling her mother's constant desire to see Alice and the rest of the family better situated. Will Alice's future prospects improve when finally Mr. Adams decides to go into business for himself making glue? Will her latest handsome, kind suitor stay around long enough for an engagement? Or will the pernicious forces of greed, gossip, and in 1920s America bring them all down? Booth Tarkington's novel was published when his fame was at its height: Tarkington was considered the preeminent American novelist of the day, a celebrity who would also serve a term representing his native Indiana in Congress. Alice Adams was similarly famous for decades after its publication; the 1935 movie starring Katherine Hepburn based on the novel was nominated for Best Picture by the Academy Awards. Today, this lauded chronicler of the Midwest is lesser read but no less fascinating, and his novels as worthy, suspenseful, and poignant as they were a century ago.

From the best-selling author of Giant and So Big , a sweeping look at the lives of three generations of women on Chicago's South Side. Part of Belt's Revivals series and with a new introduction by Kathleen Rooney (

Part of Belt's Revivals Series and an undisputed classic of African American literature. With a new introduction by Wiley Cash ( When Ghosts Come Home ). On November 10, 1898, a mob of 400 people rampaged through the

Main-Travelled Roads collects 11 short stories, originally published in 1891, set in Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota, or what Hamlin Garland called the “Middle Border.†Depicting an agrarian life of exploitation, misogyny, and poverty, Garland's radical, realist stories refute romantic conceptions of the rural Midwest. Unrelenting yet strangely hopeful in its view of how things ought to be, this collection is gripping, hard-hitting, and surprisingly beautiful.