"... a thorough biography that should supplant all previous attempts to understand the man." --H-Net Reviews

"... new, thorough and highly readable... " --Indianapolis Star

Few literary figures have achieved the fame of James Whitcomb Riley, the most popular poet in America at the end of the 19th century--the height of his career. Legends and rumors either elevate Riley as a hero who gave Hoosiers pride of place, or denigrate him as a drunken author of Victorian doggerel. In this first serious modern biography of Riley, Van Allen sifts facts from fiction to paint the truest portrait of this controversial poet.