Pulitzer Prize Fiction Winner
Alice Adams
by Booth Tarkington
Summary
Alice Adams is a young woman in a small Midwestern city who tries to project an image of refinement and prosperity in hopes of winning a place in higher social circles. Tarkington pairs sharp social satire with sympathetic psychological detail to expose the costs of class anxiety and the gap between ambition and reality. The book is often praised as his most enduring portrait of provincial American life.
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Historical Context & Significance
Tarkington's second win. He was the most successful "mainstream" novelist of his day, perfectly capturing the Midwestern middle-class anxieties of the era.