Anthony Adverse

The book, Anthony Adverse by Hervey Allen, is the first historical romance and Hervey Allen is considered to be the inventor of the genre.

From the first paragraph, one can see the consummate skill at work here. With the perfect number of words, we are given the information necessary to feel the climate, learn the historical significance of the locations and have a good look at the characters. Sometimes in a single sentence or paragraph. All without being too long or too curt and when prose occurs, it is as natural as breathing. Later, the reader gets to see a powerful psychological analysis folded in and elaborated on with each portrayal.

The canvas is the world and the main character Anthony, is tracked from conception to the grave. Along the way, the reader is treated to an in-depth exploration of the human soul as well as detailed geography, accurate history, cultural comparisons, insightful politics and many other areas of interest sprinkled in as diverse as sailing ships, accounting, war strategy and global commerce.

This is a book that demands being reread every decade or so. The scope is so vast and well rendered that your daily acquisition of knowledge, particularly in history, will be supplemented by this exceptional book. Also your growing knowledge will afford you much deeper enjoyment and appreciation of this book when you re-read it, which I am confident that you will.

For those who are interested, the story was made into an epic movie. Many scholarly people thrust books into my hands and promise me a delirium of insights. I read some of them, usually to no avail. When I was twelve years old during a summer vacation at my grandparent’s beach house on the Gulf of Mexico, my grandmother dropped a copy of this book on my bedside table. She did not say a word and I was instantly pulled into the story. More than thirty years later, I still learn from it.

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