Calumet "K"

Rating:
Summary: A story in which ability is what makes the hero.
Review: Calumet "K" is not great literature; it is simply light popular fiction from 1901. But it is well worth reading nevertheless. Calumet "K" tells the story of how Charlie Bannon, the story's hero, attempts to complete construction of a Chicago grain elevator in the face of a series of hurdles that threaten to scuttle the project. How Bannon deals with these challenges will fill you with delight and admiration. But this story has a deeper significance. Bannon is presented as a hero because he is superbly competent. He is a man who can get things done in the face of unexpected challenges. He is also a man who loves his work. To Bannon, work is not just a job; it is a sacred calling. This exalted view of work is very rare in fiction -- the only other authors I know of who have captured it are Ayn Rand and, in some of his stories, Rudyard Kipling. Calumet "K" is worth reading for another reason: it gives a glimpse of the American sense of life of a century ago: the sense that the world is a benevolent place open to individual achievement, where competence is practical and is rewarded, and where men are free to achieve great things through their work. All of this is merely implicit; this is not a story of ideas. But the ideas it embodies are great.

Rating:
Summary: Great example of its genre
Review: Calumet K is one of many books that I classify as "hero novels", books that could be termed Hortio ALger for adults.

This short book is the story of one man's adventure in building one of the largest grain elevator's in the world. If you are an engineer or interested in the history of structures in the US this is a must read.

Put this on your shelf next to "Banker and Bear", "Cash McCall", and "The Fountainhead".

-RS

Rating:
Summary: A story in which ability is what makes the hero.
Review: Calumet K is one of many books that I classify as "hero novels", books that could be termed Hortio ALger for adults.

This short book is the story of one man's adventure in building one of the largest grain elevator's in the world. If you are an engineer or interested in the history of structures in the US this is a must read.

Put this on your shelf next to "Banker and Bear", "Cash McCall", and "The Fountainhead".

-RS

Rating:
Summary: uninspired
Review: Webster was a social novelist and this is (I believe) his second book. He wrote much better works later,including some fine mystery novels, and it is an awful shame that this is his only work that remains in print. Try to find a copy of JOSEPH GREER AND HIS DAUGHTER, or WHO IS THE NEXT? instead.