An American Family (1918) is a novel by Henry Kitchell Webster. Written at the height of Webster’s career as a popular author of magazine serials, An American Family is a story of war, ambition, and tragedy. Exploring the effects of the burgeoning labor movement on American industry, Webster illustrates the psychological effects of conflict and betrayal on members of a wealthy family. As the third son of a large, upper-class family, Hugh Corbett has always struggled to prove himself. Despite the ambitions of his siblings, Hugh finds himself longing for a life outside of the family business. As owners of a successful factory in Chicago, their position has increasingly been at odds with the needs of their impoverished laborers, many of whom have begun to agitate for higher pay and better rights. Just as this crisis reaches a boiling point, it becomes clear that the United States is preparing to enter the Great War, thrusting a nation into conflict with Europe and deepening its own divisions. Meanwhile, Hugh meets Helena, a committed anarchist who exposes for him the inequities suffered by those the Corbett family employs. When a strike threatens to bring down the business, Hugh is forced to make a choice: should he prove his allegiance to his class and loved ones, or do what he knows to be right for the greater good of humanity. Sweeping in scope and intensely emotional, An American Family is a story of history on a human scale. This edition of Henry Kitchell Webster’s An American Family is a classic of American literature reimagined for modern readers.
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