Tobacco Road, God's Little Acre, and Place Called Estherville

A collection of three controversial classics set in the rural South by a multimillion-copy-selling author.

With tens of millions of books sold, Erskine Caldwell was one of the most daring and popular novelists of the twentieth century. He wrote of bigotry, poverty, social injustice, and sexual squalor in the Deep South. This collection includes three of his bestselling novels.

Tobacco Road : Jeeter Lester and his Southern sharecropper family are struggling to survive before the Great Depression even begins. But as devastating poverty spreads to the families that once supported them, the Lesters slip completely into the abyss. Rather than hold on to one another for support, Jeeter; his wife, Ada; and their twelve children are overcome by the fractured and violent society around them. The basis for one of the longest running Broadway plays, Tobacco Road is a poignant account of a broken family facing great adversity.

God’s Little Acre : Desperation takes its toll on a deluded and impoverished Southern farmer obsessed with sex, violence, and the promise of gold. Meanwhile, his sons and daughters search in vain for their own instant happiness. With more than fourteen million copies sold, this international bestseller lampoons a broken South while holding a light to poverty’s devastating effect on people’s hopes and dreams.

Place Called Estherville : In the pre-civil-rights-era South, a biracial brother and sister, Ganus and Kathyanne, move to a small segregated Southern town to care for their aunt, only to be subjected to systematic racism, sexual violence, and prejudice.

This ebook features an illustrated biography of Erskine Caldwell including rare photos and never-before-seen documents courtesy of the Dartmouth College Library.