Episode 47: Ragged Dick

Get ready to give those bootstraps a nice firm tug, because we are opening Season 3 with Horatio Alger’s 1868 novel Ragged Dick! We discuss what critics have called the Dunkaroo of American literature. We chat about how much fun it is being a Very Good Boy living in a box on the streets of nineteenth-century New York City, the dangers of large Irish children, labor, finance capital, and why you should read this instead of Lean In.

We read the Norton edition edited by Hildegard Hoeller, which includes Hoeller's essay, "Freaks and the American Dream: Horatio Alger, P. T. Barnum, and the Art of Humbug." For further reading, we suggest checking out one of Alger’s other novels, such as the elegantly titled Timothy Crump’s Ward (1866) or Ben’s Nugget (1882). Just kidding. Check out some of the excellent Ragged Dick send-ups, including Mark Twain’s 1879 “Poor Little Stephen Girard,” or Stephen Crane’s 1899 "A Self-Made Man: An Example of Success That Anyone Can Follow."

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