Perhaps the quality which has been most closely identified with the American spirit is success. Success--upward mobility, material prosperity acquired through hard work and shrewd ability--has been for much of our history the quint-essential American ideal. And probably no name has so epitomized that ideal as that of Horatio Alger, Jr. Indeed, the American public has endowed it with almost mythological connotations. The common reader "knows" that Alger was a popular and prolific writer whose hackneyed works chronicling the rise of countless poor boys from "rags to riches" were eagerly read by millions. During the twentieth century, patriots and businessmen have praised the Alger hero as the embodiment of the American dream. Alger himself is seen as a living example of this ideal; he has been called "the greatest selling author of all time."

Unfortunately these enthusiasts have often not read Alger's books or at best remember them...