Of Joseph Hergesheimer 's many books of fiction, seven are short-story collections. Each of the seven was well received. Several of his stories were adapted into films that became box-office hits, and critics such as Carl Van Doren and, later, Alfred Kazin spoke of him in the same breath with such writers as F. Scott Fitzgerald, John Galsworthy, and Henry James. However, Hergesheimer's fame has dwindled until he is now known mainly by literary historians, who have relegated him to a small but solid niche as a highly skilled popular author of the 1920s and 1930s.

Joseph Hergesheimer was born on 15 February 1880 in Philadelphia, the son of Joseph and Helen MacKellar Hergesheimer; he grew up in a stable, middle-class, suburban family. His father, a cartographer, worked with the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey. After studying art at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, the young Hergesheimer traveled...