Fast is, of course, in the line of the great critical realists with a humanistic bent. The epic sweep of the Immigrant series, its depiction of bourgeois culture against a backdrop of capitalist imperialism and twentieth-century global conflict, is clearly reminiscent of Tolstoy — Dan Lavette reads War and Peace while serving time for a barroom brawl. In the American line, he is clearly indebted to Twain, whom he regards as a model for the popular, realistic novel. He is indebted to Melville for his social message. Hamlin Garland, Sherwood Anderson, and William Dean Howells, whose Rise of Silas Lapham is a model for urban realism, continue the line, although the Western setting brings most clearly to mind Frank Norris and Jack London (who is mentioned many times in Fast's novels) with their superheroes and unique blend of critical realism with rugged individualism. Pre-eminent, however, is...