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John W. De Forest

American Civil War novelist (1826-1906)

About John W. De Forest

De Forest, a soldier as well as an author, is now remembered, if at all, for his early realist novel about the Civil War, Miss Ravenel's Conversion from Secession to Loyalty. However, he also wrote other novels as well as popular travel writings. Most of his novels were serialized in the Atlantic Monthly.

De Forest is credited with coining the term "The Great American Novel."

John W. De Forest Novels Available at Mousehold Words

Overland (1870)
12 parts of 10,000-12,000 words each.

A travelogue of the Old West, featuring a nineteenth century perspective on the American landscape. Despite its old-fashioned attitudes towards race and sex, De Forest's writing powerfully evokes the lost Western wilderness.

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