Ragged Dick (Norton Critical Editions) Book

It is canonical as a cultural text, rather than a purely literary one, as this Norton Critical Edition reflects. An extensive “Contexts” section includes maps, photographs, and documents showing how and why Alger used the backdrop of New York City to highlight problems of urban poverty, immigration, and child labor in mid-nineteenth century America. “Criticism” is thematically organized around contemporary reviews and responses, the heated public debate about whether Alger should be available in American public libraries, parodies of and related responses to Alger, and four recent critical essays by Mary Wroth Walsh, Glenn Hendler, Michael Moon, and Hildegard Hoeller.

Ragged Dick; or Street Life in New York with Boot Blacks is the best-known of Horatio Alger's quintessential rags-to-riches stories as well as his most commercially successful publication. It is canonical as a cultural text rather than as a purely...