Edward Eggleston

Edward Eggleston, (1837-1902), clergyman, nove-list, and historian who realistically portrayed various sections of the U.S. in such books as The Hoosier School-Master.By the age of 19, Eggleston had become an itinerant preacher, but circuit riding broke his health. He held various pastorates, serving from 1874 to 1879 in Brooklyn; he was an editor of the juvenile paper, Little Corporal (1866-67), the National Sunday School Teacher (1867-73), and other periodicals.In all of his work he sought to write with "photographic exactness" of the real West. The most popular of his books for adults was The Hoosier School-Master (1871), a vivid study of backwoods Indiana. His other novels include The End of the World (1872), The Mystery of Metropolisville (1873), The Circuit Rider: A Tale of the He-roic Age(1874), Roxy (1878), and The Graysons (1888). His later novels and children's books are considered less significant. After a trip to Europe in 1879 he turned to the writing of history. His Beginners of a Nation (1896) and Transit of Civilization from England to America (1900) contributed to the growth of social history.