author

Henry Richardson Chamberlain

1859–1911

A newspaperman in London with a sharp eye for politics, he wrote a single striking speculative novel that mixes lost treasure, market chaos, and a looming European war. His work now stands out as an unusual early blend of adventure, finance, and science fiction.

1 Audiobook

6,000 Tons of Gold

6,000 Tons of Gold

by Henry Richardson Chamberlain

About the author

Henry Richardson Chamberlain was an American author and newspaper editor, born in Peoria, Illinois, on August 25, 1859, and dead in London on February 15, 1911. Reliable reference sources describe him as the London correspondent for The New York Sun from 1892 until his death.

He is now remembered chiefly for 6,000 Tons of Gold (1894), sometimes also issued under the pseudonym Kenzie Eaton Kirkwood. The novel follows an enormous Patagonian gold discovery and turns it into a story about speculation, technology, philanthropy, and the risk of international conflict.

Later critics have noted that Chamberlain brought real political and financial awareness to his fiction. That gives his lone well-known novel a distinctive feel: part thriller, part economic fantasy, and part early future-war tale.