author
John William De Forest
1826–1906
A sharp observer of American life, he helped shape literary realism and wrote one of the Civil War’s most admired novels. He is also remembered for popularizing the idea of the “Great American Novel.”
4 Audiobooks
Stories by American Authors (Volume 4)
by Constance Fenimore Woolson, H. C. (Henry Cuyler) Bunner, John William De Forest, Mary Hallock Foote, Nathaniel Parker Willis
Overland: A Novel
by John William De Forest
Miss Ravenel's conversion from secession to loyalty
by John William De Forest
The Brigade Commander
by John William De Forest
About the author
Born in Connecticut in 1826, John William De Forest grew up in a prosperous family but followed an unusual path for his background. Poor health kept him from college, and instead he traveled widely as a young man, experiences that fed his curiosity about history, politics, and society.
He served in the Union Army during the Civil War, and that firsthand experience gave his writing an uncommon immediacy. His best-known book, Miss Ravenel’s Conversion from Secession to Loyalty (1867), is often praised for its realistic portrayal of war and for the way it examines loyalty, ambition, and national division without romanticizing the conflict.
De Forest wrote fiction, essays, and history, and he remains an important figure in American literature for his commitment to realism. He is also closely linked to the phrase “the Great American Novel,” which he used in an 1869 essay while arguing for fiction that could capture the full texture of American life.