author
Jr. Horatio Alger
1832–1899
Best known for lively “rags-to-riches” stories, this hugely popular 19th-century writer helped shape a lasting American myth about hard work, luck, and social mobility. His books about boys rising from poverty made him one of the most widely read authors of his era.
111 Audiobooks
Cast Upon the Breakers
by Jr. Horatio Alger
Struggling Upward, or Luke Larkin's Luck
by Jr. Horatio Alger
Shifting For Himself; or, Gilbert Greyson's Fortunes
by Jr. Horatio Alger
Bound to Rise; Or, Up the Ladder
by Jr. Horatio Alger
Jack's Ward; Or, The Boy Guardian
by Jr. Horatio Alger
Ben Bruce: Scenes in the Life of a Bowery Newsboy
by Jr. Horatio Alger
Timothy Crump's Ward: A Story of American Life
by Jr. Horatio Alger
Try and Trust; Or, Abner Holden's Bound Boy
by Jr. Horatio Alger
The Errand Boy; Or, How Phil Brent Won Success
by Jr. Horatio Alger
Do and Dare — a Brave Boy's Fight for Fortune
by Jr. Horatio Alger
Five Hundred Dollars; or, Jacob Marlowe's Secret
by Jr. Horatio Alger
The Young Explorer; Or, Claiming His Fortune
by Jr. Horatio Alger
Fame and Fortune; or, The Progress of Richard Hunter
by Jr. Horatio Alger
Driven from Home; Or, Carl Crawford's Experience
by Jr. Horatio Alger
Joe the Hotel Boy; Or, Winning out by Pluck
by Jr. Horatio Alger
The Cash Boy
by Jr. Horatio Alger
From Canal Boy to President; Or, the Boyhood and Manhood of James A. Garfield
by Jr. Horatio Alger
Brave and Bold; Or, The Fortunes of Robert Rushton
by Jr. Horatio Alger
The Young Bank Messenger
by Jr. Horatio Alger
Bob Burton; or, The Young Ranchman of the Missouri
by Jr. Horatio Alger
Phil, the Fiddler
by Jr. Horatio Alger
The Young Adventurer; or, Tom's Trip Across the Plains
by Jr. Horatio Alger
The Young Acrobat of the Great North American Circus
by Jr. Horatio Alger
Sam's Chance, and How He Improved It
by Jr. Horatio Alger
Young Captain Jack; Or, The Son of a Soldier
by Jr. Horatio Alger, Edward Stratemeyer
Mark Mason's Victory
by Jr. Horatio Alger
Nelson the Newsboy; Or, Afloat in New York
by Jr. Horatio Alger, Edward Stratemeyer
Ragged Dick, Or, Street Life in New York with the Boot-Blacks
by Jr. Horatio Alger
Mark the Match Boy; or, Richard Hunter's Ward
by Jr. Horatio Alger
Strive and Succeed; or, The Progress of Walter Conrad
by Jr. Horatio Alger
Dean Dunham; Or, the Waterford Mystery
by Jr. Horatio Alger
The Tin Box, and What it Contained
by Jr. Horatio Alger
Adrift in New York: Tom and Florence Braving the World
by Jr. Horatio Alger
Hector's Inheritance, Or, the Boys of Smith Institute
by Jr. Horatio Alger
Facing the World
by Jr. Horatio Alger
The Young Outlaw; or, Adrift in the Streets
by Jr. Horatio Alger
Dan, the Newsboy
by Jr. Horatio Alger
From Farm Boy to Senator Being the History of the Boyhood and Manhood of Daniel Webster
by Jr. Horatio Alger
Tom Thatcher's Fortune
by Jr. Horatio Alger
Tom Temple's Career
by Jr. Horatio Alger
Tattered Tom; or, The Story of a Street Arab
by Jr. Horatio Alger
Rufus and Rose; Or, The Fortunes of Rough and Ready
by Jr. Horatio Alger
Chester Rand; or, The New Path to Fortune
by Jr. Horatio Alger
A Cousin's Conspiracy; Or, A Boy's Struggle for an Inheritance
by Jr. Horatio Alger
Paul Prescott's Charge
by Jr. Horatio Alger
Charlie Codman's Cruise: A Story for Boys
by Jr. Horatio Alger
The Young Miner; Or, Tom Nelson in California
by Jr. Horatio Alger
Ben, the Luggage Boy; Or, Among the Wharves
by Jr. Horatio Alger
The Young Salesman
by Jr. Horatio Alger
From Farm to Fortune; or, Nat Nason's Strange Experience
by Jr. Horatio Alger
Frank's Campaign; Or, The Farm and the Camp
by Jr. Horatio Alger
Luck and Pluck; or, John Oakley's Inheritance
by Jr. Horatio Alger
In a new world : or, Among the gold-fields of Australia
by Jr. Horatio Alger
Herbert Carter's Legacy; Or, the Inventor's Son
by Jr. Horatio Alger
Frank and Fearless; or, The Fortunes of Jasper Kent
by Jr. Horatio Alger
Robert Coverdale's Struggle
by Jr. Horatio Alger
Ralph Raymond's Heir
by Jr. Horatio Alger
A Debt of Honor: The Story of Gerald Lane's Success in the Far West
by Jr. Horatio Alger
Tom, The Bootblack; or, The Road to Success
by Jr. Horatio Alger
Paul the Peddler; Or, The Fortunes of a Young Street Merchant
by Jr. Horatio Alger
Life of Edwin Forrest, the American Tragedian. Volume 1 (of 2)
by William Rounseville Alger, Jr. Horatio Alger
Mark Manning's Mission: The Story of a Shoe Factory Boy
by Jr. Horatio Alger
Grand'ther Baldwin's Thanksgiving, with Other Ballads and Poems
by Jr. Horatio Alger
Slow and Sure: The Story of Paul Hoffman the Young Street-Merchant
by Jr. Horatio Alger
Grit; or, The Young Boatman of Pine Point
by Jr. Horatio Alger
Adrift in the City; or, Oliver Conrad's Plucky Fight
by Jr. Horatio Alger
Helping Himself; Or, Grant Thornton's Ambition
by Jr. Horatio Alger
Only an Irish Boy; Or, Andy Burke's Fortunes
by Jr. Horatio Alger
Mark Mason's Victory: The Trials and Triumphs of a Telegraph Boy
by Jr. Horatio Alger
Digging for Gold: A Story of California
by Jr. Horatio Alger
Rough and Ready; Or, Life Among the New York Newsboys
by Jr. Horatio Alger
The Train Boy
by Jr. Horatio Alger
Life of Edwin Forrest, the American Tragedian. Volume 2 (of 2)
by William Rounseville Alger, Jr. Horatio Alger
Out for Business; or, Robert Frost's Strange Career
by Jr. Horatio Alger, Edward Stratemeyer
Julius, the Street Boy; or, Out West
by Jr. Horatio Alger
Randy of the River; Or, The Adventures of a Young Deckhand
by Jr. Horatio Alger
Walter Sherwood's Probation
by Jr. Horatio Alger
Bernard Brooks' Adventures: The Experience of a Plucky Boy
by Jr. Horatio Alger
Helen Ford
by Jr. Horatio Alger
The Telegraph Boy
by Jr. Horatio Alger
Luke Walton
by Jr. Horatio Alger
The Backwoods Boy; or, The Boyhood and Manhood of Abraham Lincoln
by Jr. Horatio Alger
Rupert's Ambition
by Jr. Horatio Alger
Frank Hunter's Peril
by Jr. Horatio Alger
Andy Gordon; Or, The Fortunes of A Young Janitor
by Jr. Horatio Alger
Making His Mark
by Jr. Horatio Alger
Tony the Tramp; Or, Right is Might
by Jr. Horatio Alger
The Erie Train Boy
by Jr. Horatio Alger
Wait and Hope; Or, A Plucky Boy's Luck
by Jr. Horatio Alger
Nothing to Eat
by Jr. Horatio Alger, Thomas Chandler Haliburton
Andy Grant's Pluck
by Jr. Horatio Alger
A Boy's Fortune; Or, The Strange Adventures of Ben Baker
by Jr. Horatio Alger
In Search of Treasure
by Jr. Horatio Alger
Strong and Steady; Or, Paddle Your Own Canoe
by Jr. Horatio Alger
The Young Book Agent; or, Frank Hardy's Road to Success
by Jr. Horatio Alger
The Store Boy
by Jr. Horatio Alger
Tony, the Hero; Or, A Brave Boy's Adventures with a Tramp
by Jr. Horatio Alger
Falling in with Fortune; Or, The Experiences of a Young Secretary
by Jr. Horatio Alger, Edward Stratemeyer
The nugget finders : A tale of the gold fields of Australia
by Jr. Horatio Alger
Making His Way; Or, Frank Courtney's Struggle Upward
by Jr. Horatio Alger
About the author
Born in Chelsea, Massachusetts, in 1832, he studied at Harvard and first worked as a teacher, journalist, and briefly as a Unitarian minister before turning fully to writing. He became famous in the late 1800s for fast-moving novels aimed at young readers, especially stories in which poor boys improve their lives through persistence, honesty, and timely help.
His best-known book is Ragged Dick (1867), and he went on to write well over 100 works. Although his plots were often formulaic, they struck a nerve with readers and became closely tied to the idea of the American Dream.
Today, he is remembered less for literary style than for cultural impact. “Horatio Alger” became shorthand for a rise-from-poverty success story, and his work still offers a vivid window into the hopes, values, and contradictions of 19th-century America.