Capitalism versus socialism. Capital versus labor. These are the themes of Cleveland Moffett’s novel The Battle.
High Point: The storyline’s relevance today after more than 100 years.
Low Point: Lots of dialog–all crucial to the story–but can be a bit of a slog at times.
Author: Cleveland Moffett
Publication Date: 1909
Genre: Fiction
Project Gutenberg: Not available
LibriVox: Not available
Movie/TV Adaptation: The Money Master (1915)
Capitalism versus socialism. Capital versus labor. These are the themes of Cleveland Moffett’s novel The Battle.
As dry as that sounds, Moffett painted an engaging but grim picture of life in the New York City tenements in the early 20th century. The storyline centers around a young man’s birth father, one of the richest men in America, and his surrogate father, a working man with a deep social conscience, who battle for his soul. The son has grown up in and around the tenements, and is unaware who his birth father is. The birth father is ready to claim him back.
The Battle is a novelization of Moffett’s successful but controversial play that ran on Broadway in 1908 and 1909. In fact, the book is illustrated with photographs from the play. Moffett also includes an interesting foreword which explains his side of the controversy.
Moffett’s background as a playwright is evidenced by a large amount of dialog. There is not a great deal of action other than a pivotal scene towards the end. The ending is satisfying, but may have you thinking, “I sure didn’t see that coming.”
Both the play and the novel have been re-published within the last few years—an indication that the themes are as relevant today as they were when the novel was originally published in 1909.
Quotes
| …it is the duty of the strong to help the weak, not to trample on them. |
