Beginning in the mid-1930s, Roberts wrote a series of brilliant but erratic historical novels about America in the late 1700s, set in his beloved Maine or in neighboring Boston and Portsmouth, NH. "Northwest Passage" (which was serialized by the Post) was his masterpiece and the most popular book in America for two years during the 1930s, although it's barely remembered today (or, if remembered, known only as the source for a mediocre Spencer Tracy movie of the same name).
The book is the story of a real person, Major Robert Rogers, a miltary leader from pre-Revolutionary America whose unit, Rogers' Rangers, was America's first to fight "Indian-style" (in other words, to fight battles the way we fight them today). Rogers' great success in warfare led to him becoming one of the colonies' first published authors, a star in London, and later the royal governor of Michilimackinac (the fort at the tip of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan ... and the land westward), but his unwillingness to join with pluderers who wanted to loot the British and colonial treasuries in the name of the Crown led to his arrest and unwarranted disgrace ... and to his ultimate decision to side with the British during the American Revolution, like Roberts' other main hero, Benedict Arnold ("Arundel" and "Rabble in Arms").
This novel is made up of two very different but intricately-plotted books. Book 1, which ranges in place from Harvard College to the British Army during the French and Indian Wars and the New England art world, tells the story of a young man, Langdon Towne, who becomes Rogers' personal secretary during Rogers' Rangers' expedition to destroy the town of St. Francis, home of the native group most hostile to the New England settlers. Book 2, which begins in London, crosses back to upstate Michigan and the Dakota lands, and then returns to London, tells the story of Towne's advancement as an artist and his involvement with Rogers' plan to discover the Northwest Passage.
The reason that this book rates 4 stars instead of 5 has to do with a writing issue that must be mentioned. Roberts' friend Booth Tarkington served as "editor" of the first three-quarters of the book, and the Roberts-Tarkington prose is stellar. However, under severe time pressure to finish the second half of the book (due to its smash-hit status), Roberts wrote the last quarter without Tarkington's help, and the change in writing quality is jarring -- especially as it comes right during the most historically-important and dramatically-important section of the book, Rogers' betrayal by his Northwest Passage expedition commanders and by his British and American enemies. Roberts had offered Tarkington co-writing credit, which Tarkington refused, but this justaposition of styles shows just how critical Tarkington's help was. The plot continues smoothly, though, even if the writing doesn't.
One more point: in researching and writing this book, Roberts uncovered (after two years of searching, and just before publication of Book 2) the actual court-marshal transcripts of the two court-marshals with which Rogers was involved, which were believed to have been destroyed by Rogers' enemies -- and both supported Roberts' sympathetic treatment of Rogers. Thus, not only was this book incredibly popular, but it was significant for historical research as well. What more can you ask from one book?
I've read all of Roberts' books, and have a first edition of OLIVER WISWELL purchased for $3.00 from a used bookstore with an original newspaper review that had been tucked inside the book by the original purchaser. The review is of the novel itself, and after reading that review from more than 60 years ago, it is very apparent over the years the very high and well-deserved reputation of Roberts has not diminished.
My recommendation is: read them. Read them all !! You will never find finer writing or an author with a keener appreciation of his subject matter and the period about which he writes than Kenneth Roberts. All of Roberts' books should be reprinted, again and again, as they were when they were first published (check the frontispieces to see how many times his novels have been re-printed over the years --- it's astounding!). Every person who reads Roberts becomes a devotee and a reader for life, and every one to whom you loan a copy of any of his novels will then be someone with whom you can share the pure pleasure of having read a Kenneth Roberts novel, and there are many of us out there. Welcome to the astounding, incredible world that will soon be at your fingertips!