The Turmoil

What It's About

Set in an unnamed Midwestern city closely modelled on Tarkington's own Indianapolis, The Turmoil follows the Sheridan family as the patriarch's industrial fortune transforms them from nobodies into some of the city's richest people almost overnight. At the centre of the story is Bibbs Sheridan, the sensitive, artistically-minded youngest son who has no appetite for his father's world of business and "bigness," and who is drawn instead to Mary Vertrees, daughter of a once-prominent family now eclipsed by the city's new industrial money. The novel traces the collision between the old genteel order and the raw, restless energy of new wealth.

Key Concepts

Tarkington uses the Sheridan family to dramatise a wider anxiety about American progress: the worship of "Bigness" and material success, and what gets lost - culture, sensitivity, individuality - in the rush toward industrial growth. The novel also charts a changing social order, as old established families lose ground to self-made industrialists who measure worth in output and profit rather than name or breeding.

About the Author

Booth Tarkington (1869-1946) was an American novelist and playwright from Indianapolis, Indiana. A two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, he was one of the best-selling American authors of his day, known for his detailed, affectionate, and often satirical portraits of Midwestern life during a period of rapid industrial and social change.