A Hazard of New Fortunes Author:William Dean Howells Set against a vividly depicted background of fin de siecle New York, this novel centers upon the conflict between a self-made millionaire and a fervent social revolutionary -- a conflict in which a man of goodwill futilely attempts to act as mediator, only to be forced himself into a crisis of conscience. Evident throughout this multifaceted wor... more »k is William Dean Howell's grasp of the realities of the American experience in an age of emerging social struggle; evident as well is his absolute determination to render justice to every point of view. Both a memorable portrait of an era and a profoundly moving study of human interrelatedness, A Hazard of New Fortunes fully justifies Alfred Kazin's ranking of Howells as "the first great domestic novelist of American life." Benjamin DeMott praises "Howell's dream of bursting free from self, of entering with large imaginative understanding into the lives of others," and goes on to declare: "Howells' dream was...moral to the core."« less