Blix

New York: Doubleday & McClure Co.. Very Good+. 1899. 1st Edition; 1st Printing. Hardcover. This copy has the & on the bottom publishers name (other 1st's have the word 'and' - there's no priority ) This book is in Very Good+ condition and is lacking a dust jacket. The book and its contents are in generally clean, bright condition. The tan cloth covers to the book have spots of ground-in dirt to the rear cover. The spine of the book has a slight slant, and has toning / darkening. The text pages are clean and bright. There is a previous owner's inked name and addresson the front endpaper. This is the author's 4th book. "Frank Norris's work often includes depictions of suffering caused by corrupt and greedy turn-of-the-century corporate monopolies. In The Octopus: A California Story, the Pacific and Southwest Railroad is implicated in the suffering and deaths of a number of ranchers in Southern California. At the end of the novel, after a bloody shootout between farmers and railroad agents at one of the ranches (named Los Muertos) , readers are encouraged to take a "larger view" that sees that "through the welter of blood at the irrigating ditch ... The great harvest of Los Muertos rolled like a flood from the Sierras to the Himalayas to feed thousands of starving scarecrows on the barren plains of India"." (from Wikipedia) .