Taylor Caldwell Biography and List of Works

Anglo-American novelist, a prolific author of popular fiction, who often uses real historical events or persons in her writing. Taylor Caldwell's best-known works include DYNASTY OF DEATH (1938), an epic story about the intrigues and alliances of two Pennsylvania families involved in the manufacture of armaments. Her last major novel, ANSWER AS A MAN, appeared in 1980, and tells a familiar story of a man who begins his rise to prestige and power in the midst of the Depression.

"You hard man," said Mr. Maggiotti.
"Learned it the hard way," Bernard would reply. "Men are bastards."
"God loves all men, Bernie."
"More fool he," said Bernie.
(from Answer as a Man)

Taylor Caldwell was born in Manchester, England, into a family of Scottish background. Her family descended from the Clan of MacGregor of which the Taylors are a subsidiary clan. In 1907 she emigrated to the Unites States with her family. At the age of eight she started to write stories. In 1919 she married William F. Combs and divorced in 1931. Between the years 1918 and 1919 she served in the United States Naval Reserve. From 1923 to 1924 she was A Court Reporter in the New York State department of Labor in Buffalo, and from 1924 to 1931a member of the Board of Special Inquiry at the Department of Justice in Buffalo.

In 1931 she graduated from the University of Buffalo. In collaboration with her second husband, Marcus Reback, she wrote several bestsellers, beginning with Dynasty of Death. It depicts two families who control a huge munitions trust, and the entangled relations between the families. Caldwell had started to write the story in 1934. After its publication the book attracted wide attention when it was revealed, that behind the male pseudonym was a woman. The story is continued in THE EAGLES GATHER (1949) and THE FINAL HOUR (1944).

As a writer Caldwell was praised for her intricately plotted and suspenseful stories, which depict family tensions, and the development of the US from agrarian society into the leading industrial state of the world. Caldwell's heroes are self-made men of pronounced ethnic backgrounds, such as the German immigrants in THE STRONG CITY (1942) and THE BALANCE WHEEL (1951). Her themes are ethnic, religious and personal intolerance (THE WIDE HOUSE, 1945), the failure of parental discipline (LET LOVE COME LAST, 1949) and the conflict between the desire for power and money and the human values of love and sense of family, presented in such works as MELISSA (1948), A PROLOGUE TO LOVE (1962) and BRIGHT FLOWS THE RIVER (1978).

In her later works Caldwell explored the American Dream and wrote 'from rags to riches' stories, among them ANSWER AS A MAN (1981). Caldwell's historical novels include THE ARM AND DARKNESS, a fictitious account of Cardinal Richelieu, A PILLAR OF IRON (1965),a fictional biography of the Roman senator and orator Cicero, THE EARTH IS THE LORD'S (1941), a fictional biography of Ghengis Khan. Religious themes are prominent in several works, such as DEAR AND GLORIOUS PHYSICIAN (1959) about St. Luke, THE LISTENER (1960), and DIALOGUES WITH THE DEVIL (1967), a study of good and evil, in which Caldwell depicts a correspondence between Lucifer and Michael, mixing in the dialogue old tales, a lost continent, and theological speculations.

'"Childish raptures! said Lucifer, with scorn, his eyes flashing like lightning. "Are we indeed whimpering and craven children, or slaves? Can we be content with toys and little deliciousnesses? Are we not mind, as well as emotion? And is not the mind, of both angel and man, the noblest of possessions, and worth exercising. It is in our minds that we approach the closest of Him, Who is all Mind. Mind is the creator of all philosophy, all order, all beauty, all satisfaction, but emotion is the lowliest of the virtues, if it is a virtue at all. Mind has in it the capacity to know all things, or, at least, the minds of angels."'
(from Dialogoues with the Devil)

During her career Caldwell's books have sold over thirty million copies. She received several awards, among them the National League of American Pen Woman gold medal (1948), Buffalo Evening News Award (1949), and Grand Prix Chatvain (1950).

"Jason raised his eyes and smiled. God is good. He moves mysteriously, as the priests say, but he has his ways, he has his ways!
He is not the adversary of man. Man is, Jason thought. God is not to be understood by man. He is just to be trusted."
(from Answer as a Man)

Caldwell was married four times. She was an outspoken conservative and for a time associated with the anti-Semitic Liberty Lobby. Her memoir, GROWING UP TOUGH, appeared in 1971. Caldwell continued writing until 1980, when a stroke left her deaf and unable to speak. She died in Greenwich, Connecticut on September 2, 1985.

For further reading: In Search of Taylor Caldwell by J. Stearn (1974); Twentieth-Century Romance & Historical Writers, ed. by Lesley Henderson (1990); World Authors 1900-1950, ed. by Martin S. Aeymour-Smith and Andrew C. Kimmens (1996, vol. 1).

Books by Taylor Caldwell