A Certain Rich Man was published by Macmillan in 1909 and became an immediate bestseller. The novel traces the career of John Barclay — from his youth as a poor boy in a Kansas frontier town through his rise to enormous wealth through railroad manipulation, stock market speculation, and ruthless business practices. Barclay’s material success destroys his moral character, his relationships, and ultimately his capacity for happiness.
White wrote the novel as a conscious contribution to the progressive movement’s literature — the fictional equivalent of muckraking journalism. Barclay represents the robber baron class that progressives believed was corrupting American democracy: men who accumulated wealth through legal but immoral means and used that wealth to purchase political influence, pervert justice, and destroy the democratic community.
The novel’s Kansas setting is significant: White is arguing that the corruption of money can destroy even the most democratic, egalitarian community. The frontier town where Barclay grows up is presented as a genuine democratic society — neighbors helping neighbors, shared work, rough equality — and its transformation into a class-divided community controlled by Barclay’s money is White’s parable of what industrial capitalism does to American democracy.
Collecting A Certain Rich Man
First edition (Macmillan, New York, 1909): Cloth with illustration on cover.
Market values:
- First edition, fine: $40–$100
- Very good: $15–$40