Erskine Preston Caldwell (December 17, 1903 – April 11, 1987) was an American novelist and short story writer.

[1][2] His writings about poverty, racism and social problems in his native Southern United States, in novels such as Tobacco Road (1932) and God's Little Acre (1933), won him critical acclaim.

With the publication of God's Little Acre, the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice instigated legal action against him for The Bastard.

Following their divorce Caldwell married photographer Margaret Bourke-White, collaborating with her on three photo-documentaries: You Have Seen Their Faces (1937), North of the Danube (1939), and Say, Is This The USA (1941).

[11][9] After he returned from World War II, Caldwell took up residence in Connecticut, then in Arizona with third wife, June Johnson (J.C. Martin).

Caldwell, a heavy smoker, died from complications of emphysema and lung cancer on April 11, 1987, in Paradise Valley, Arizona.

Although he never lived there, his stepson and fourth wife, Virginia Moffett Fletcher Caldwell Hibbs,[14][15] did, and wished him to be buried near his family.

[17] Erskine Caldwell's political sympathies were with the working class, and he used his experiences with farmers and common workers to write stories portraying their lives and struggles.

Caldwell wrote 25 novels, 150 short stories, twelve nonfiction collections, two autobiographies, and two books for young readers.