Golden Age of Indiana Literature

[1] Wallace's Ben Hur: A Tale of the Christ became the best-selling book of the 19th century, and Riley became the most prominent poet of the age, writing poems that included "Little Orphant Annie".

Ade, a writer, syndicated newspaper columnist, and playwright, is best known for his use of street language and slang to describe urban life in "Stories of the Streets and of the Town", his newspaper column for the Chicago Record, and his fables in slang, humorous stories that featured vernacular speech and the liberal use of capitalization.

Ade's fables were published in his syndicated newspaper column, in magazines, and as a series of books, which earned him the nickname of the "Aesop of Indiana".

Ade also wrote several plays produced for the Broadway stage from 1900 to 1910, including The County Chairman (1903) and The College Widow (1904), his best-known theatrical works, which were adapted into motion pictures.

[3] The period corresponded to growth in other cultural areas including the creation of the Hoosier Group of landscape painters, and prominence of Indiana music composers like Paul Dresser.