T his nineteenth-century classic about the fall of a Methodist minister is "of great interest both as a novel and as a double-barrelled social document" ( Manchester Guardian).
The Damnation of Theron Ware is the story of a young pastor who comes to a small town in the Adirondacks to spread the gospel. Once he gets there, his congregation slowly leads him down a path of secular enlightenment, encouraging him to question the very same scripture he has devoted his life to. Through new friends, he has encounters beautiful art and music and gains new insights into the world of Darwinian science. But when he finds himself carried away by these fresh new experiences, where they lead him is not at all what he expected.
A forerunner of the classic naturalistic novels of the early twentieth century, Harold Frederic's work is considered one of the great American novels of his time.
"Containing the realism of Howells, the moral complexity of James, and the comic manner of Mark Twain, the novel-a finer book, incidentally, than Lewis's Elmer Gantry-warrants reading." - St. Louis Post-Dispatch

"The combination of delicate mannerliness and merciless savagery with which Frederic sets about abasing Theron is not easy to describe; but, if one could make the admittedly prodigious effort of imagining an Emma written from the point of view of Mr. Elton by an ebullient exile from Utica, New York... some idea of its shocking comprehensivity might be grasped." - Times Literary Supplement

Harold Frederic was an journalist and novelist from Utica, New York. The author of ten novels and several short story collections, he is regarded as one of the first naturalistic novelists in America. He died in England in 1898.

First published in 1896, The Damnation of Theron Ware follows a young Methodist minister who comes to a small, upstate New York town to spread the gospel. Instead, his congregation slowly leads him down a path of enlightenment, encouraging him to question the very same scripture he has devoted his life to. While he embraces this fresh perspective, where it leads him is not at all what he expected. A forerunner of the naturalistic novels of the twentieth century, Harold Frederic's work is considered one of the great American novels of his time.