Adrift in the City; Or, Oliver Conrad's Plucky Fight
1895
In 1895, Horatio Alger Jr. gave America one of his fiercest fighting boys. Oliver Conrad has no biological father to defend him, only a cruel stepfather and a bullying stepbrother who delight in his humiliation. When Roland Kenyon orders Oliver to fetch his ball like a servant, the confrontation that follows will determine everything: will Oliver submit to the Kenyon's abuse, or stand as the only honest man in a household built on lies? What follows is pure Alger: a boy of principle in a world designed to break him. Mr. Kenyon schemes to cheat Oliver of his rightful inheritance, Roland escalates his cruelty, and yet Oliver refuses to bow. This is not a story where the world bends to meet the hero. It is a story where the hero bends his own spine straight and refuses to look away from injustice, even when no one is watching, even when no one will thank him. Written at the height of Alger's powers, this novel captures what made millions of readers fall in love with the Striving Boy genre: the thundering belief that character is destiny, that a穷少年 can claw his way to dignity, and that the bravest battle is fought not with fists but with an unshakeable refusal to become what the world tries to make him.
