Dodo Collections brings you another classic from Irvin S. Cobb, ‘A Plea for Old Cap Collier.’

This is a short novel in which the author makes the case for the value of dime novels as a more fun, immediate read than the ’classic’ books more in favor with parents and educators. He looks back onto his own childhood to provide examples.

Cobb joined the staff of the magazine Saturday Evening Post during 1911, and covered the Great War for the magazine. At the same time, he wrote a book about his experiences, published during 1915, titled Paths Of Glory. After a second visit to France to cover the Great War, Cobb publicized the achievements of the unit known as the Harlem Hellfighters, most notably, Croix de Guerre recipients Henry Lincoln Johnson and Needham Roberts. His article ’Young Black Joe, ’ published on August 24, 1918 in the Saturday Evening Post and later republished in Cobb’s book, The Glory of the Coming, highlighted the discipline and courage displayed by black American soldiers fighting in Europe during World War I. The three-page article and half-page photograph reached a national audience of more than two million readers, and was widely reprinted in the black press.