Pioneer, Go Home! — Richard Powell

This 50th anniversary edition restores Richard Powell s uproarious 1959 New York Times bestselling novel and includes a new preface by the author. Pioneer, Go Home! ranks among the most entertaining of Powell s 19 published novels. Originally released by Scribner s in 1959, it was the immediate follow-up to the author s best-known novel, The Philadelphian. Like its predecessor, Pioneer received rave reviews, spent weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, and was made into a popular movie (1962 s Follow That Dream starring Elvis Presley). The similarities end there, for with the new novel Powell chose satirical comedy over high drama with frequently sidesplitting results. Pioneer, Go Home! relates the adventures of the Kwimpers, a motley clan of New Jersey Pineys who break down on the side of a southern highway project and decide to claim squatter s rights. Call them hicks or bumpkins, if you like, but these Kwimpers are a heap more resourceful than most folks give them credit for and at least ten times as stubborn! When the government orders them to vacate, Pop Kwimper gets his dander up and the die is cast. Hilarity ensues as the family defends its humble homestead against a massed onslaught of conniving bureaucrats, Mother Nature, and the mob. This warm and witty satire of little man versus Big Gummint features a fast-paced story, a wonderful cast of characters, and dozens of memorable, laugh-out-loud moments. You can t help but cheer for the heroic Kwimpers as they thumb their noses at the authorities, make a living off the land, and stand up to gun-happy gamblers. Meantime, young Toby Kwimper ( he has the strength of a giant because his heart is pure ) and the babysitter, the remarkable Holly Jones, find the time to fall in love though it takes Toby some time to realize that Holly is real growed up. Fish and fishing are recurring themes in many of Richard Powell s novels, and there s plenty of both to go around in Pioneer, Go Home!