In the Arena (Barnes & Noble Digital Library)

Booth Tarkington served in the Indiana House of Representatives in 1902; bosses, dirty tricks, vote fraud, and smoke-filled rooms bring these short fiction pieces about politics to life. Collected in 1905, the book includes “Boss Gorget,” “The Aliens,” “The Need of Money,” “Hector,” “Mrs. Protheroe,” and “Great Men’s Sons.”