Roberts, Kenneth [Lewis] (1885–1957), Maine novelist, graduated from Cornell (1908), became a journalist, and later achieved recognition as a vivid and accurate historical novelist. His fiction includes
Arundel (1930), the story of Benedict Arnold's expedition against Quebec;
The Lively Lady (1931), dealing with the War of 1812;
Rabble in Arms (1933) and
Captain Caution (1934), sequels to
Arundel; Northwest Passage (1937), the story of Robert Rogers, the campaigns of his Rangers against the Indians, and his later attempts to find a Northwest Passage;
Oliver Wiswell (1940), a tale of the American Revolution as seen by a colonial Loyalist soldier and historian;
Lydia Bailey (1947), a picaresque romance about a young Maine lawyer's pursuit of a girl through Toussaint's uprising in Haiti, the Tripolitan War, and political machinations of the Federal era; and
Boon Island (1956), based on the shipwreck of 18th‐century Britons off Maine's coast. He also wrote
For Authors Only (1935), essays showing his salty humor;
Trending into Maine (1938, revised 1944), including writings of others on his native state;
March to Quebec (1938), compiling source materials of
Arundel; I Wanted To Write (1949), on literary problems; several books on his belief in dowsing, including
Seventh Sense (1953) and
Water Unlimited (1957); and
The Battle of Cowpens (1958), a history of a Revolutionary War engagement.
