While growing up I read the novels of famed historical novelist Kenneth Roberts (Arundel, Rabble in Arms, and the spectacular Northwest Passage). In the late 1980s, after learning that no critical book had been written on him, I began researching his life and works. I corresponded with people all over the country as I tracked down his letters and manuscripts. I also spent quite a bit of time poring over documents at the Library of Congress and in libraries all along the east coast, especially in Maine, where Roberts lived most of his life. All of this research resulted in two books, Kenneth Roberts: The Man and His Works (Scarecrow Press, 1989) and Kenneth Roberts (Twayne / Macmillan, 1993), as well as assorted articles and essays for magazines, journals, and reference books. One lengthy article appeared in the April 1990 issue of the Library Bulletin of Dartmouth College, the institution that now houses my Roberts papers. Here is the author at work on maps of Daniel Boone’s Wilderness Road for his novel Oliver Wiswell.