Oliver Optic
William Taylor Adams (July 30, 1822 – March 27, 1897), pseudonym Oliver Optic, was a noted academic, author, and a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives. Adams was born in Medway, Massachusetts, in 1822 to Captain Laban Adams and Cat
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William Taylor Adams (July 30, 1822 – March 27, 1897), pseudonym Oliver Optic, was a noted academic, author, and a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives. Adams was born in Medway, Massachusetts, in 1822 to Captain Laban Adams and Catherine Johnson Adams. Adams first began to write at the age of 28, and his first book, Hatchie, the Guardian Slave (1853), was published under the pseudonym of Warren T. Ashton. It was only a modest success, but Adams was undaunted. In 1855 Adams produced his first real hit, the initial volume in the Boat Club series. Adams continued to write until he died in Dorchester, March 27, 1897. Among his best-known works were the two "Blue & Gray" series, which were set during the Civil War.
Adams wrote well over 100 books in total, most of them for a boy audience, and the majority of these in series of four to six volumes. He never wrote under his own name. Though "Oliver Optic" was the pseudonym he used most, his work also appeared under the bylines "Irving Brown," "Clingham Hunter, M.D.," and "Old Stager." Like many children's authors of his day, he was additionally an editor, and many of his works first appeared in Oliver Optic's Magazine.
Adams' writing was criticized by Louisa May Alcott, among others. Alcott used her story, Eight Cousins, to deplore Adams' use of slang, his cast of bootblacks and newsboys, and his stories of police courts and saloons. Adams responded in kind, pointing out Alcott's own use of slang and improbable plot twists.
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