Dr John Fox

The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come Dr John Fox

This novel by John Fox is a thoughtful reminiscence of small town American life in Kentucky, leading up to and during the American Civil War.

First released in 1903, this novel follows the residents of the town of Kingdom Come as they mature. The principle character, Chad, is made to grow up quickly as the war affects life in the little town he lives in. Chad is ostracized by members of his family and his friends as he joins the Union Army, believing firmly in the abolition of slavery. His character is marked by compassion and understanding of all the people he encounters, giving the novel a moral element which remains poignant to this day.

The divisions present within Kentucky were noted by scholars and historians. Families in the towns and villages of the state were torn asunder by differences of opinion on whether the Union or the Confederacy should be supported. In this book, it is ultimately the choices Chad makes, and his unstinting loyalty to his own innate principles, that forms the deciding elements of this book's plot.

Written by John Fox partly in recollection of his own formative years in the 1860s, The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come was famously adapted by 20th Century Fox into a popular motion picture during the early 1960s. Although elements of the plot were streamlined in the movie, it remained true to the essential morals the author sought to convey.