Kennebunkport's Kenneth Roberts (1885 - 1957) is by most standards the father of the modern historical novel and the quintessential Maine writer. After graduation from Cornell, service in the army and a career as a writer for the Saturday Evening Post, Roberts turned to historical fiction under the influence of his neighbor novelist Booth Tarkington. Beginning with Arundel in 1930, the author produced more than a half dozen carefully researched works set in the Colonial or early National periods of American history. Roberts gave particular voice to the Loyalists and gave perhaps the first balanced view of Gen. Benedict Arnold. In 1957 he was awarded the special Pulitzer Prize for his lifetime work in "the creation of greater interest in our early American history."