Ragged Dick is a homeless fourteen-year-old bootblack, known to be an honest young man. He is generous and industrious, but he is a spendthrift. He is a good-looking boy that appears aristocratic with a frank and open face. Dick must handle con artists, bullies, false accusations of theft, and, most of all, overcoming his inability to read and write. Of particular interest are the descriptions of life on the streets of late 19-century New York City. Horatio Alger, Jr. (January 13, 1832 – July 18, 1899) was a prolific 19th-century American author, best known for his many formulaic juvenile novels about impoverished boys and their rise from humble backgrounds to lives of middle-class security and comfort through hard work, determination, courage, and honesty. His writings were characterized by the "rags-to-riches" narrative, which had a formative effect on America during the Gilded Age.