Acres of Diamonds Revisted

Russell H. Conwell's Acres of Diamonds has become popular several times in the almost eighty-five years since it first appeared in print. I read it sometime in the 1950's when it was considered one of the best inspirational works ever and came across it again in the 1980's. When I found it again in 2004 as a work now in the public domain and apparently destined for oblivion I determined to accept the challenge of its preservation. Acres of Diamonds is the tragic story of a well to do farmer who gripped by an almost obscene obsession sold everything to search for what the new owner of his farm found in his own back yard - the worlds most lucrative diamond mine. Russell H. Conwell told this story from the stage to more than 5 000 spellbound audiences over a period of many years gathering and adding other local stories of those who missed out on opportunities at home to fruitlessly search for wealth afar. Robert Shackleton tells the story of Conwell his friend and neighbor author speaker lawyer preacher Civil War Captain founder of Philadelphia''s Temple University biographer and colleague of several US Presidents friend and acquaintance of enough famous people to fill a couple of chapters of Who's Who. Among Conwell's early friends was revolutionary activist John Brown who may have been more responsible than any other individual for starting the US Civil War. The old song said;John Brown's body lies a molding in the graveHis soul goes marching on. It is my hope that through this book so too will the soul of Russell H. Conwell. Len McNally