Harold Bell Wright was an American author born on May 4, 1872, in a small town in Illinois. He became well-known for his novels that often depicted life in the American West. His most famous work, The Shepherd of the Hills, published in 1907, helped popularize the Ozark Mountains as a tourist destination. In addition to being a novelist, Wright was also a successful screenwriter and playwright. His writing often focused on themes of faith, morality, and the beauty of nature. Throughout his career, he published over a dozen novels, making him one of the early best-selling authors in the United States.