Editing Taylor Caldwell (section)

== Writings ==
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''Dynasty of Death'' was her first published work, a [[family saga]] lasting from 1837 to [[World War I]], about two families in western [[Pennsylvania]] who rise to control a great armaments business. The story was continued in ''The Eagles Gather'' (1940) and ''The Final Hour'' (1944).

As a writer Caldwell was praised for her intricately plotted and suspenseful stories, which depicted family tensions and the development of the U.S. from an agrarian society into the leading industrial state of the world. Caldwell's heroes are self-made men of pronounced ethnic background, such as the German immigrants in ''The Strong City'' (1942) and ''The Balance Wheel'' (1951). Her themes are ethnic, religious and personal intolerance (''The Wide House'', 1945), the failure of parental discipline (''Let Love Come Last'', 1949) and the conflict between the desire for power and money and the human values of love and sense of family (''Melissa'' (1948), ''A Prologue to Love'' (1962), and ''Bright Flows the River'' (1978).

In her later works, Caldwell explored the [[American Dream]] and wrote stories of the "rags to riches" course of life. Among these was her last great best-seller, ''[[Captains and the Kings]]'' (1972), which chronicles the rise to wealth of a poor Irish immigrant to America in the 1800s. ''Captains and the Kings'' was made into a [[television]] mini-series in 1976. Another was her last novel, ''Answer As a Man'' (1980). In 1952, she wrote ''The Devil's Advocate'', set in a [[dystopia]] where North America has become a Communist dictatorship.

She wrote many historical novels, including several about famous religious figures. ''Dear and Glorious Physician'' (1959) was about [[Luke the Evangelist|Saint Luke]]; ''Great Lion of God'' (1970) was about [[Paul of Tarsus|Saint Paul]]; and ''I, Judas'' (1977) was about [[Judas Iscariot]].

In ''The Earth Is the Lord's'' (1941),  she fictionalized [[Genghis Khan]]; in ''The Arm and the Darkness'' (1943), [[Cardinal Richelieu]]; in ''A Pillar of Iron'' (1965), the [[Roman Empire|Roman]] senator and orator [[Marcus Tullius Cicero|Cicero]]; and in ''Glory and the Lightning'' (1974), [[Aspasia]], mistress of the [[Classical Athens|Athenian]] leader [[Pericles]].

Caldwell addressed religious themes in several works. ''Answer As a Man'' begins with the church bells and ends with an evocation of renewed faith. ''Dialogues with the Devil'' (1967) is a correspondence between [[Lucifer]] and [[Michael (archangel)|Michael the Archangel]]. Mixed into this dialogue are old tales, stories of a lost continent and of other worlds, and theological speculations.