Product Description Published in 1924, Subsoil, by George F. Hummel, is a collection of short stories about Southold- which Hummel called "Norwold"- a small village on the eastern tip of Long Island, and its residents. Praised by the New York Times in 1924 as a "definite, constructive piece of writing, remarkably free from preconceptions and misinterpretations... that stands definitely on the plane of the universal", Subsoil is a brutally frank, insightful, and entertaining look at the denizens of this isolated rural community of Long Island, circa. 1920. Hummel was the Garrison Keillor of his time, poking fun at conventions, and piercing the veneer of normalcy underlying life in the seemingly placid town. The book has been reissued, with an introduction by Harry Katz, who lives within 100 yards of Hummel's homestead, for the first time in 84 years. About the Author George F. Hummel was born in Southold in 1882 and died in New York in 1952. He wrote 11 books and plays, four of which were set in Southold, Long Island. His books were well received in the New York Times and other periodicals, but through fate and circumstance, he fell into complete oblivion after his death. He is Long Island's Long Lost Author, who wrote more novels about the East End of Long Island than any other author. He was also the Director of Operations for the firm of Boni and Liveright for a brief period of time, which published such literary powerhouses as Dreiser, Hemingway, and Ezra Pound. Harry Katz, who lives within 100 yards of Hummel's homestead in Southold, has written the introduction to this lost classic of American regional literature.