John Pendleton Kennedy

John Pendleton Kennedy (1795–1870) was an American novelist and politician born in Baltimore. He served in the Maryland legislature and the U.S. House of Representatives, and became Secretary of the Navy in 1852. Under the pen name Mark Littleton, Kennedy wrote historical novels, including Horse-Shoe Robinson: A Tale of the Tory Ascendency and Rob of the Bowl: A Legend of St. Inigoe's, as well as Quodlibet and a biography of William Wirt. His fiction draws on American history and frontier life, with legendary plots that recreate the social and political atmosphere of particular periods; his lively prose often carries a satirical, comic edge. Public information is limited, and his work remains little translated or studied in the Chinese-speaking world, yet he holds a place in the development of the nineteenth-century American historical novel.