“Dynasty of Death” centers around two families whose small munitions factory evolved into a powerful multi-national empire—a sweeping saga stretching from the 1830s to the eve of World War I. Her characters were embedded in what political writers and investigative journalists now call the military-industrial complex. Caldwell’s publishers thought such a book would not be taken seriously with an author named Janet Reback, so they chose her more masculine sounding middle names of Taylor Caldwell as a nom de plume. It worked.
Dynasty of Death was the debut novel of Taylor Caldwell. When she submitted the manuscript to Maxwell Perkins in 1937, she was an unknown housewife from Buffalo, New York; but this novel launched her prolific career.
The novel is an epic multigenerational saga set in Windsor, Pennsylvania, a fictional mill town on the Allegheny River north of Pittsburgh. The story covers the years from 1837 to the eve of World War I, telling about the Bouchard and Barbour families, who grow their small munitions factory into a great international corporation. Joseph Barbour is a servant, who becomes a successful businessman and arms manufacturer. His son Martin is not interested in money, he is an idealist and altruist. Ernest, the elder son, is an egoist and believes that money is the greatest power in the world. The battle between these two brothers is epic in its emotional toll on both of them and their extended families.
This story of the Bouchard clan is continued through World War II in Caldwell's later novels The Eagles Gather (1940) and The Final Hour (1944), although the Pittsburgh setting is largely left behind as the family takes its place on the world stage. The Saturday Review noted, “The armaments industry is a subject which fiction does well to take up; and Mr. Caldwell’s attack is handled with the patience and skill of a prosecuting attorney.” Caldwell's gift for story-telling and swift-moving prose makes this a delightful read for those who enjoy epic family sagas. ( )