"The Sot-weed Factor" by John Barth is a historical novel published by Doubleday in 1967. Considered by some to be the greatest American novel ever written it follows the story of Ebenezer Cooke, self proclaimed ?poet and virgin? in the seventeenth century sets out to claim his inheritance in colonial Maryland and to write an epic marylandiad. As he struggles to preserve his innocence through a series of increasingly bizarre adventures, the marylandiad gives way to the sot weed factor ( early American for ?tobacco merchant?), a bitter satire on the new world. In this new edition the author has made a number of minor revisions to make this long narrative a quantum swifter and more graceful. *Interior book in good used condition. This is a hardback w/ dustjacket. Dustjacket shows signifcant wear including tears and missing sections. Binding secure and pages clean. See photos for detailed condition