''Adversary in the House'' (1947) is a

biographical novel The biographical novel is a genre of novel which provides a fictional account of a contemporary or historical person's life. Like other forms of biographical fiction, details are often trimmed or reimagined to meet the artistic needs of the fict ...

based on the life of prominent socialist

Eugene V. Debs Eugene Victor "Gene" Debs (November 5, 1855 – October 20, 1926) was an American socialist, political activist, trade unionist, one of the founding members of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), and five times the candidate of the Soc ...

and of his wife Kate, who was opposed to

socialism Socialism is a left-wing Economic ideology, economic philosophy and Political movement, movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to Private prop ...

.Kate Debs seemed to have been so hostile to Debs's socialist activities - it threatened her sense of middle-class respectability - that novelist Irving Stone was led to call her, in the title of his fictional portrayal of the life of Debs, the ''Adversary in the House''. (Daniel Bell, ''Marxian Socialism in the United States'', footnote on page 88) The book is

Irving Stone Irving Stone (born Tennenbaum, July 14, 1903 – August 26, 1989) was an American writer, chiefly known for his biographical novels of noted artists, politicians, and intellectuals. Among the best known are '' Lust for Life'' (1934), about the l ...

's portrayal of

's "tempestuous relationship with a wife who rejects the very values he holds most dear

Footnotes

1947 American novels Biographical novels Novels by Irving Stone Novels set in the 19th century Doubleday (publisher) books Eugene V. Debs {{1940s-bio-novel-stub