OPINION | ON BOOKS: Author in the footnotes gets his due - Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Born in northwest London on Christmas Day 1867, almost from the beginning Finger embroidered his legend with fanciful details.

As a young man in London, Finger was embedded in the gay subculture at a time when having sex with another man could have resulted in several years in prison.

He also found time to write and publish 36 books after settling in Fayetteville.

Shores' scholarship and humane generosity gives us a rounded and robust portrait of a complex figure who might otherwise be consigned to the footnotes of academic volumes.

Charles J. Finger, like most people we know almost nothing about, turns out to have been a deeply interesting creature.