In the collection “Sketches New and Old”, which includes short stories written at the turn of the 70s, the satirical denunciation of the glaring contradictions of American society and the ruthless and fierce competition in it continues. In a satirically sharpened, contrasting picture, the writer characterizes, in his own words, "the gap between the due and the existing." He created a whole gallery of satirical portraits of American "businessmen of the church" selling oil, cotton, speculators on the grain exchange, figures of the American Bible Society, accomplices of bankers Morgan and Dupon. The author draws the venality of government agencies, senators and congressmen, exposing the false ideology behind the word “freedom”, opposing the war with the Indians, angrily scourging American racism. He stands for the honor and conscience of the “sons of Lincoln,” corrupted by the ideology of racism. But bitterness, mischief and fun coexist in every story.
