Like American author Horatio Alger, Joseph Altsheler was also a popular writer of juvenile adventure books in the early 20th century. Many of his fictional works feature Henry Ware and are based on historical events. Altsheler wrote stories after being stranded in Germany when World War I broke out, such as The Forest of Swords (1915). How important is it to write of one's own experiences? do we really need to have gone through hell and back to write about it? are first-hand accounts better than fictionalised ones?