Best known because of its author's insistence that he could write a novel without using the letter "e", Gadsby is the tale of fifty-year-old John Gadsby. Without using the letter 'e", author Ernest Vincent Wright describes Gadsby's efforts to mobilize the young people of his hometown, Branton Hills and revitalize the moribund town. Their "Organization of Youth" builds civic spirit and turns Branton Hills into a bustling, thriving city. As the story progresses from 1906 through World War I, Prohibition, and President Warren G. Harding's administration, Gadsby becomes mayor, and his crew grow into good all-American pillars of society, as their town's population grows from 2,000 to 60,000. The book is divided into two parts. The first part focuses on the city of Branton Hills and John Gadsby's place in it. The second part devotes more time to fleshing out the rest of the town's characters.