In her later works Caldwell explored the American Dream and wrote stories of the "rags to riches" course of life. Among these was her last great best-seller, "Captains and the Kings" (1972), which chronicles the rise to wealth of a poor Irish immigrant to America in the 1800s. "Captains and the Kings" was made into a television mini-series in 1976. Another was her last novel, "Answer As a Man" (1980). In 1952 she wrote "The Devil's Advocate", set in a dystopia where North America has become a Communist dictatorship.