The Rules of the Game is the tale of 19th century California, with her beautiful forests and mountains, and the severe battle for the preservation of nature between the Government and financial companies. The main protagonist of the story is a young college man who goes to a lumber camp where he gets mistreated, but also finds a romance.

Stewart Edward White (1873-1946) was an American writer, novelist, and spiritualist. White's books were popular at a time when America was losing its vanishing wilderness. He was a keen observer of the beauties of nature and human nature, yet could render them in a plain-spoken style. Based on his own experience, whether writing camping journals or Westerns, he included pithy and fun details about cabin-building, canoeing, logging, gold-hunting, and guns and fishing and hunting.