LibGuides: American Literature Late 19th Century: Read the Lit

Featured eBooks

Go to A-Z Databases: eBooks to search for more eBooks.

Want more on finding books or eBooks? Try our How to Use Books & eBooks guides.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain Huckleberry Finn, Tom Sawyer's best friend, escapes down the Mississippi on a raft with the runaway slave, Jim. One of the iconic American novels, it caused a stir when published because of the vernacular used by Twain to characterize Jim and the people of the Mississippi. Twain's criticism of racial segregation and the treatment of slaves was thrown into turbulent criticisms at the turn of the century however, when he himself was accused of racist stereotyping and frequent use of the word "nigger".
Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain The orphan Tom Sawyer, raised by his aunt, is never out of trouble for long. A mischievous, charming boy (not to mention genius at escaping from trouble), Tom's adventures involve many unwitting bystanders. From one moment to the next, the boy could change into a pirate, or ship's captain - when he's not trying to win Becky Thatcher for a sweetheart, of course. Tom is also a friend of Twain's other beloved boy-hero, Huckleberry Finn.
The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton The Age of Innocence is an intimate portrayal of East Coast American society in the 19th century—and the human lives that came into conflict with it. Newland Archer is heir to one of New York City's first families, and his bride-to-be is everything he ever hoped. Then his fiancee's older cousin leaves her European husband and appears in New York, where she refuses to conform to society and her family's wishes. Archer is at first angered and then intrigued by her. Their passionate relationship challenges everything he believes and ultimately suffers at the hands of society and family obligation.
The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton he Age of Innocence is an intimate portrayal of East Coast American society in the 19th century--and the human lives that came into conflict with it. Newland Archer is heir to one of New York City's first families, and his bride-to-be is everything he ever hoped. Then his fiancee's older cousin leaves her European husband and appears in New York, where she refuses to conform to society and her family's wishes. Archer is at first angered and then intrigued by her. Their passionate relationship challenges everything he believes and ultimately suffers at the hands of society and family obligation. The novel won the Pulitzer Prize; Wharton was the first woman to win it.
The Ambassadors by Henry James One of Henry James' greatest novels, The Ambassadors is a dark comedy from 1903. Lewis Lambert Strether travels to Europe to find his widowed fiancée's son, planning to bring him back to the family business, but once there Strether meets with unexpected complications. Taken by perceived contrasts between European and American culture, The Ambassadors plays out a theme of liberation, from a stifled emotional life to a more abundant and gracious existence.
An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser Theodore Dreiser's An American Tragedy (1925) is nothing less than what the title holds it to be; it is the story of a weak-willed young man who is both villain and victim (the victim of a valueless, materialistic society) and someone who ultimately destroys himself. Dreiser modeled the story of Clyde Griffiths on a real-life murder that took place in 1906; a young social climber of considerable charm murdered his pregnant girlfriend to get her out of the way so that he could instead play to the affections of a rich girl who had begun to notice him.
The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man by James Weldon Johnson James Weldon Johnson's The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man is the fictional account of the life of a young American man in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. With his bi-racial heritage, the Ex-Colored Man is faced with the choice of embracing his black culture and its ragtime music, or passing as a white man and living a mediocre middle-class existence. While not actually an autobiography, Johnson based the book on his own life and the lives of people he knew.
The Awakening and Selected Short Stories by Kate Chopin The Awakening (1899) appears in this collection of short stories. Upon publication of the story Chopin's writing was highly praised, but the public was outraged by the content and only one edition was printed. The Awakening was rediscovered in the 1960s, when Chopin was praised for raising feminist questions. The story follows the personal discovery of a married woman of the things she did not even realize she was missing.
The Call of the Wild by Jack London The Call of the Wild is Jack London's most popular book and is considered by many to be his best. Telling the story of Buck, a domesticated dog whose wild instincts begin to kick-in while serving as a sled dog in the treacherous Yukon. The novel's tone is often dark, and despite being considered juvenile literature by some, it portrays much violence and cruelty. The Call of the Wild was followed in 1906 by White Fang with its mirroring plot of a wild wolf becoming domesticated by a miner.
The Call of the Wild by Jack London The Call of the Wild is Jack London's most popular book and is considered by many to be his best. Telling the story of Buck, a domesticated dog whose wild instincts begin to kick-in while serving as a sled dog in the treacherous Yukon. The novel's tone is often dark, and despite being considered juvenile literature by some, it portrays much violence and cruelty. The Call of the Wild was followed in 1906 by White Fang with its mirroring plot of a wild wolf becoming domesticated by a miner.
A Chance Acquaintance by William Dean Howells In this short novel from the "Dean of American Letters," a young woman traveling with her aunt and uncle makes the acquaintance of an unusual gentleman from New England. Though at first she is puzzled and perhaps even repelled by his eccentric worldview and personality, she gradually begins to feel drawn toward him.
The Complete Letters of Constance Fenimore Woolson by Constance Fenimore Woolson "Meticulously edited and contextualized, Dean's edition of Woolson's complete letters opens the door to an extraordinarily gifted writer's world. It offers depth to Woolson studies, but it also connects Woolson to the nineteenth-century literary marketplace in new and fascinating ways. We see Woolson the tough but astute literary critic, the precise businesswoman, and the keen cultural critic of the North, the South, and Europe. Perhaps most importantly, Woolson's letters counter many false impressions of an isolated woman. This was a life lived."--Sharon M. Harris, University of Connecticut "Uncovers the complex, witty, cosmopolitan, imaginative Woolson, who appears more obliquely in her prose and poetry. Peopled by the famous, the infamous, and the unknown, the letters sparkle with intelligence and energy, providing insight into contemporary attitudes that Woolson sometimes shared, sometimes satirized, and sometimes defied, while they reveal an ample sensibility that anticipates today's concerns for the environment, regional and national identity, and global citizenship."--Karen L. Kilcup, author of Robert Frost and Feminine Literary Tradition "The Complete Letters of Constance Fenimore Woolson vibrate with the intelligence and sensitivity of an immensely private woman who reached out through her correspondence in search of like-minded souls. She found comrades among some of the most accomplished writers of her era as well as among men of science. Ultimately, these letters reveal the broad scope of a well-traveled life and the depth of an intensely observant artist. Every reader interested in the lives of nineteenth-century authors or women should savor every one of this extraordinary writer's letters."--Anne Boyd Rioux, president, Constance Fenimore Woolson Society Constance Fenimore Woolson (1840-1894) led a colorful life, travelling throughout the U.S. and Europe, becoming a literary star, whose work was published in the premier magazines of her day. She wrote critically acclaimed novels, short stories, and poetry before her mysterious and untimely death in Venice at age fifty-three. Sharon Dean has recompiled, dated, and, in many cases, physically reassembled Woolson's extant correspondence from nearly forty sources. A trenchant critic of the customs and mores of her age, Woolson, in her letters, offers rich personal detail alongside nuanced ruminations on contemporary political and social conditions. Sharon L. Dean is professor emerita of English at Rivier College in New Hampshire. One of the foremost experts on Constance Fenimore Woolson, her most recent publication is Constance Fenimore Woolson: Selected Stories and Travel Narratives.  
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain A Connecticut Yankee is Mark Twain's most ambitious work, a tour de force with a science-fiction plot told in the racy slang of a Hartford workingman, sparkling with literary hijinks as well as social and political satire. Mark Twain characterized his novel as "one vast sardonic laugh at the trivialities, the servilities of our poor human race." The Yankee, suddenly transported from his native nineteenth-century America to the sleepy sixth-century Britain of King Arthur and the Round Table, vows brashly to "boss the whole country inside of three weeks." And so he does. Emerging as "The Boss," he embarks on an ambitious plan to modernize Camelot--with unexpected results.
A Country Doctor and Selected Stories and Sketches by Sarah Orne Jewett Dig into the diverse body of work of one of the foremost practitioners of short fiction in nineteenth-century America, Sarah Orne Jewett. This wide-ranging volume includes a complete novel, A County Doctor, as well as a grab bag of shorter sketches and stories.
Crane Prose and Poetry by Stephen Crane Here in one volume are all of Stephen Crane's best-known works, including the novels The Red Badge of Courage, about a young and confused Union soldier under fire for the first time; Maggie: A Girl of the Streets, a vivid portrait of slum life and a young girl's fall; George's Mother, about New York's Bowery and its effect on a young workingman; The Third Violet, about a bohemian artist's country romance; and The Monster, a novella about sacrifice and rescue. The stories collected here include masterpieces like "The Open Boat," "The Blue Hotel," and "The Bride Comes to the Yellow Sky," as well as tales of childhood in small-town America. In his journalism, the best of which is presented here, Crane covered the Spanish-American and Grego-Turkish wars, traveled through Mexico and the West, and reported on the seamier sides of New York City life. The volume concludes with The Black Riders and War Is Kind, collections of epigrammatic free verse that look back to Emily Dickinson and forward to Imagism. LIBRARY OF AMERICA is an independent nonprofit cultural organization founded in 1979 to preserve our nation's literary heritage by publishing, and keeping permanently in print, America's best and most significant writing. The Library of America series includes more than 300 volumes to date, authoritative editions that average 1,000 pages in length, feature cloth covers, sewn bindings, and ribbon markers, and are printed on premium acid-free paper that will last for centuries.
Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton In the fictional New England town of Starkfield, an unnamed narrator is forced to stay at the home of Ethan Frome during a winter storm. He relates his encounter with Frome, "the most striking figure in Starkfield, he was but the ruin of a man, with a careless powerful look - in spite of a lameness checking each step like the jerk of a chain". When the beautiful cousin of Frome's bitter wife comes to help with housekeeping, Frome's attraction to her does not go unnoticed. Edith Wharton is a Pulitzer-Prize-winning author.
The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry The Gift of the Magi is a treasured short story written by O. Henry. A young and very much in love couple can barely afford their one-room apartment, let alone the extra expense of getting Christmas presents for one another. But each is determined to show their love for the other in this traditional time of giving; each sells a thing they hold most dear in order to afford a present, with poignant and touching results that capture their love for one another.
The Gilded Age by Mark Twain; Charles Dudley Warner The only book that Mark Twain ever wrote in collaboration with another author, The Gilded Age is a novel that viciously and hilariously satirizes the greed, materialism, and corruption that characterized much of upper-class America in the nineteenth century. The title term -- inspired by a line in Shakespeare's King John -- has become synonymous with the excess of the era.
The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton The House of Mirth is an uncompromising depiction of 19th-century New York society. Lily Bart is a society lady who is unwilling to marry for love, but equally unwilling to marry as society dictates. She sabotages every advantageous opportunity she receives, until her society friends begin to hasten her downfall for their own ends.
Jewett Novels and Stories by Sarah Orne Jewett; Michael Davitt Bell (Editor) In her nuanced and sharply etched novels and short stories, Sarah Orne Jewett captured the inner life and hidden emotional drama of outwardly quiet New England coastal towns. Set against the background of long Maine winters, hardscrabble farms, and the sea, her stories of independent, capable women struggling to find fulfillment in their lives and work have a surprisingly modern resonance. The Library of America edition is the first one-volume collection to include all her best fiction and it reveals the full stature of the writer Willa Cather ranked with Mark Twain and Nathaniel Hawthorne. Jewett struck her characteristic note in her first collection, Deephaven (1877), stories whose exploration of Maine life moved and delighted readers when they were first published in the Atlantic Monthly, and opened a new vein of regional fiction in American literature. Of the distinctly local quality of her writing, Cather later said: "The language her people speak to each other is a native tongue. No writer can invent it. It is made in the hard school of experience, in communities where language has been undisturbed long enough to take on color and character from the nature and experiences of the people." The novel A Country Doctor (1884), inspired by both her own life and that of her doctor father, is often read as a veiled autobiography. Her focus here is on a woman who must choose between marriage and her commitment to a medical career, a decision she defends passionately against the narrowness of those around her: "God would not give us the same talents if what were right for men were wrong for women." Jewett's masterpiece, The Country of the Pointed Firs (1896), brings to imaginative life the faded trading port of Dunnet Landing, Maine, re-creating in spare, impressionistic prose the rhythms and textures of a communal society of poor fishermen and farmers, with its traditional country of rituals and its stoically endured tragedies. In these linked stories we meet some of Jewett's most unforgettable characters--a woman who withdraws from society to live alone on an island, a retired sea captain haunted by old superstitions, a herb-gatherer keeping alive an old knowledge of homeopathic remedies. In the related "Dunnet Landing stories," Jewett offers further glimpses of her fictional town, often delineating with unique sensitivity the theme of older people striving to live with dignity and security. Other stories include "A White Heron," about a girl's love for both a young ornithologist and the heron for which he is searching, the haunting "Miss Tempy's Watchers," and more tales humorous, satiric, and poignant. LIBRARY OF AMERICA is an independent nonprofit cultural organization founded in 1979 to preserve our nation's literary heritage by publishing, and keeping permanently in print, America's best and most significant writing. The Library of America series includes more than 300 volumes to date, authoritative editions that average 1,000 pages in length, feature cloth covers, sewn bindings, and ribbon markers, and are printed on premium acid-free paper that will last for centuries.
Legends and Tales by Bret Harte Author Bret Harte was captivated by the American West, and in this compelling volume, he delves into the rich folk tradition of the region, retelling a number of the myths, stories and legends of the area in his own unique voice, with interesting results.
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott Louisa May Alcott wrote Little Women in two parts, each resoundingly popular and receiving critical acclaim. The novel follows the lives of the four March sisters, Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy, from childhood into maturity. The journey is not an easy one, and each is humbled and ultimately uplifted by her encounters with love, society and death. The work is based loosely on Alcott's experiences growing up with three sisters.
The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg: And Other Stories by Mark Twain Curl up with a collection of stories from the pen of one of the masters of American fiction and humor writing. This carefully curated volume of Twain's short stories represents a cross-section of some the author's finest work, including the title piece, which follows a stranger's plot to corrupt a purportedly honest community.
The March Family Trilogy by William Dean Howells n this epic family saga that comprises three complete novels, readers can follow the lives of Isabel and Basil March from their honeymoon (Their Wedding Journey), through Basil's attempt to make a career change (A Hazard of New Fortunes), and finally through a trip the couple makes to Germany decades into their marriage (Their Silver Wedding Journey).
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge opens with the story's hero, Peyton Farquhar, hanging bound from a bridge, awaiting hanging. Farquhar is a Confederate sympathizer in the American Civil War and has been brought to this end by a Union spy. The novel was unique in its time for its jumbled chronology and is also famous for its surprising conclusion.
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck A controversial tale of friendship and tragedy during the Great Depression Over seventy-five years since its first publication, Steinbeck's tale of commitment, loneliness, hope, and loss remains one of America's most widely read and taught novels. An unlikely pair, George and Lennie, two migrant workers in California during the Great Depression, grasp for their American Dream. They hustle work when they can, living a hand-to-mouth existence. For George and Lennie have a plan: to own an acre of land and a shack they can call their own. When they land jobs on a ranch in the Salinas Valley, the fulfillment of their dream seems to be within their grasp. But even George cannot guard Lennie from the provocations, nor predict the consequences of Lennie's unswerving obedience to the things George taught him.
A Passionate Pilgrim by Henry James Like many of Henry James' tales, A Passionate Pilgrim plays on tensions between American and European culture. Two Americans living in England attempt to secure a contested inheritance before one of the pair, the destitute and terminally ill Clement Searle, finally succumbs to his illness.
The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James The Portrait of a Lady is perhaps Henry James' greatest novel. It tells the story of Isabel Archer, a young American heiress who "affronts her destiny". Dealing with one of James' recurrent themes, the American in Europe, and the differences between the two cultures, The Portrait of a Lady is a tale of the conspiracy to separate Isabel from her fortune and the value of autonomy and accountability.
The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane Hailed as one of American literature's most influential works, The Red Badge of Courage has a young recruit facing the trials and cruelties of war. Stephen Crane's 1895 novel is set in the American Civil War. Private Henry Fleming flees from battle and his battalion, considering all lost. Stumbling upon injured soldiers, he feels the shame of deserting and of not possessing the "red badge of courage", the wounds of war. But later when Henry rejoins his regiment and is ordered into a hopeless battle, he finds a chance to finally prove his courage as a man.
The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane Hailed as one of American literature's most influential works, The Red Badge of Courage has a young recruit facing the trials and cruelties of war. Stephen Crane's 1895 novel is set in the American Civil War. Private Henry Fleming flees from battle and his battalion, considering all lost. Stumbling upon injured soldiers, he feels the shame of deserting and of not possessing the "red badge of courage", the wounds of war. But later when Henry rejoins his regiment and is ordered into a hopeless battle, he finds a chance to finally prove his courage as a man.
Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser A country girl moves to the big city and lives her own version of the American Dream by becoming mistress to the men of her choice and so working her way to fame as an actress. Sinclair Lewis said of the novel in 1930, "Dreiser's great first novel, Sister Carrie, which he dared to publish thirty long years ago and which I read twenty-five years ago, came to housebound and airless America like a great free Western wind, and to our stuffy domesticity gave us the first fresh air since Mark Twain and Whitman."
Some Short Stories by Henry James Get acquainted with the work of one of the most accomplished practitioners of literary realism, Henry James, in this collection of tales. In "Flickerbridge," an American recuperating in the home of an English relative falls in love with the unfamiliar cultural setting; In "Mrs. Medwin," a social mover and shaker uses what some might see as a liability to her advantage.
The Souls of Black Folk by W. E. B. Du Bois The Souls of Black Folk is the seminal work by Du Bois on race in late 19th-century North America. The way we think about and examine race today stems from his ideas. He spoke of the "double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one's self through the eyes of others," and of the progress and obstacles to progress of the black American.
Tales of Trail and Town by Bret Harte In this varied collection of short stories, Bret Harte's unparalleled talent for crafting indelible characters shines through. In "The Judgment of Bolinas Plain," an unhappy wife escapes from her dull life by absconding with a circus acrobat, setting off a tragic chain of events. In a tale evoking the naturalism of French writer Emile Zola, "The Ancestors of Peter Atherly," the Atherly family's influence on the mining town it founded is explored.
Tennessee's Partner by Bret Harte In this darkly humorous short story, a miner is subjected to mortifying humiliation in front of the entire camp and takes matters into his own hands to set things right. From a toxic friendship to a marriage that's doomed to fail, "Tennessee's Partner" is a bracing case study of the dark side of human relationships.
The Turn of the Screw by Henry James The Turn of the Screw is s ghostly Gothic tale by Henry James. A masterpiece in ambivalence and the uncanny, The Turn of the Screw tells the story of a young woman who is hired as governess to two seemingly innocent children in an isolated country house. As the tale progresses she begins to see the ghost of her dead predecessor. Or does she? The story is so ambivalent and eerie, such a psychological thriller, that few can agree on exactly what takes place. James masters "the strange and sinister embroidered on the very type of the normal and easy" in this chilling Victorian classic.
Up from Slavery by Booker T. Washington Delve into the turbulent roots of race relations in the United States with this inspirational account from Booker T. Washington, a one-time slave who became an important advocate for African-American education and founded several well-known institutions of higher learning, including the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. Up From Slavery details Washington's life and outlines his sometimes-controversial views on education, social justice, and racial equality
Up from Slavery by Booker T. Washington Delve into the turbulent roots of race relations in the United States with this inspirational account from Booker T. Washington, a one-time slave who became an important advocate for African-American education and founded several well-known institutions of higher learning, including the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. Up From Slavery details Washington's life and outlines his sometimes-controversial views on education, social justice, and racial equality.
Urban Sketches by Bret Harte This varied collection of essays, sketches and tales from Bret Harte will charm readers. In "Surprising Adventures of Master Charles Summerton," a five-year-old boy runs away from home and encounters the wider world, and in "Melons," a seven-year-old boy brings a rare treat to his fellow ragamuffins.
Washington Square by Henry James Washington Square by Henry James is the story of the gentle, dull Catherine Sloper who falls for the ambivalent Morris Townsend, who her father believes is a fortune hunter. When Catherine's father refuses to countenance the marriage and threatens to disinherit her if she proceeds, the dutiful Catherine is unable to choose between her father and the man of her dreams. Often compared to Austen for the precision and elegance of the prose Washington Square is a beautiful tragicomic story that is one of James' bestloved novels.
What Maisie Knew by Henry James Maisie's parents go through an acrimonious divorce when she is very young, and the court decrees that she will travel between them, spending time with each. They do not hesitate to use her in their war against each other, and she is neglected and abandoned by them as they each remarry and then take further lovers. The story follows her to maturity, when she is able to decide her own fate.
White Fang by Jack London Jack London's White Fang is the story of a wolf-dog's journey from wildness into becoming civilized by humanity. Set in Canada's Yukon, a lot of the novel is told from an animal point of view, exploring how animals might see us, and see the world around them. White Fang's mirror novel is The Call of the Wild, London's best-known work, in which a civilized dog slowly becomes a wild animal.
The Wings of the Dove by Henry James Young Londoners Kate and Merton are engaged, but have no money to marry on. When the wealthy but terminally ill American heiress Milly arrives in London, Kate schemes for a way to inherit her fortune. But when Kate achieves all she had hoped for, she finds that the money and the gentle, beautiful Milly have changed everything.
The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman Charlotte Perkins Gilman's 1892 short story, The Yellow Wallpaper is a valuable piece of American feminist literature that reveals attitudes toward the psychological health of women in the nineteenth century. Diagnosed with "temporary nervous depression - a slight hysterical tendency" by her physician husband, a woman is confined to an upstairs bedroom. Descending into psychosis at the complete lack of stimulation, she starts obsessing over the room's yellow wallpaper: "It is the strangest yellow, that wall-paper! It makes me think of all the yellow things I ever saw - not beautiful ones like buttercups, but old foul, bad yellow things. But there is something else about that paper - the smell! ... The only thing I can think of that it is like is the color of the paper! A yellow smell."
Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman Charlotte Perkins Gilman's 1892 short story, The Yellow Wallpaper is a valuable piece of American feminist literature that reveals attitudes toward the psychological health of women in the nineteenth century. Diagnosed with "temporary nervous depression - a slight hysterical tendency" by her physician husband, a woman is confined to an upstairs bedroom. Descending into psychosis at the complete lack of stimulation, she starts obsessing over the room's yellow wallpaper: "It is the strangest yellow, that wall-paper! It makes me think of all the yellow things I ever saw - not beautiful ones like buttercups, but old foul, bad yellow things. But there is something else about that paper - the smell! ... The only thing I can think of that it is like is the color of the paper! A yellow smell."

Featured Print Books

Search OneSearch for books, eBooks and media items in COM Library.

Ambrose Bierce: The Devil's Dictionary, Tales, & Memoirs by Ambrose Bierce This volume gathers the most celebrated and significant of Bierce's writings. In the Midst of Life (Tales of Soldiers and Civilians), his collection of short fiction about the Civil War, which includes the masterpieces "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" and "Chickamauga," is suffused with a fiercely ironic sense of the horror and randomness of war. Can Such Things Be? brings together "The Death of Halpin Frayser," "The Damned Thing," "The Moonlit Road," and other tales of terror that make Bierce the genre's most significant American practitioner between Poe and Lovecraft.
Autobiography of Mark Twain by Mark Twain The strict instruction that many of these texts remain unpublished for 100 years meant that when they came out, he would be "dead, and unaware, and indifferent," and that he was therefore free to speak his "whole frank mind." The year 2010 marks the 100th anniversary of Twain's death.
Black Reconstruction in America 1860-1880 by W. E. B. Du Bois The pioneering work in the study of the role of Black Americans during Reconstruction by the most influential Black intellectual of his time. This pioneering work was the first full-length study of the role black Americans played in the crucial period after the Civil War, when the slaves had been freed and the attempt was made to reconstruct American society. Hailed at the time, Black Reconstruction in America 1860-1880 has justly been called a classic.
The Booker T. Washington Papers by Booker T. Washington The memoirs and accounts of the Black educator are presented with letters, speeches, personal documents, and other writings reflecting his life and career
The Call of the Wild and White Fang by Jack London The Call of the Wild centers on a domesticated dog, Buck, who is kidnapped and sold to Klondike gold hunters. To survive Buck must listen to the Call and learn the ways of his wolf-ancestors, who guide him from within. White Fang tells the story of a half-wolf, half-dog nearly destroyed by the vicious cruelty of men.
Dreiser: An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser This Library of America volume contains the novel that is the culmination of Theodore Dreiser's elementally powerful fictional art.
Dreiser: Sister Carrie ; Jennie Gerhardt ; Twelve men by Theodore Dreiser Theodore Dreiser was arguably the most important figure in the development of fiction in the twentieth century. In this Library of America volume are presented the first two novels and a little-known collection of biographical sketches by the man about whom H. L. Mencken said, "American writing, before and after his time, differed almost as much as biology before and after Darwin."
The Gift of Black Folk: The Negroes in the Making of America by W. E. B. Du Bois Although the Civil War marked an end to slavery in the United States, it would take another fifty years to establish the country's civil rights movement. Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois was among the first generation of African-American scholars to spearhead this movement towards equality. As cofounder of the NAACP, he sought to initiate equality through social change, and as a talented writer, he created books and essays that provide a revealing glimpse into the black experience of the times. In The Gift of Black Folk, Du Bois recounts the history of African Americans and their many unsung contributions to American society. He chronicles their role in the early exploration of America, their part in developing the country's agricultural industry, their courage on the battlefields, and their creative genius in virtually every aspect of American culture. He also highlights the contributions of black women, proposing that their freedom could lead to freedom for all women. The Gift of Black Folk provides a powerful picture of the many struggles that paved the way for freedom and equality in our nation.
Howells - Novels, 1886-1888 by William Dean Howells William Dean Howells was born in Martins Ferry, Ohio, on March 1, 1837. His father was a printer and newspaperman, and the family moved from town to town. Howells went to school where he could. As a boy he began learning the printer's skill. By the time he was in his teens he was setting type for his own verse.
James Weldon Johnson - Writings by James Weldon Johnson The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man(1912), James Weldon Johnsons first book and the first modernist novel written by an African American, is a groundbreaking and subtle account of racial passing, initially published as an anonymous memoir. Its veracitymany believed it to be a genuine autobiographyhas made it one of the undisputed masterpieces of African American literature and established Johnson in the African American literary vanguard of the first half of the twentieth century. He was also one of the central figures of the civil-rights struggle of his era, a tireless activist and longtime leader of the NAACP. Until now, however, his innovative and fascinating writings have never been gathered in a one-volume edition.Johnsons complex career spanned the worlds of diplomacy (as a U.S. consul in Venezuela and Nicaragua), politics (as secretary of the NAACP), journalism (as the founder of one newspaper and longtime editor of another), and musical theater (as lyricist for the Broadway song-writing team of Cole and Johnson Brothers). Writingspresents a generous array of Johnsons essays which, with the early work of W.E.B. Du Bois, established the foundation of twentieth- century African American literary criticism; a selection of his topical editorials from the New York Age; and an offering of his poems and lyrics, including Gods Trombonesa brilliant verse homage to African American preachingvaudeville songs, protest poems, and perhaps Johnsons most famous work, Lift Every Voice and Sing, a stirring hymn often called the Negro National Anthem.
Kate Chopin: Complete Novels and Stories by Kate Chopin From ruined Louisiana plantations to bustling, cosmopolitan New Orleans, Kate Chopin wrote with unflinching honesty about propriety and its strictures, the illusions of love and the realities of marriage, and the persistence of a past scarred by slavery and war. Her stories of fiercely independent women, culminating in her masterpiece The Awakening(1899), challenged contemporary mores as much by their sensuousness as their politics, and today seem decades ahead of their time.
Kate Chopin: The Awakening and Selected Short Fiction by Kate Chopin When it first appeared in 1899, Kate Chopin's The Awakening was greeted with cries of outrage. The novel's frank portrayal of a woman's emotional, intellectual, and sexual awakening shocked the sensibilities of the time and destroyed the author's reputation and career. Many years passed before this short, pioneering work was recognized as a major achievement in American literature.
London: Novels and Social Writings by Jack London By turns an impoverished laborer, a renegade adventurer, a war correspondent in Mexico, a declared socialist, and a writer of enormous popularity the world over, Jack London was the author of brilliant works that reflect his ideas about twentieth-century capitalist societies while dramatizing them through incidents of adventure, romance, and brutal violence.
Mark Twain: The Innocents Abroad; Roughing It by Mark Twain This Library of America volume contains the novels that, when published, transformed an obscure Western journalist into a national celebrity.
Sarah Orne Jewett: Novels and stories by Sarah Orne Jewett In her nuanced and sharply etched novels and short stories, Sarah Orne Jewett captured the inner life and hidden emotional drama of outwardly quiet New England coastal towns. Set against the background of long Maine winters, hardscrabble farms, and the sea, her stories of independent, capable women struggling to find fulfillment in their lives and work have a surprisingly modern resonance.
Stories, Novels & Essays : The Conjure Woman ; The Wife of his Youth and Other Stories of the Color Line ; The House Behind the Cedars ; The Marrow of Tradition ; Uncollected Stories ; Selected Essays by Charles W. Chesnutt Rejecting his era's genteel hypocrisy about miscegenation, lynching, and "passing," Charles W. Chesnutt broke new ground in American literature with his innovative explorations of racial identity and use of African-American speech and folklore.
Voices of the Winds : Native American Legends This wonderfully colorful and appealing anthology gathers more than 130 Native American legends, many told to the authors by elder storytellers and tribal historians.
William Dean Howells: Novels, 1875-1886 by William Dean Howells William Dean Howells was born in Martins Ferry, Ohio, on March 1, 1837. His father was a printer and newspaperman, and the family moved from town to town. Howells went to school where he could. As a boy he began learning the printer's skill. By the time he was in his teens he was setting type for his own verse.
Women and Economics by Charlotte Perkins Gilman Startling in its observations and radical in its conclusions, this classic of women's rights literature, this work-by pioneering American feminist CHARLOTTE PERKINS GILMAN (1860-1935)-was a phenomenon when it was first published in 1898, and was eventually translated into in seven languages and reprinted around the world.
The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman Seven charming tales explore relations between the sexes and offer witty insights from a feminist perspective. Includes the 1892 title classic, plus "Cottagette," "Turned," "Mr. Peebles' Heart," and more.