E-Book Overview
This A-Z, cross-referenced and illustrated title provides a unique overview of the critical period that spans the early national era through the Civil War, and which witnessed the birth of a truly American literature. The set features more than 250 survey entries. Subjects include: political topics (Manifest Destiny, Underground Railroad); ideas in context (Transcendentalism); values (Sentimentalism, Mourning); genres (Dime Novels, Oratory); popular entertainment (Theatre); publishing (Harper's Monthly, Editors); works of literature and nonfiction ("Hiawatha," "Life in the Iron Mills"); and much more. The analysis of a wide range of classics in American literature, viewed as cultural and historical documents, cultivates critical skills in reading texts from various perspectives, including aesthetic, biographical, social, historical, racial and gendered. Along with its companion title on the period covering 1870 to 1920, this set provides a comprehensive overview of a key century in American historical and literary studies.
E-Book Content
American History through Literature
1820–1870
Editorial Board EDITORS IN CHIEF Janet Gabler-Hover
Professor of English Georgia State University Robert Sattelmeyer
Regents Professor of English Georgia State University ADVISORY EDITORS William L. Andrews
E. Maynard Adams Professor of English University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Louis J. Budd
James B. Duke Professor of English (Emeritus) Duke University Lawrence J. Buell
Powell M. Cabot Professor of American Literature Harvard University Susan K. Harris
Joyce and Elizabeth Hall Distinguished Professor of American Literature and Culture University of Kansas Denise D. Knight
Professor of English State University of New York at Cortland William J. Scheick
J. R. Millikan Centennial Professor, De