19th century

Provides a cultural and historical context for the development of the United States from 1812 to 1820, and includes the War of 1812, Florida, America's growing pains, and more. Includes audio, videos, activities, weblinks, slideshows, transparencies, maps, quizzes, and supplementary resources.

Provides a cultural and historical context for the development of the United States from 1800 to 1811, and includes Thomas Jefferson's story, the Louisiana Purchase, Lewis and Clark, and more. Includes audio, videos, activities, weblinks, slideshows, transparencies, maps, quizzes, and supplementary resources.

Through a mix of sidebars, illustrations, photos, and graphic panels, this book debunks myths about the Underground Railroad and Black Americans' struggle for freedom.

This book introduces the Star-Spangled Banner to young readers through leveled text and related photos.

Provides the historical background of the most-studied novels, plays, poems, speeches and short stories. Entries examine both the historical setting of the literary work and the historical events taking place at the time the work was written.

Provides the historical background of the most-studied novels, plays, poems, speeches and short stories. Entries examine both the historical setting of the literary work and the historical events taking place at the time the work was written.

"A filmmaker who is stumped but captivated by Emily Dickinson's poetry searches for 'flashes of insight' into the elusive poet beyond those offered by his lively but traditional interviews with experts such as actress Julie Harris and U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins. So he turns to shrinks, a sensitive, a stand-up comic, a rock band, even a fan with an Emily tattoo across his back. Still unsatisfied, he holds auditions in which dozens of actresses recite poems and improvise Dickinsonian answers to questions about God, and Death, and Love. Rising above all the speculation and spectacle are varied readings of over 50 Dickinson poems."--Container.

"Draws on the rich palette of Poe's evocative imagery and sharply drawn plots to tell the real story of the notorious author [and] ... explores the misrepresentations of Poe as an alcoholic madman... It reveals the way in which ... Poe tapped into what it means to be a human in the modern and sometimes frightening world"--Container.

One of the most-recognized figures in American literary history: poet, patriot, and faithful advocate of democracy. But in his own time, critics denounced Walt Whitman as a "lunatic raving in pitiable delirium". This "American experience" production tells Whitman's life story, from his working class childhood in Long Island to his years as a newspaper reporter in Brooklyn when he struggled to support his impoverished family, then to his reckless pursuit of the attention and affection he craved for his work, to his death in 1892 at the age of 72.

Presents a brief biography of Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of "Uncle Tom's Cabin," chronicling her early, family life, how slavery impacted her, and what influenced the book she wrote that helped hasten the Civil War.