Traces the process and influences behind the writing of Herman Melville's novel, Moby Dick, which was published in the 1850s and based on the author's own experience at sea.
Traces the process and influences behind the writing of Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin, which was published when the nation was torn over the issue of slavery and headed toward Civil War.
Traces the process and influences behind the writing of Robert Louis Stevenson's novel, Treasure Island, which was published in 1883 when the horrors of piracy were fresh in the public mind.
Traces the process and influences behind the writing of Stephen Crane's novel, The Red Badge of Courage, which was published in 1893 when the Civil War was still fresh in the public mind.
Traces the process and influences behind the writing of Esther Forbes' novel, Johnny Tremain, for which she won a Newbery Award in 1943--just a year after winning the Pulitzer Prize for her first novel.
Traces the process and influences behind the writing of Mark Twain's novel, Huckleberry Finn, which was published in the late nineteenth century and has been banned frequently since then for his use of racial epithets or simply for being coarse.
