american literature

Twenty-four contemporary women writers discuss how their lives and writings were influenced by the fairy tales they loved while they were growing up.

Discusses the lives of some Asian-Americans primarily known for their writing, including Amy Tan, David Henry Hwang, Bharati Mukherjee, Jessica Hagedorn, and Laurence Yep.

Analyzes the effects of the Civil War on writers and artists of the early to mid-nineteenth century, looking at how the conflict forced them to develop new styles, forms, language, and symbols.

Contains twenty-four essays in which women share their personal stories of how and why they made reproductive decisions.

Contains seventeen essays which explore the influence authors Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald had on each other's work, and the role of France, where the two men first met, on their relationship and careers.

Explores the roles of Phillis Wheatley and Thomas Jefferson in shaping African-American literary tradition, discussing how Phillis gained acceptance and freedom by being the first person of African descent to publish a book of poems in the English language in 1773. Discusses the effects of Jefferson's harsh criticism of the poet and her race.

Presents an historical and literary analysis of the city of New York and the many writers whose work was influenced by it including Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost, and T.S. Eliot.

Profiles eleven novels and nonfiction books inspired by the Civil War and its era, providing historical background, author biographies, and discussion of styles and themes.

Traces the secret history of whiteness, exploring how, when, and why European men bought into the idea that they were "whites" and therefore superior to other races and nationalities.

Celebrated stories and poems from the original Portable plus later stories, play reviews, articles, book reviews, the Constant Reader, and Parker's collected New Yorker book reviews.