Part of the Chronicles of America, this short history follows American writing from the colonial pioneers and the Revolution through the Knickerbocker writers, the Concord circle, Hawthorne, Poe and the New England poets, to Whitman, Mark Twain and the writers after the Civil War. Perry looks for what each reveals of the national temper.
A graceful one-volume survey by a former editor of the Atlantic Monthly. Download the free EPUB.