A major new history of the literary traditions, oral and print, of African-descended peoples in the United States.

Multi-volume history of American literature.

This is the fullest and richest account of the American Renaissance available in any literary history. The narratives in this volume made for a four-fold perspective on literature: social, cultural, intellectual and aesthetic. Michael D. Bell describes the social conditions of the literary vocation that shaped the growth of a professional literature in the United States. Eric Sundquist draws upon broad cultural patterns: his account of the writings of exploration, slavery, and the frontier is an interweaving of disparate voices, outlooks and traditions. Barbara L. Packer's sources come largely from intellectual history: the theological and philosophical controversies that prepared the way for transcendentalism. Jonathan Arac's categories are formalist: he sees the development of antebellum fiction as a dialectic of prose genres, the emergence of a literary mode out of the clash of national, local and personal forms. Together, these four narratives constitute a basic reassessment of American prose-writing between 1820 and 1865. It is an achievement that will remain authoritative for our time and that will set new directions for coming decades in American literary scholarship.

Volume 6 of The Cambridge History of American Literature explores the emergence and flowering of modernism in the United States. David Minter provides a cultural history of the American novel from the 'lyric years' to World War I, through post-World War I disillusionment, to the consolidation of the Left in response to the mire of the Great Depression. Rafia Zafar tells the story of the Harlem Renaissance, detailing the artistic accomplishments of such diverse figures as Zora Neal Hurston, W. E. B. Du Bois, Langston Hughes, Nella Larsen, and Richard Wright. Werner Sollors examines canonical texts as well as popular magazines and hitherto unknown immigrant writing from the period. Taken together these narratives cover the entire range of literary prose written in the first half of the twentieth century, offering a model of literary history for our times, focusing as they do on the intricate interplay between text and context.

Multi-volume history of American literature.

Volume VII of the Cambridge History of American Literature examines a broad range of American literature of the past half-century, revealing complex relations to changes in society. Christopher Bigsby discusses American dramatists from Tennessee Williams to August Wilson, showing how innovations in theatre anticipated a world of emerging countercultures and provided America with an alternative view of contemporary life. Morris Dickstein describes the condition of rebellion in fiction from 1940 to 1970, linking writers as diverse as James Baldwin and John Updike. John Burt examines writers of the American South, describing the tensions between modernization and continued entanglements with the past. Wendy Steiner examines the postmodern fictions since 1970, and shows how the questioning of artistic assumptions has broadened the canon of American literature. Finally, Cyrus Patell highlights the voices of Native American, Asian American, Chicano, gay and lesbian writers, often marginalized but here discussed within and against a broad set of national traditions.

Multi-volume history of American literature.

Wilson's Public Library Core Collection: Nonfiction (13th Edition, 2008) recommends reference and nonfiction books for the general adult audience. It is a guide to over 9,000 books (over 6,500 titles are new to this edition), plus review sources and other professional aids for librarians and media specialists. Acquisitions librarians, reference librarians and cataloguers can all use this reliable guide to building and maintaining a well-rounded collection of the most highly recommended reference and nonfiction books for adults. All titles are selected by librarians, editors, advisors, and nominators-all of them experts in public library services. The collection is a valuable tool for collection development and maintenance, reader's advisory, weeding your collection, and curriculum support. Richly enhanced records provide a wealth of useful information. All entries include complete bibliographic data as well as price, subject headings, annotations, grade level, Dewey classification, cover art, and quotations from reviews. Many entries also list awards, best-book lists, and starred reviews. Save Time: Efficiently organised and includes ""Starred"" titles Save Money: Allocate your resources to the best materials available Stay Relevant: Discover the best in important, contemporary categories Complete Coverage: Includes recommendations on periodicals and electronic resources, too Four-Year Subscription This Core Collection was originally sold as a four-year subscription. The core edition, published in 2008, delivers a library-bound volume with an extensive, selective list of recommended books. From 2009 to 2011 Wilson published extensive paperback supplements to the 2008 edition. A new cycle of materials will begin in 2012. However, the 2008 to 2011 materials are currently available. Buyers of them will receive all these materials immediately. All four years are only $420. Uniquely Valuable There is nothing quite like Wilson Core Collections. The accumulated expertise of our selectors, and the unquestioned reputation of these collections, is invaluable. Wilson Core Collections are universally recognised as impartial and expert aids to collection development that assist and reinforce the judgement of librarians everywhere. Selection to a Wilson Core Collection is strong support to any challenged purchase. Contemporary Relevance This Core Collection includes broad updates in the areas of crafts; terrorism, and international security; environment and global warming; diseases and medicine; and religion, plus other contemporary topics that keep the library's collection as current as today's headlines. Other Key Features Classified Catalogue - A list arranged by Dewey Decimal Classification, with complete cataloguing information for each book. Author, Title, Subject and Analytical Index - An in-depth key to the information in Classified Catalogue-including author and title analytics for works contained in anthologies and collections. Richly enhanced records provide complete bibliographic data, price, subject headings, descriptive annotations, grade level, Dewey classification, evaluative quotations from a review, when available. Listing works published in the United States, or published in Canada or the United Kingdom and distributed in the United States, Public Library Core Collection: Nonfiction features extensive revisions in the areas of health, science and technology, personal finance, sports, cooking and gardening, and handicrafts. Biography, poetry and literary criticism continue to receive comprehensive treatment. Reference works in all subject fields are included.