American Literature

America. And not someplace interesting, either: upstate New York. It is election season, 2008, and Sigrid is plunged into a United States where race and identity, politics and promise, reverberate in every aspect of daily life. To find her older brother, she needs the help of the local police who appear to have already made up their minds about the case. Working with - or, if necessary, against - someone actually named Sheriff Irving 'Irv' Wylie, she must negotiate the local political minefields and navigate the backwoods of the Adirondacks to uncover the truth before events escalate further.

James Fitzgerald likes his life the way it is. He has a stable academic career teaching American literature, a comfortable townhouse in Brooklyn, a satisfying, open marriage with his partner of fifteen years, a sweet and playful young boyfriend, and a recently-published, well-received novel about a famous early-twentieth-century Harvard professor. But his poise is shattered when a woman appears at a book signing bearing a surprise gift: an unsent letter from her brother Gregory, James' first boyfriend.

Jay Dolan of Notre Dame University is one of America’s most acclaimed scholars of immigration and ethnic history. In The Irish Americans, he caps his decades of writing and teaching with this magisterial history of the Irish experience in the United States. Although more than 30 million Americans claim Irish ancestry, no other general account of Irish American history has been published since the 1960s. Dolan draws on his own original research and much other recent scholarship to weave an insightful, colorful narrative.

A striking and nuanced collection, bringing to life awkward college students, disgraced public figures, raunchy grandparents, and mystical godmothers. To listen to these stories is to experience the transporting joys of discovery and affirmation, and to realize that story writing in America continues to flourish.

Traumatized by a complicated childhood and losing the love of his life, Sage Osbourne pours everything he’s got into keeping his routine and trying to avoid the not-dates he keeps getting set up on, content to be single and determined to keep it that way. He attempts to maintain that decision when a gorgeous newcomer opens up a new café just doors down from the tattoo shop. It doesn’t help that Will is not only perfect for him but seems to be interested in taking their relationship further than just friends.

Daughter of New York financier Leonard Jerome, Jennie was born into wealth—and scandal. Upon her parents’ separation, her mother took Jennie and her sisters to Paris, where Mrs. Jerome was determined to marry her daughters into the most elite families. The glamorous city became their tumultuous finishing school until it fell to revolt.

Award-winning environmentalist, author, and journalist Bill McKibben selects twenty science and nature essays that represent the best examples of the form published in the previous year. ” The selections in The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2024 reveal a trying year for our planet—from the Lahaina wildfire tragedy to the lush Amazon jungle slowly turning to savanna—while also celebrating the earth’s beautiful and mysterious ways—from the largest beaver dam on earth to the heroic innovation to prevent birds from crashing into Chicago’s expanse of glass buildings.

With a diverse selection of stories chosen by series editor John Joseph Adams and guest editor Rebecca Roanhorse, The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2022 explores the ever-expanding and changing world of contemporary science fiction and fantasy.

In American Literature, all main periods are covered, from colonial times to the present movement toward cultural diversity. Also covered are key themes and personalities, with emphasis on major figures, including Ben Franklin, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, Henry James, Edith Wharton, William Faulkner, Langston Hughes, Tennessee Williams, Alice Walker, and many more.

The American literary tradition has, in a far shorter span of time than others throughout history, achieved a glowing and glittering reputation. From its transatlantic roots it has absorbed the sons and daughters of other cultures, other lands and made them part of her own. Within this melting pot of styles, genres and wordplay one fact stands out: In the American short story, literary tradition has a strong, vibrant and almost inclusive history, if you know where to look.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy is the 35th president of the United States and a serial womaniser. An American man for the modern age: Kennedy is handsome, charming, a beaming paragon of worldly virtue. But beneath the slick veneer of a confident statesman he harbours a vice that will threaten his family, his fortune and even his country. Empathetic, darkly witty and deft, Jed Mercurio's American Adulterer shines a novelist's spotlight on the world's most powerful and corrupting institution: the American presidency.

The American Classics Collection: Volume II is a century-spanning collection of 15 classic novels, short stories, essay, and poetry by American authors, read by a cast of incredible narrators including Adam Sims; Nathan Osgood; Robert G. Slade; Jonathan Keeble, Katherine Fenton; and more. Included here are stories by some of the greatest writers of all time, including Herman Melville; Upton Sinclair; Mark Twain; Walt Whitman; F. Scott Fitzgerald; Thornton Wilder; Edith Wharton; Jack London; amongst a host of others. The titles included in this collection, in chronological order, are:

In her introduction to this year’s The Best American Essays, guest editor Vivian Gornick states that her selections “contribute materially to the long and honorable history of the personal essay by way of the value they place on lived experience.” Provocative, daring, and honest at a time when many writers are deliberately silencing themselves in the face of authoritarian and populist censorship movements, the twenty-one essays collected here reflect their authors’ unapologetic observations of the world around them.

Eddie Brownlee's Hollywood dreams turn into a nightmare when his safety is threatened. Lee Everett, his father's best friend, steps in as his reluctant bodyguard, stirring up unexpected emotions. As they navigate the desert landscape, stuffed together in the cramped trailers of Hollywood's filming locations, Eddie's long-standing crush on his dad's old adventurer buddy complicates things.

For Ilka Weissnix, everything is new. Having recently arrived in the United States, she is determined to escape the immigrant communities of New York and boards a train headed west to discover "the real America". She finds Carter Bayoux "sitting on a stool in a bar in the desert, across from the railroad."

Step into the world of "The American" by Henry James, a captivating audiobook that explores the clash between Old World traditions and New World ideals. This story follows the journey of an American protagonist navigating the complexities of European aristocracy and affairs of the heart. With James' signature wit and keen observations, the narrative delves into themes of cultural identity, societal expectations, and personal desires. The audiobook offers a glimpse into the intricate web of social interactions, where love, ambition, and honor intersect.

African American literature is the body of literature produced in the United States by writers of African descent. It begins with the works of such late 18th-century writers as Phillis Wheatley. Before the high point of enslaved people narratives, African-American literature was dominated by autobiographical spiritual narratives. The genre known as slave narratives in the 19th century were accounts by people who had generally escaped from slavery, about their journeys to freedom and ways they claimed their lives.

"101 Great American Poems" is a thoughtfully curated anthology that brings together a diverse collection of classic American poetry. Spanning over two centuries, the book features works from some of the nation's most celebrated poets, including Edgar Allan Poe, Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman, Robert Frost, and Langston Hughes.

Eighteen of the very best American short stories, each a classic in its own right. Stories include "The Little Frenchman and his Water Lots", by George Pope Morris; "The Angel of the Odd", by Edgar Allan Poe; "The Schoolmasters’s Progress", by Caroline M.S. Kirkland; "The Watkinson Evening", by Eliza Leslie; "Titbottom’s Spectacles", by George William Curtis; "My Double and "How He Undid Me", by Edward Everett Hale; "A Visit to the Asylum for Aged and Decayed Punsters", by Oliver Wendell; and more.

Wild and uncompromising, Tanya, a veteran hotshot on an elite New Mexico wildfire crew, is fighting for her livelihood. Blacklisted from her job, estranged from her family, and threatened with the loss of her home, Tanya must prove herself to battle-hardened Bronson, the crew’s superintendent. Yet when Tanya discovers Bronson’s disturbing secret, she must find a way to save the crew without betraying his trust. As wildfire closes in on the crew and the only home she’s ever known, Tanya must find the courage to face what she most fears. Their survival depends on it.