Thomas C. Foster's Twenty-Five Books That Shaped America is a highly entertaining and informative new book on the twenty-five works of literature that have most shaped American identity.Starting with Ben Franklin's autobiography, he moves on to James Fenimore Cooper's The Last of the Mohicans, Henry David Thoreau's Walden, Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass, and Willa Cather's My Antonia. Chief among later selections are The Maltese Falcon, U.S.A., The Grapes of Wrath, and Song of Solomon.
Foster illuminates how these works captured an American moment, how they influenced our perception of nationhood and citizenship, and what about them endures in the American character. Foster quite literally fosters your students' sense of discovery throughout the book, peeling back layers from familiar favorites, and arguing for books that aren't so obvious. He concludes with a list of twenty-five more contenders and outlines what exactly is the "Great American Novel." "Many readers will wish they had a high-school English teacher as cheery and engaged as Foster."-Kirkus ReviewsAutorentext
Thomas C. Foster, author of How to Read Literature Like a Professor and Reading the Silver Screen, is professor emeritus of English at the University of Michigan, Flint, where he taught classes in contemporary fiction, drama, and poetry, as well as creative writing and freelance writing. He is also the author of several books on 20th-century British and Irish literature and poetry.
Klappentext
Thomas C. Foster, acclaimed author of the phenomenal bestseller How to Read Literature Like a Professor, returns with a hugely entertaining appreciation of twenty-five works of literature that have greatly influenced the American identity. In a delightfully informative, often wry manner, Twenty-Five Books that Shaped America looks closely at important literary classics that are true national treasures. From The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, The Scarlet Letter, Moby Dick, and Huckleberry Finn through Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, Jack Kerouac's On the Road, and Thomas Pynchon's The Crying of Lot 49, Twenty-Five Books that Shaped America examines masterpieces of the written word that have greatly influence what we are as a people and a nation.
Zusammenfassung
From the author of theNew York TimesbestsellingHow to Read Literature Like a Professorcomes a highly entertaining and informative book on the twenty-five works of literature that have most shaped the American character.Thomas C. Foster applies his much-loved combination of wit, know-how, and analysis to explain how each work has shaped our very existence as readers, students, teachers, and Americans. Heilluminates how books such asThe Last of the Mohicans,Moby-Dick,My ntonia,The Great Gatsby,The Maltese Falcon,Their Eyes Were Watching God,On the Road,The Crying of Lot 49, and others captured an American moment, how they influenced our perception of nationhood and citizenship, and what about them endures in the American character.Twenty-five Books That Shaped Americais a fun and enriching guide to America through its literature.