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American Literature

  • Alice Sebold
  • E.B. White
  • Edgar Allan Poe
  • Ernest Hemingway
  • Harriet Beecher Stowe
  • Jack London
  • John Knowles
  • John Steinbeck
  • Harper Lee
  • Herman Melville
  • Nancy Farmer
  • Nathaniel Hawthorne
  • Pearl S. Buck
  • Richard Wright
  • Scott O'Dell
  • Stephen Crane
  • Sue Monk Kidd
  • Suzanne Collins
  • Tennessee Williams
  • William Faulkner

American indigenous literature began over 30,000 years ago when indigenous people started writing stories of trickery and heroism, quest and journey, and creation and emergence. American literature is literature written in English in the United States and its previous colonies.

Prior to the founding of the United States of America, the colonies were heavily influenced by British literature making American literary a part of English literature. Also, American literature consists of a rich tradition of writing stories and storytelling that existed amongst Native American tribes. Throughout history, American literature was divided into five major periods, each of which has unique characteristics, representative works, and notable authors.

Below you'll find a list of book summaries from authors that influenced American literature and left their mark in the writing world.

Alice Sebold

An American writer and the recipient of many awards. Her book The Lovely Bones remained on the New York Times bestseller list for over a year.

  • The Lovely Bones

E.B. White

Elwyn Brooks White was an American writer who won a Pulitzer, and a short animated movie adaption of his work was nominated for an Oscar.

  • Charlotte's Web

Edgar Allan Poe

Poe was a writer of American realism, that wrote mystical works, and poems in a mystical romantic mood with bizarre motives.

  • The Fall of the House of Usher
  • The Masque of the Red Death
  • The Murders in the Rue Morgue
  • The Raven
  • William Wilson

Ernest Hemingway

Famous American storyteller from 20th century. His most famous works: The Old Man and the Sea, For Whom the Bell Tolls. He got a Nobel prize in 1954.

  • A Farewell to Arms
  • For Whom the Bell Tolls
  • The Old Man and the Sea
  • The Sun Also Rises

Harriet Beecher Stowe

She was an American writer and abolitionist who wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin, one of the most powerful novels of it's kind in American literature.

  • Uncle Tom's Cabin

Jack London

He was an American writer famous by the fact that he never finished school. He wrote novels, stories, and published approx 50 books.

  • The Call of the Wild
  • White Fang

John Knowles

He was an American author that published 12 books in his lifetime. His most famous novel draws from his own childhood attending academy.

  • A Separate Peace

John Steinbeck

John Ernst Steinbeck was an American novelist and a short-story writer that wrote 27 books and won the Nobel Prize in Literature.

  • Cannery Row
  • East of Eden
  • Of Mice and Men
  • The Pearl

Harper Lee

A famous American writer, who wrote To Kill A Mockingbird, and won the Pulitzer Prize as well as sold more than 30 million copies in his lifetime.

  • To Kill a Mockingbird

Herman Melville

Great American novelist, short story writer, and poet. His work explored psychological and metaphysical themes.

  • Moby Dick

Nancy Farmer

She is an American writer that started writing when she was 40. She wrote science fiction novels and books for children and youth.

  • The House of the Scorpion

Nathaniel Hawthorne

Great American novelist. He wrote short stories and novels. His works are seen as a some of the most important works of early American history.

  • The House of the Seven Gables
  • The Scarlet Letter

Pearl S. Buck

Pearl Sydenstricker Buck was an American novelist who grew up in China. She received a Pulitzer Prize for her book The Good Earth and Nobel Prize in Literature in 1938.

  • The Big Wave
  • The Good Earth

Richard Wright

An American author whose outspoken protest against racial prejudice made him a spokesperson for a generation of black people in America.

  • Black Boy
  • Native Son

Scott O'Dell

An American writer who wrote mostly for young people, but he also wrote 3 adult novels, and a few non-fiction books.

  • Island of the Blue Dolphins
  • The King's Fifth

Stephen Crane

Stephen Crane was an American novelist and poet. He had been writing since he was four years old, and was published at sixteen.

  • The Red Badge of Courage

Sue Monk Kidd

An American writer, who wrote memoirs about her own experiences with Christianity and her journey from evangelical Christianity to feminism.

  • The Secret Life of Bees

Suzanne Collins

Suzanne Marie Collins, an American writer, has become a household name and a best-selling Young Adult author many times over.

  • The Hunger Games

Tennessee Williams

He was an American playwright, regarded as one of the foremost dramatists of the 20th century. Tennessee won two Pulitzer prizes.

  • A Streetcar Named Desire
  • The Glass Menagerie

William Faulkner

William Cuthbert Faulkner was one of the greatest American novelists, known for his astounding portrayal of 20 novels of the conflict between the old south and the new south. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

  • As I Lay Dying
  • The Sound and the Fury

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Popular authors

Albert Camus Alexander Pushkin Alexandre Dumas Anton Chekhov Bible Brothers Grimm Charles Dickens Charles Perrault Clive Staples Lewis Edgar Allan Poe Erich Kästner Ernest Hemingway Eugene Ionesco Franz Kafka François Rabelais Fyodor Dostoyevsky George Eliot George Orwell Guy de Maupassant H.G. Wells Hans Christian Andersen Henrik Ibsen Hermann Hesse J.R.R. Tolkien James Joyce Jane Austen John Steinbeck Jules Verne Leo Tolstoy Margaret Atwood Mark Twain Michael Coleman Michael Ende Moliere Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol Oscar Wilde Ovid Plato Ray Bradbury Rudyard Kipling Thomas Mann Unknown Author Ursula K. LeGuin Virginia Woolf William Shakespeare

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