A Brief History of American Literature [Hardcover]

• A Brief History of American Literature offers students and general readers a concise and up-to-date history of the full range of American writing from its origins until the present day. 
• Represents the only up-to-date concise history of American literature 
• Covers fiction, poetry, drama and non-fiction, as well as looking  at other forms of literature including folktales, spirituals, the detective story, the thriller and science fiction
• Considers how our understanding of American literature has changed over the past twenty years
• Offers students an abridged version of History of American Literature, a book widely considered the standard   survey text 
• Provides an invaluable introduction to the subject for students of American literature, American studies and all those interested in the literature and culture of the United States

Preface and Acknowledgments ix

1 The First Americans: American Literature During the Colonial and Revolutionary Periods 1

Imagining Eden 1

Writing of the Colonial and Revolutionary Periods 1

2 Inventing Americas: The Making of American Literature 1800–1865 47

Making a Nation 47

The Making of American Myths 47

The Making of American Selves 59

The Making of Many Americas 71

The Making of an American Fiction and Poetry 90

3 Reconstructing the Past, Reimagining the Future: The Development of American Literature 1865–1900 115

Rebuilding a Nation 115

The Development of Literary Regionalisml#q