Provides a backdrop to the study of American literature. Surveying over four hundred years of American history, it analyses the milieu that determined and defined literary representation and expression, and was responsible for the creation of writers and, indeed, readers.

Table of Contents

Political Map of the United States of America
List of American Presidents
Series Editor’s Preface
Author’s Preface
Acknowledgements

Introduction
1. The Seventeenth Century
2. The Eighteenth Century
3. The Nineteenth Century: 1800 to 1865
4. The Nineteenth Century: Post-Civil War
5. The Twentieth Century: 1900 to 1945
6. The Twentieth Century: The Post-World War Era
7. The Twenty-first Century

Index

In the series: Literary Contexts