American Literature Independent Reading List

Author Title Time Period Difficulty

Smith, Captain John The…History of Virginia 17^th century ***

The first English settlement written through the eyes of a capitalist

Bradford, W. Of Plymouth Plantation 17^th century ***

A Puritan view of the life and hardships of one of America’s first settlements.

Winthrop, John Selected Readings 17^th century ***

The originator of “a beacon upon a hill.”

Rowlandson, M A Narrative of the Captivity 18^th century ***

and Restoration of Mrs.

Mary Rowlandson

A poignant story of Mary Rowlandson’s capture and captivity under the

directions of the Narragansett Indians of the New England area (1682).

Edwards, J Sinners in the Hand of an 18^th century ****

Angry God

A Puritan message of the human element as “disgust” in the eyes of a merciful

and angry God.

Franklin, B Poor Richard, 1758 18^th century ****

Considered one of the most influential works in American history, it’s a hodge-podge of quick witticisms and explanations for the betterment of the character.

Crevecoeur, M Letters from an American 18-19^th century ***

Farmer

A Frenchman’s essays about his new country—America.

Paine, T. The American Crisis 18^th century ***

This work made him one of the most famous Americans during the Revolutionary

War. He uses forceful style to display his pro-revolutionary rhetoric.

Madison, J. The Federalist Papers 18^th century ****

Pushed by Alexander Hamilton, this work was meant to generate popular support

for the ratification of a strong central government to guard against “extreme”

democracy. These 85 essays of sometimes dry reading are considered the best

critical evaluation of the U.S. Constitution ever written.

Adams, John & Thomas Jefferson Selected letters 17^th & 18^th centuries ****

Read the differing views of these two founders of America and their love of

persuasive oratory.

Native Americans Concise Anthology of 16^th-18^th centuries ***

American Literature

A collection of short stories and poems told from the perspective of the Native

American Indian

Irving, W. The Sketch Book of 18^th century ***

Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.

Named after George Washington, who patted Irving on the head in a grocery store

when Irving was only five years old, this writer captures the Nationalism of the

time and writes about what America had an over-abundance of—the natural

landscape.

Cooper, J. F. Leatherstocking Tales 18^th century ***

Five separate works in all, it covers the life of Hawkeye (a.k.a. Longrifle and

Natty Bumpo) from the mid 18^th to the early nineteenth centuries. Be prepared

for lots of detail on nature because Sir Walter Scott’s literary influence.

Poe, E. A. Short Stories of Edgar 18^th century **

Allan Poe

A collection of tales from one of America’s first great horror writers, the text

ridicules American democracy and focuses on Poe’s fears (i.e. being buried alive)

and burdens (alcoholism).

Hawthorne, N. Scarlett Letter 19^th century ***

Hawthorne wrote this tale of the Puritan era as one of his atonements for his

ancestor’s participation in the Salem Witch Trials.

Emerson, Ralph Waldo Selected poems 19^th century ****

One of America’s truly transcendentalist writers, his poetry is what many

Romantics view as iconic.

Melville, H. Billy Budd, Sailor 19^th century ****

A great sea tale that tells of the human psyche and the dilemma it faces to do the

right thing.

Thoreau, H.D. Walden 19^th century ***

One of the first peace protestors in American history, Thoreau writes of nature

and simplicity in his trip to Walden Pond.

Stowe, H.B. Uncle Tom’s Cabin 19^th century ****

A lengthy tale of the life of Tom, a slave who is stripped of all worldly gifts but

attains the beauty and ownership of his soul. Prepare for a long text that Lincoln

claimed started the Civil War.

Douglass, F. The Life and Times of 19^th century ***

Frederick Douglass

His work inspired H.B. Stowe and other anti-slavery writers because of his detail

on the life of a slave.

Whitman, W. Leaves of Grass 19^th century ****

Formless, free verse poems that are rather sexual and vulgar at times and were

branded poems not to be read “in mixed company.” A copy of this book was

given to Monica Lewinsky via President Clinton.

Twain, M. Life on the Mississippi 19^th century ***

Twain tells of the area he loved best on visited often, the Mississippi River and its steamboats.

Twain, M. Adventures of Huckleberry 19^th century ***

Finn

Twain captures the dialect of the time to tell a tale of Huck Finn and his

(mis)adventures.

Twain, M. Adventures of Tom Sawyer 19^th century ***

The adventures and pranks of a mischievous boy growing up in a 19th-century Mississippi River town as he plays hooky on an island, witnesses a crime, hunts for pirate's treasure, and becomes lost in a cave.

Twain, M. A Connecticut Yankee in 19^th century ****

King Arthur’s Court

In an especially adapted version for young readers, Hank Morgan, knocked on the head in the 19th century, wakes to find himself in King Arthur's England.

Dickinson, Emily 1776 poems 19^th century ****

Although considered by some as a recluse, her poetry captures some of the truest

essences of life.

Crane, S. The Red Badge of Courage 19^th century **

Henry Fleming, a young Union soldier, struggles with his conflicting emotions about violence, death, and the nature of bravery in this ironic, skeptical account of the Civil War.

Crane, S. The Open Boat 19^th century **

This short story was inspired from one of Crane’s own personal tragedies.

Wharton, E. Ethan Frome 19^th century *

A New England farmer must choose between his duty to care for his invalid wife and his love for her cousin

Cather, W. The Professor’s House 20^th century **

A man set in his ways, Professor Godfrey St. Peter resists a seemingly practical move into a bigger house because the move threatens his well-ordered life

Frost, Robert Selected Poems 20^th century **

Poetry that captures New England and the seemingly simplicity of life with a few

hidden meanings.

Sandberg, Carl Selected Poems 20^th century ***

Illinois’ finest poet; read “Chicago.”

Sinclair, U. The Jungle 20^th century ***

Jurgis Rudkus, a Slav immigrant lured by appealing advertisements, comes to Chicago to make money in the stockyards, but the reality is different from what he expects.

Faulkner, W. The Bear 20^th century ***

The coming of age for a young man in a southern town where a bear of large proportions resides in the nearby woods.

Steinbeck, J. Canery Row 20^th century **

Vividly depicts the colorful, sometimes disreputable, inhabitants of a run-down area in Monterey, California

Steinbeck, J. The Pearl 20^th century *

A Mexican folk tale about a man who finds a great pearl and its traumatic effect on him and his family

Steinbeck, J. The Grapes of Wrath 20^th century ****

The Joad family, Okie farmers forced from their dustbowl home during the Depression, try to find work as migrant fruitpickers in California.

Williams, William C. Selected Poems 20^th century **

A poet of imagery—“The Red Wheelbarrow”

Stevens, Wallace Selected Poems 20^th century **

Find out what this insurance salesman from California writes in his poetry—a

must read: “Anecdote of the Jar”

Eliot, T.S. “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” 20^th century ****

Poetry for the deep, critical thinker.

Hemingway, Ernest “The Snows of Kilimanjaro” 20^th century **

Read of this adventure from the mind of one of America’s great adventurers.

Hemingway, Ernest The Sun Also Rises 20^th century **

Post WWI novel written about Jake Barnes and the Lost Generation.

Hemingway, Ernest A Farewell to Arms 20^th century **

WWI, love and a man’s limitations.

Wright, R. Native Son 20^th century ***

Traces the fall of a young Black man in 1930s Chicago as his life loses all hope of redemption after he kills a white woman

N. Scott Momaday The Way to Rainy Mountain 20^th century **

Momaday writes of his people, the Kiowa tribe, through the reflections of his

grandmother.

Angelou, Maya I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings 20^th century **

Autobiography of Maya and her tumultuous life as a child in Arkansas, Missouri,

and California as a young black girl.

Brooks, Gwendolyn Selected Poems 20^th century ***

Life from the perspective of an African American female