Twenty-Five Books That Shaped America

by Foster, Thomas C.

• ISBN13: 9780061834400
• ISBN10: 0061834408
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-05-24
• Publisher: Perennial

Summary

From the author of the "New York Times" bestselling "How to Read Literature Like a Professor" comes a highly entertaining and informative new book on the twenty-five works of literature that have most shaped the American character. 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. Foster illuminates how books such as "The Last of the Mohicans," "Moby-Dick," "My Antonia," "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 America" is a fun and enriching guide to America through its literature.

Table of Contents

Introduction: In the Four Corners	p. xi
Maybe Just a Little Made-Up: The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin	p. 1
A Man, a Plan, a Flintlock: The Last of the Mohicans	p. 17
The Allegory Man Cometh: The Scarlet Letter	p. 27
Gotta Get Back to the Pond and Set My Soul Free: Walden	p. 43
I've Been Workin' on the Whale-Road: Moby-Dick	p. 55
The Good Gray Poet, My Eye!: Leaves of Grass	p. 69
Girls Gone Mild: Little Women	p. 83
About a Boy-and a Raft: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn	p. 95
Twofer: A Boy's Will and North of Boston	p. 107
In Praise of Prairie: My Ántonia	p. 123
A Whole Heap of Ashes: The Great Gatsby	p. 135
Life Is a Carnival: The Sun Also Rises	p. 147
It Takes a Weary Man to Sing a Weary Song: The Weary Blues	p. 159
The Bird Is the Word: The Maltese Falcon	p. 171
So Big: U.S.A.	p. 183
The Winepress of Injustice: The Graces of Wrath	p. 195
Like a Hurricane: Their Eyes Were Watching God	p. 205
He Ain't Heavy, He's My Cousin: Go Down, Moses	p. 217
American Candide: The Adventures of Augie March	p. 235
Me and My Shadow: On the Road	p. 247
When Reading Got Good: The Cat in the Hat	p. 259
Walk a Mile in My Shoes: To Kill a Mockingbird	p. 271
Not in Kansas Anymore: The Crying of Lot 49	p. 281
Race. Relations.: Song of Solomon	p. 295
Home, Home on the Res: Love Medicine	p. 305
Conclusion: Fifteen More and the G.A.N.	p. 317
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