This textbook is a sixth reader. Selections are taken from English and American literature, and when possible, conform to the original works. Many selections have elocutionary value. In making up the Selections for Reading, great care and deliberation have been exercised. Upwards of one hundred leading authors are represented, and thus a wide…

Shows how captivity stories acted as propaganda against the American Indians in the nineteenth century. Gives excerpts from a captivity narrative portraying Indians in a negative way and demonstrates its use as propaganda during the time of the Black Hawk War. (AEM)

Presents an overview of the language and literature of California, and particularly of Los Angeles. Describes the social context and work of the following writers: Bret Harte, Henry Dana Jr., Jack London, Ambrose Bierce, Gertrude Atherton, Helen Hunt Jackson, Frank Norris, John Steinbeck, Mary Austin, and others. Also discusses minority literature…

Describes the life, artistic development, literary associations and poetry of Langston Hughes during his college years at Lincoln University from 1926-1930. Adapted and condensed from the author's forthcoming biography on Langston Hughes. (APM)

This 140-item annotated bibliography of journal articles from 1959 to 1979 deals with the history of children's literature in the United States and the early influence of Great Britain on America's children's literature. A historical essay on the publishing trends in children's literature in the twentieth century precedes the annotated…

A study focusing on the history of reading, or the uses of literacy, in the first years of the American republic examined the subscription list and content of "The New York Magazine; or, Literary Repository" for 1790. Data for the study were taken from the magazine's subscription list and from various biographical sources, such as the…

The present study, in an attempt to suggest factors which were at work in giving a man of such varied interests and predispositions the peculiar shape that they did, focuses upon the pathway that Wilson took during the 1920s, while questing for the mysteries of Axel's castle. (Author)

This paper describes the appearance of the first Mexican-American fictional hero in American literature. In 1878 a book entitled, "Live Boys; or, Charley and Nasho in Texas" was published in Boston; the book described the adventures of a Mexican-American hero called Nasho from the Southwestern United States. The author was Thomas…

Intended to impart the basic ways a poem is constructed, this concise handbook is a prose guide to writing poetry. The handbook talks about meter and rhyme, form and diction, sound and sense, iambs and trochees, couplets and sonnets, and how and why this should matter to any person writing or reading poetry. Interspersing history and analysis with…

Two articles originally published in the 1970s are reprinted. The first argues that the American writer no longer knows what is expected of him and has difficulty engaging in conversation with the reader. The second examines the work and teaching of Joseph Brodsky, a Russian poet, while in the United States. (MSE)

By focusing on Frederick Douglass' reconsideration of literacy in the 1845 "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass," this slave narrative becomes very relevant to students today. This important historical document becomes a powerful tool with which educators can encourage students to confront contemporary, postmodern questions about…

Sara Powell Haardt, when she is remembered at all, is remembered as the wife of the newspaperman and critic, H. L. Mencken. Educators and scholars of history, writing, and literature may find Haardt's work interesting, as it centers on the conflict between the new South and the old. She taught high school English, and then taught at Goucher…

Surveys research on children's literature and humor by professionals in the field. Presents an overview of pre-twentieth century books which indicate the main lines of development of humor in children's literature. (FMW)

While working as a special consultant for General Mills in 1948, John Dos Passos wrote a report explaining the latest scientific research and technological advancements and how the postwar economy was affecting General Mills and the cereal market. General Mills, using a real writer for a corporate freelance, profited from Dos Passos' expertise and…

This book, originally an invited lecture given at Harvard, recounts the formative experiences of Alfred Kazin, a Distinguished Professor of English, Emeritus, at Hunter College and at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York and a well-known literary critic. A blend of autobiography, history, and criticism that moves from New York in…