Twenty-five Books That Shaped America : How White Whales, Green Lights, and Restless Spirits Forged Our National Identity

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 Ántonia , 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. Foster Explains How Each Of These Twenty-five Works Has Shaped Our Very Existence As Readers, Students, Teachers, And Americans. He Shows How They Captured An American Moment, And How They Influenced Our Perception Of Nationhood And Citizenship. Maybe Just A Little Made-up: The Autobiography Of Benjamin Franklin -- A Man, A Plan, A Flintlock: The Last Of The Mohicans -- The Allegory Man Cometh: The Scarlet Letter -- Gotta Get Back To The Pond And Set My Soul Free: Walden -- I've Been Workin' On The Whale-road: Moby-dick -- The Good Gray Poet, My Eye!: Leaves Of Grass -- Girls Gone Mild: Little Women -- About A Boy -- And A Raft: The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn -- Twofer: A Boy's Will And North Of Boston -- In Praise Of Prairie: My Ántonia -- A Whole Heap Of Ashes: The Great Gatsby -- Life Is A Carnival: The Sun Also Rises -- It Takes A Weary Man To Sing A Weary Song: The Weary Blues -- The Bird Is The Word: The Maltese Falcon -- So Big: U.s.a. -- The Winepress Of Injustice: The Grapes Of Wrath -- Like A Hurricane: Their Eyes Were Watching God -- He Ain't Heavy, He's My Cousin: Go Down, Moses -- American Candide: The Adventures Of Augie March -- Me And My Shadow: On The Road -- When Reading Got Good: The Cat In The Hat -- Walk A Mile In My Shoes: To Kill A Mockingbird -- Not In Kansas Anymore: The Crying Of Lot 49 -- Race, Relations: Song Of Solomon -- Home, Home On The Res: Love Medicine -- Conclusion: Fifteen More And The G.a.n. Thomas C. Foster. From the author of the New York Times bestselling How to Read Literature Like a Professor comes a highly entertaining and informative book on the twenty-five works of literature that have most shaped the American character. Thomas C. 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. He illuminates how books such as The Last of the Mohicans, Moby-Dick, My Ántonia, 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. Thomas C. Foster, acclaimed author of the phenomenal bestseller How to Read Literature Like a Professor, returns with a hugely entertaining appreciation of twenty-five works of literature that have greatly influenced the American identity. In a delightfully informative, often wry manner, Twenty-Five Books that Shaped America looks closely at important literary classics that are true national treasures. From The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, The Scarlet Letter, Moby Dick, and Huckleberry Finn through Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, Jack Kerouac's On the Road, and Thomas Pynchon's The.