• offers lucid discussions of all major influences and movements such as Puritanism, Transcendentalism, Realism, Naturalism, Modernism and Postmodernism
• draws on the historical, cultural, and political contexts of key literary texts and authors
• covers the whole range of American literature: prose, poetry, theatre and experimental literature
• includes substantial sections on native and ethnic American literatures
• explains and contextualises major events, terms and figures in American history.

This book is essential reading for anyone seeking to situate their reading of American Literature in the appropriate religious, cultural, and political contexts.