Category:Novels set in the American colonial era. Popular Colonial America Books. American literature. American literature is the literature written or produced in the area of the United States and its preceding colonies. For more specific discussions of poetry and theater, see Poetry of the United States and Theater in the United States. During its early history, America was a series of British colonies on the eastern coast of the present-day United States. Therefore, its literary tradition begins as linked to the broader tradition of English literature. However, unique American characteristics and the breadth of its production usually now cause it to be considered a separate path and tradition.
Colonial literature[edit] Owing to the large immigration to Boston in the 1630s, the high articulation of Puritan cultural ideals, and the early establishment of a college and a printing press in Cambridge, the New England colonies have often been regarded as the center of early American literature. Topics of early writing[edit] Revolutionary period[edit] Post-independence[edit] Novels of Nineteenth Century America. For news on the latest reviews, author interviews and additions to this website, see the blog. Jump to: Young Adult Novels: 19th-Century North America The U.S. and Canada Before 1861Mysteries: Early 19th Century AmericaThe U.S. Civil WarCivil War MysteriesLate 19th Century AmericaMysteries: Late 19th Century America The nineteenth century saw the continued development of two new nations in North America: the United States and Canada.
In the United States, tensions between the industrial North and the slave-owning South increased throughout the first part of the century until the South seceded in 1861, beginning the Civil War. Throughout the century, immigration from Europe swelled the population of both the U.S. and Canada, beginning a great westward movement and causing conflict between Native Americans and Americans of European descent. The U.S. and Canada before 1861 Sidney Allinson, Jeremy Kane Kurt Andersen, Heyday, about the United States in the year 1848.
Gwen Bristow, Deep Summer. Uncle Tom's Cabin. Stowe novel, 1852. Uncle Tom's Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly,[1][2] is an anti-slavery novel by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe. Published in 1852, the novel "helped lay the groundwork for the Civil War", according to Will Kaufman.[3] Stowe, a Connecticut-born teacher at the Hartford Female Seminary and an active abolitionist, featured the character of Uncle Tom, a long-suffering black slave around whom the stories of other characters revolve. The sentimental novel depicts the reality of slavery while also asserting that Christian love can overcome something as destructive as enslavement of fellow human beings.[4][5][6] The book and the plays it inspired helped popularize a number of stereotypes about black people.[14] These include the affectionate, dark-skinned "mammy"; the "pickaninny" stereotype of black children; and the "Uncle Tom", or dutiful, long-suffering servant faithful to his white master or mistress.
Sources Publication Plot Eliza escapes with her son, Tom sold "down the river" Uncle Tom. Category:American Civil War novels. Lincoln. Lincoln (film 2012) Lincoln is a 2012 American epic historical drama film directed by Steven Spielberg, starring Daniel Day-Lewis as United States President Abraham Lincoln and Sally Field as Mary Todd Lincoln.[5] The screenplay by Tony Kushner was based in part on Doris Kearns Goodwin's biography Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, and covers the final four months of Lincoln's life, focusing on the President's efforts in January 1865 to have the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution passed by the United States House of Representatives.
Lincoln received widespread critical acclaim, with major praise directed to Day-Lewis's performance. In December 2012, the film was nominated for seven Golden Globe Awards including Best Motion Picture – Drama, Best Director for Spielberg and winning Best Actor (Motion Picture – Drama) for Day-Lewis. Lincoln household Daniel Day-Lewis as President Abraham Lincoln[11] Sally Field as First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln[13] White House. The Birth of a Nation. The Clansman, Dixon novel, 1905. First edition cover. The Clansman: An Historical Romance of the Ku Klux Klan is a novel published in 1905. It was the second work in the Ku Klux Klan trilogy by Thomas F. Dixon, Jr. that included The Leopard's Spots and The Traitor.
It was influential in providing the ideology that helped support the revival of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK). The novel was immediately adapted by its author as a play entitled The Clansman (1905) and by D. W. Griffith as the groundbreaking 1915 silent movie The Birth of a Nation. The play particularly inspired the second half of The Birth of a Nation, as it was concerned with the KKK and Reconstruction rather than the American Civil War. Dixon wrote The Clansman as a message to Northerners to maintain racial segregation, as the work claimed that blacks when free would turn savage and violent, committing crimes such as murder, rape and robbery far out of proportion to their percentage of the population. Characters[edit] Historical plot[edit] Reception[edit] The Birth of a Nation (film, 1915) The Birth of a Nation (originally called The Clansman) is a 1915 American silent drama film directed by D. W. Griffith and based on the novel and play The Clansman, both by Thomas Dixon, Jr.
Griffith co-wrote the screenplay (with Frank E. Woods), and co-produced the film (with Harry Aitken). It was released on February 8, 1915. Despite the film's controversial content, Griffith's innovative film techniques make it one of the most important and influential films in the commercial film industry. Plot[edit] Part 1: Civil War America[edit] The film follows two juxtaposed families: the Northern Stonemans, consisting of the abolitionist Congressman Austin Stoneman, based on the Reconstruction-era Congressman Thaddeus Stevens,[11][12] his two sons, and his daughter Elsie; and the Southern Camerons, a family including two daughters, Margaret and Flora, and three sons, most notably Ben. The Stoneman brothers visit the Camerons at their South Carolina estate, representing the Old South. Cast[edit] The Birth of a Nation (1915) Gone With the Wind. Mitchell novel, 1936. Gone with the Wind is a novel written by Margaret Mitchell, first published in 1936.
The story is set in Clayton County, Georgia, and Atlanta during the American Civil War and Reconstruction. It depicts the experiences of Scarlett O'Hara, the spoiled daughter of a well-to-do plantation owner, who must use every means at her disposal to come out of the poverty she finds herself in after Sherman's "March to the Sea". A historical novel, the story is a Bildungsroman or coming-of-age story, with the novel's title taken from a poem written by the British poet, Ernest Dowson. Gone with the Wind was popular with American readers from the onset and was the top American fiction bestseller in the year it was published and again in 1937. As of 2008, a Harris poll found it to be the second favorite book by American readers, just behind the Bible. More than 30 million copies have been printed worldwide.
Biographical background and publication[edit] Title[edit] I have forgot much, Cynara! Part I[edit] Gone with the Wind (film, 1939) The production of the film was troubled from the start. Filming was delayed for two years due to David O. Selznick's determination to secure Clark Gable for the role of Rhett Butler, and the "search for Scarlett" led to 1,400 women being interviewed for the part. The original screenplay was written by Sidney Howard, but underwent many revisions by several writers in an attempt to get it down to a suitable length.
The original director, George Cukor, was fired shortly after filming had begun and was replaced by Victor Fleming, who in turn was briefly replaced by Sam Wood. Part 1 At the Twelve Oaks party, Scarlett notices that she is being admired by Rhett Butler, who has been disowned by his family. Scarlett is quickly widowed when Charles dies from a bout of pneumonia and measles while serving in the Confederate Army. The tide of war turns against the Confederacy after the Battle of Gettysburg in which many of the men of Scarlett's town are killed. Part 2 Clark Gable Vivien Leigh. Steinbeck novel, 1939. The Grapes of Wrath is an American realist novel written by John Steinbeck and published in 1939. The book won the National Book Award[2] and Pulitzer Prize[3] for fiction, and it was cited prominently when Steinbeck was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1962.[4] Set during the Great Depression, the novel focuses on the Joads, a poor family of tenant farmers driven from their Oklahoma home by drought, economic hardship, agricultural industry changes and bank foreclosures forcing tenant farmers out of work.
Due to their nearly hopeless situation, and in part because they are trapped in the Dust Bowl, the Joads set out for California. Along with thousands of other "Okies", they sought jobs, land, dignity, and a future. Plot[edit] The narrative begins just after Tom Joad is paroled from McAlester prison for homicide. The next morning, Tom and Casy go to Uncle John's. Traveling west on Route 66, the Joad family find the road crowded with other migrants.
Characters[edit] Development[edit] Title[edit] The Grapes of Wrath (film 1940) The Grapes of Wrath is a 1940 drama film directed by John Ford. It was based on John Steinbeck's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name. The screenplay was written by Nunnally Johnson and the executive producer was Darryl F. Zanuck.[3] The film tells the story of the Joads, an Oklahoma family, who, after losing their farm during the Great Depression in the 1930s, become migrant workers and end up in California. The motion picture details their arduous journey across the United States as they travel to California in search of work and opportunities for the family members. In 1989, this film was one of the first 25 films to be selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant. " To reach California the Joads travel U.S. The trip along Highway 66 is arduous, and it soon takes a toll on the Joad family.
Tom Joad says: I'll be all around in the dark. Henry Fonda as Tom Joad. The Great Gatsby. Fitzgerald novel, 1925. Fitzgerald—inspired by the parties he had attended while visiting Long Island's north shore—began planning the novel in 1923, desiring to produce, in his words, "something new—something extraordinary and beautiful and simple and intricately patterned. "[3] Progress was slow, with Fitzgerald completing his first draft following a move to the French Riviera in 1924.
His editor, Maxwell Perkins, felt the book was too vague and convinced the author to revise over the next winter. Fitzgerald was ambivalent about the book's title, at various times wishing to re-title the novel Trimalchio in West Egg. First published by Scribner's in April 1925, The Great Gatsby received mixed reviews and sold poorly; in its first year, the book sold only 20,000 copies. Historical context[edit] Set on the prosperous Long Island of 1922, The Great Gatsby provides a critical social history of America during the Roaring Twenties within its narrative.
Plot summary[edit] Major characters[edit] Cover art[edit] The Great Gatsby (film, 1974) The Great Gatsby is a 1974 American romantic drama film distributed by Newdon Productions and Paramount Pictures. It was directed by Jack Clayton and produced by David Merrick, from a screenplay by Francis Ford Coppola based on F. Scott Fitzgerald's 1925 novel of the same name. Tom Ewell had a minor role as a mourner but it was ultimately edited out of the cinematic release. The film is the third filmed version of the novel.
The previous two, also made by Paramount, were: Truman Capote was the original screenwriter but he was replaced by Francis Ford Coppola. On his commentary track for the DVD release of The Godfather, Coppola makes reference to writing the Gatsby script at the time, though he comments: "Not that the director paid any attention to it. In 2000 William Goldman, who loved the novel, said he actively campaigned for the job of adapting the script, but was astonished by the quality of Coppola's work: I still believe it to be one of the great adaptations... Top 10 Revolutionary War Movies. Obviously, any attempt to rank films in order is subjective. My opinions may make others cringe.
It should also be kept in mind that films are made to make money, not to be models of historical accuracy. However, some films handle the history, and “feel of the times,” better than others. I have used no standard criteria for judging the films. Rather, I have based my listing on my own appreciation of the films. Please feel free to express your own opinions in the comments below this article. 1 // John Adams – 2008. Based on David McCullough’s biography, the film puts great emphasis on getting the feel and the details to a very high level of excellence. 2 // April Morning – 1988. This film was taken from the Howard Fast novel of the same name. 3 // Drums Along the Mohawk – 1939.
Based on the novel by Walter B. 4 // Johnny Tremain – 1957. This is a Disney film taken from the Esther Forbes novel of the same name. 5 // The Crossing – 2003. 6 // All For Liberty – 2009. 8 // The Patriot – 2000. AWI: Three Films. The war over American independence has been the subject of a number of films through the decades. Mark Glancy considers three pivotal portrayals of the battle. Hollywood has often turned to American history for stirring and patriotic historical films, but the War of Independence has proven to be the most difficult period to portray. This is not because the conflict between Britain and the American colonies lacks exciting vignettes: the Boston tea party, the first shots fired at Lexington, the signing of the Declaration of Independence, and Washington crossing the Delaware are just a few of the noteworthy events that can be dramatised for the screen.
Rather, the subject is surrounded by acute sensitivities, and films that engage with it often raise controversies and objections from both critics and audiences. 1. Drums Along the Mohawk Dir: John Ford, USA, 1939. With Henry Fonda, Claudette Colbert Another problem lies in having the British as villains. But is it accurate? Accuracy: 4/10 2. Top 10 Revolutionary War Novels. When we speak of history books normally we refer to non-fiction. But, what of fiction? There is a definite place for novels in our understanding of the Revolutionary War. A good, I stress “good,” historical novel puts flesh on the bones of facts. And, they can be a fun read. They also attract many people to history that a non-fiction book would not. Now, I read few historical novels but there are some that I have enjoyed time and time again.
Oliver Wiswell – Kenneth Roberts, 1940. This book may well be the best historical novel of the Revolutionary War. We Americans, when reflecting on the Revolutionary War, often tend to think of ourselves as kindred spirits with the revolutionaries. The world however, is never quite so black and white as this. The hero of the story, Oliver Wiswell, is a very compelling and sympathetic character. The reader witnesses the brutality of rebel mobs as they tar and feather those whose beliefs differ from their own. Drums Along the Mohawk - Walter D. Novels of the Eighteenth Century. Category:American Revolutionary War novels. American Revolutionary War Fiction (67 books)