A readable, informative, and up-to-date look at the first five decades of twentieth-century American literature

Covering a wide range of literary works, figures, and influences, A History of American Literature 1900-1950 explores significant developments in American drama, fiction, and poetry. Author Christopher MacGowan discusses how the literature of the period influenced, and was influenced by, cultural trends and attitudes in both the United States and abroad.

This volume provides a well-balanced account of the main literary figures, connections, and ideas that characterized American literature of the period. Throughout the text, the author explores themes of Modernist poets and expatriate novelists, literary publications founded by women and African Americans, Native American and Asian American writers, the ways writers dramatized the enormous social, economic, cultural, and political changes in America, and much more.

Providing deep insights into how American writers reflected issues ranging from the racial and economic discrimination of the age to America's transition from an agrarian nation to an industrial power, A History of American Literature 1900-1950 is essential reading for students in upper-level American literature courses and general readers with interest in the literary tradition of the United States.