Early American Renaissance
Explore the Early American Renaissance with a curated list of influential books that shaped literature and culture. Discover classic works from this transformative period in U.S. history.
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The Deerslayer
by James Fenimore Cooper
The deadly crack of a long rifle and the piercing cries of Indians on the warpath shatter the serenity of beautiful Lake Glimmerglass. Danger has invaded the vast forests of upper New York State as Deerslayer and his loyal Mohican friend Chingachgook attempt the daring rescue of an Indian maiden imprisoned in a Huron camp. Soon they are caught in the cross fire between a cunning enemy and two white bounty hunters who mercilessly kill for profit. The last of the Leatherstocking Tales to be written, though first in the chronology of the hero’s life, The Deerslayer is James Fenimore Cooper’s masterpiece. A fine combination of romance, adventure, and morality, this classic novel of the frontier is an eloquent beginning for Cooper’s great wildernes saga—and an unforgettable introduction to the famous character who has been said to embody the conscience of America: the noble woodsman Deerslayer.
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Nature and Selected Essays
by Ralph Waldo Emerson
An indispensible look at Emerson's influential life philosophy Through his writing and his own personal philosophy, Ralph Waldo Emerson unburdened his young country of Europe's traditional sense of history and showed Americans how to be creators of their own circumstances. His mandate, which called for harmony with, rather than domestication of, nature, and for a reliance on individual integrity, rather than on materialistic institutions, is echoed in many of the great American philosophical and literary works of his time and ours, and has given an impetus to modern political and social activism. Larzer Ziff's introduction to this collection of fifteen of Emerson's most significant writings provides the important backdrop to the society in which Emerson lived during his formative years. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
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The Scarlet Letter
by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Hailed by Henry James as "the finest piece of imaginative writing yet put forth in the country," Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter reaches to our nation's historical and moral roots for the material of great tragedy. Set in an early New England colony, the novel shows the terrible impact a single, passionate act has on the lives of three members of the community: the defiant Hester Prynne; the fiery, tortured Reverend Dimmesdale; and the obsessed, vengeful Chillingworth. With The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne became the first American novelist to forge from our Puritan heritage a universal classic, a masterful exploration of humanity's unending struggle with sin, guilt and pride.
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Tales and Sketches
by Nathaniel Hawthorne
An authoritative edition of all the tales and sketches in a single comprehensive volume.
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Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave
by Frederick Douglass
This book is an autobiographical account by runaway slave Frederick Douglass that chronicles his experiences with his owners and overseers and discusses how slavery affected both slaves and slaveholders.
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Leaves of Grass
by Walt Whitman
One of the great innovative figures in American letters, Walt Whitman created a daringly new kind of poetry that became a major force in world literature. Leaves Of Grass is his one book. First published in 1855 with only twelve poems, it was greeted by Ralph Waldo Emerson as "the wonderful gift . . . the most extraordinary piece of wit and wisdom that America has yet contributed." Over the course of Whitman's life, the book reappeared in many versions, expanded and transformed as the author's experiences and the nation's history changed and grew. Whitman's ambition was to creates something uniquely American. In that he succeeded. His poems have been woven into the very fabric of the American character. From his solemn masterpieces "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd" and "Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking" to the joyous freedom of "Song of Myself," "I Sing the Body Electric," and "Song of the Open Road," Whitman's work lives on, an inspiration to the poets of later generations.
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Moby-Dick, Or, The Whale
by Herman Melville
A classic of the sea, telling of the pursuit of Moby Dick, the white whale who defied capture.
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