American History Through Literature 1820-1870

American History Through Literature 1820-1870 is a two volume work with a corresponding two volume set covering 1870-1920. Designed for the general reader, this set presents literature not as a simple inventory of authors or titles but rather as a historical and cultural field viewed from a wide array of contemporary perspectives. The set, which is "new historicist" in its approach to literary criticism, endorses the notion that not only does history affect literature, but literature itself informs history.