The American literary tradition is so rich and varied that the Penguin Classics editors have grouped the collection into two volumes, with Volume I focused on the novels, short stories, and poetry through the 19th century, and Volume II focused on the political writings, memoirs, and narratives that chronicle the birth and growth of the nation.

In Volume I: Foundations in Literature, you’ll find classic stories of the American dream in the works of Horatio Alger (Ragged Dick and Struggling Upward); the African American and Southern traditions represented in the acclaimed fiction of Charles Chesnutt (including The House Behind the Cedars and The Marrow of Tradition); novels of the great westward expansion including James Fenimore Cooper's The Last of the Mohicans and Deerslayer featuring the iconic Natty Bumppo; Nathaniel Hawthorne's works on social and moral values (including The Scarlet Letter and The House of the Seven Gables); the horror stories of Edgar Allen Poe; and of course the body of work from the irrepressible Mark Twain, from his first novel The Gilded Age to the darker Pudd’nhead Wilson to the exuberant Huckleberry Finn.

From the Age of Reason through Romanticism, Transcendentalism, the Civil War and the expansion of the 1800s to the dawn of the 20th century, the canvas of American history bursts forth in this collection representing the rich literary legacy of America. Included are 94 titles:

Esther by Henry Adams
The Inheritance by Louisa May Alcott
Work by Louisa May Alcott
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Ragged Dick and Struggling Upward by Horatio Alger
Looking Backward by Edward Bellamy
Tales of Soldiers and Civilians by Ambrose Bierce
Edgar Huntly by Charles Brockden Brown
Wieland and Memoirs of Carwin the Biloquist by Charles Brockden Brown
The Power of Sympathy and The Coquette by William Hill Brown
Clotel by William Wells Brown
The Grandissimes by George Washington Cable
Conjure Tales and Stories of the Color Line by Charles W. Chesnutt
The House Behind the Cedars by Charles W. Chesnutt
The Marrow of Tradition by Charles W. Chesnutt
Bayou Folk and A Night in Acadie by Kate Chopin
At Fault by Kate Chopin
A Vocation and a Voice by Kate Chopin
The Awakening and Selected Stories by Kate Chopin
The Pioneers by James Fenimore Cooper
The Pathfinder by James Fenimore Cooper
The Spy by James Fenimore Cooper
The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper
The Deerslayer by James Fenimore Cooper
Maggie: A Girl of the Streets by Stephen Crane
Miss Ravenel's Conversion from Secession to Loyalty by John W. De Forest
Ruth Hall by Fanny Fern
The Damnation of Theron Ware by Harold Frederic
Nights with Uncle Remus by Joel Chandler Harris
Uncle Remus by Joel Chandler Harris
The Luck of Roaring Camp and Other Writings by Bret Harte
The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Marble Faun by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Selected Tales and Sketches by Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Blithedale Romance by Nathaniel Hawthorne
A Modern Instance by William Dean Howells
The Rise of Silas Lapham by William Dean Howells
The Emigrants by Gilbert Imlay
Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Other Stories by Washington Irving
The Awkward Age by Henry James
The Europeans by Henry James
Roderick Hudson by Henry James
Henry James by Henry James
The Figure in the Carpet and Other Stories by Henry James
The Golden Bowl by Henry James
The Princess Casamassima by Henry James
The Spoils of Poynton by Henry James
The Bostonians by Henry James
What Maisie Knew by Henry James
The American by Henry James
Washington Square by Henry James
The Wings of the Dove by Henry James
The Turn of the Screw and The Aspern Papers by Henry James
The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James
The Ambassadors by Henry James
Daisy Miller by Henry James
The Country of the Pointed Firs and Other Stories by Sarah Orne Jewett
A Country Doctor by Sarah Orne Jewett
Selected Poems by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
The Confidence-Man by Herman Melville
Redburn by Herman Melville
Typee by Herman Melville
Pierre by Herman Melville
Billy Budd and Other Stories by Herman Melville
Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket by Edgar Allan Poe
The Fall of the House of Usher and Other Writings by Edgar Allan Poe
Charlotte Temple and Lucy Temple by Susanna Rowson
Hope Leslie by Catharine Maria Sedgwick
A New-England Tale by Catharine Maria Sedgwick
The Morgesons by Elizabeth Stoddard
The Minister's Wooing by Harriet Beecher Stowe
Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
A Tramp Abroad by Mark Twain
Roughing It by Mark Twain
Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain
The Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain
Pudd'nhead Wilson by Mark Twain
The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain
The Portable Mark Twain by Mark Twain
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
The Gilded Age by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner
Nineteenth-Century American Poetry
Early American Drama
Four Stories by American Women
Complete Writings by Phillis Wheatley
The Complete Poems by Walt Whitman
The Portable Walt Whitman by Walt Whitman
Leaves of Grass (Classics Deluxe Edition) by Walt Whitman
Our Nig by Harriet E. Wilson
American Indian Stories, Legends, and Other Writings by Zitkala-Sa


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