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Twenty-five Books That Shaped America: How White Whales, Green Lights, and Restless Spirits Forged Our National Identity Paperback – May 24, 2011

by Thomas C Foster (Author)
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 83 ratings
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From the author of the New York Times bestselling How to Read Literature Like a Professor comes a highly entertaining and informative book on the twenty-five works of literature that have most shaped the American character. 

Thomas C. Foster applies his much-loved combination of wit, know-how, and analysis to explain how each work has shaped our very existence as readers, students, teachers, and Americans. He illuminates how books such as The Last of the Mohicans, Moby-Dick, My Ántonia, The Great Gatsby, The Maltese Falcon, Their Eyes Were Watching God, On the Road, The Crying of Lot 49, and others captured an American moment, how they influenced our perception of nationhood and citizenship, and what about them endures in the American character. Twenty-five Books That Shaped America is a fun and enriching guide to America through its literature.

Previous page
  1. Print length
    352 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publication date
    May 24, 2011
  4. Dimensions
    5.31 x 0.79 x 8 inches
  5. ISBN-10
    9780061834400
  6. ISBN-13
    978-0061834400
  7. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Works of imaginative literature from American writers are Foster's choice for his "Great Books" list. Despite stilted language, Foster says, Cooper's The Last of the Mohicans makes the cut because Cooper shows us what a real, sprung-from-the-soil American hero looks like, and because it gave us the first mixed-race buddy story—a notable achievement in a racist time. Foster (How to Read Literature Like a Professor) doesn't much like The Scarlet Letter, but includes it because of Hawthorne's discerning eye for folly, hypocrisy, redemption, and our capacity for error. Walden's importance is about being that still point in the turning world; with Moby-Dick, Melville proves himself America's avatar of complex, even mad narrative; and The Great Gatsby is the most devastating portrait of capitalism run wild in Roaring 20s New York. Among the titles rounding out the list are Leaves of Grass, Huck Finn, My Antonia, The Cat in the Hat, On the Road, Song of Solomon, and Love Medicine. Foster tries to balance the list with women and African-American and Latino writers, though the classic canon and much of the list is predictable. But Foster is a witty, quirkily provocative and perceptive literary critic. (June)
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Review

“Funny, challenging, clear, and always insightful, this intriguing book will make you think again about what it means to be an American.” — Janice A. Radway, author of A Feeling for Books

“Many readers will wish they had a high-school English teacher as cheery and engaged as Foster.” — Kirkus Reviews

“Foster is a witty, quirkily provocative, and perceptive literary critic.” — Publishers Weekly

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ 0061834408
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Harper Perennial; Original edition (May 24, 2011)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 352 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9780061834400
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0061834400
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 10.8 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.31 x 0.79 x 8 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 83 ratings

About the author

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Thomas C. Foster

Thomas C. Foster

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Thomas C. Foster is a professor of English at the University of Michigan-Flint, where he teaches classic and contemporary fiction, drama, and poetry, as well as creative writing and composition. In addition to How to Read Novels Like a Professor, he is the author of How to Read Literature Like a Professor and several books on twentieth-century British and Irish fiction and poetry. He lives in East Lansing, Michigan.

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
83 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

California Bill
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent
Reviewed in the United States on August 30, 2012
Verified Purchase
Thomas C. Foster reviews a selected canon of American literature. The book gives the impression of an expert who has thought out his ideas from scratch. There is no appeal to academic theory. Foster focuses on the influences that these classic books had on later writers. With each book, he discusses the interplay between the book and the American scene, and American history.

He does not indiscriminately uphold the reviewed books as great. For example, he dislikes "The Scarlet Letter."

Foster writes with humor and energy, keeping the book interesting. This is not a plodding textbook.
24 people found this helpful
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TW
5.0 out of 5 stars Loved it
Reviewed in the United States on March 1, 2013
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Awesome book. I liked the choices he selected and I really appreciated the fact that Dr. Foster makes it clear that this is just "a list" and not "the list" of books that shaped America. Nicely written, easy to read, and for anyone who knows him, Dr. Foster's voice is clear on each page.
12 people found this helpful
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Anderson Bui
5.0 out of 5 stars Very good quality.
Reviewed in the United States on July 8, 2013
Verified Purchase
And cheap. You know it's like with school materials you usually don't ever want to pay any more than half of the retail price and the price of this book ( given the quality as well ) definitely exceeded that requirement.
One person found this helpful
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Satya J. Palit
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on May 24, 2017
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Grea book for anyone interested in the study of literature. The book is a guide to further exploration.
2 people found this helpful
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samster
5.0 out of 5 stars Precisely as advertised
Reviewed in the United States on January 3, 2019
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Precisely as advertised
2 people found this helpful
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Renae Hebert
2.0 out of 5 stars Novels- America
Reviewed in the United States on August 17, 2023
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I have read several books by this author. I did not enjoy this one like I did his other books. The author provided a good summary of each novel. I felt the author did not do a good job of explaining why these novels shaped America.
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Janet R. Blake
5.0 out of 5 stars Twenty-five Books That Shaped America How White Whales, Green Lights
Reviewed in the United States on January 18, 2013
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This book ws given as a gift. It arrived to us a perfect shape. However, we haven't heard whether it was interesting to the reader or not.
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Historian
1.0 out of 5 stars Avoid
Reviewed in the United States on August 29, 2014
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Horrible! How ironic that a book on books that shaped America can be so bad. This is drivel, written at a high school level, and seems like it was a lecture by a prof trying to be funny turned into a book. AVOID!
3 people found this helpful
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P. Schmolke
5.0 out of 5 stars Inspiring
Reviewed in Germany on August 11, 2021
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A superb and inspiring overview, written in an entertaining and perceptive manner. I enjoyed it wholeheartedly.
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AmazonUser
4.0 out of 5 stars Wichtige Werke
Reviewed in Germany on July 26, 2013
Verified Purchase
"Twenty-five books that shaped America" ist wie der Name schon sagt eine persönliche Liste der 25 einflussreichsten Werke aus Amerika. Darunter finden sich Klassiker, wie zum Beispiel "Moby Dick" und "The Great Gatsby", aber auch weniger bekannte Publikationen wie "Leaves of Grass".
Musste das Buch für ein Seminar meines Studiums lesen um einen besseren Gesamteindruck der amerikanischen Literatur und Kultur zu bekommen, was diese Sammlung auch wirklich schafft. Hab es genossen und einige Werke der Liste dann sogleich verschlungen. ;)
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