Waubonsee Community College

Great American authors since 1650, [produced by Centre Communications, Inc. for Ambrose Video Publishing ; producer, Ronald C. Meyer ; director, Scott Gordon ; written by Mark Reeder

eng

videorecording

Great American authors since 1650

182574257

[produced by Centre Communications, Inc. for Ambrose Video Publishing ; producer, Ronald C. Meyer ; director, Scott Gordon ; written by Mark Reeder

240

Presents the lives and literary output of more than 60 of America's most read authors in concise, stand-alone segments presented in chronological orderProgram 1. The awe-inspiring saga of America's greatest authors comes alive in Great American Authors since 1650. As the American colonies moved toward becoming an independent nation, a unique and distinctive voice poured forth from the pens of its authors. Once the nation was founded, America's first literary giants -- Washington Irving, James Fenimore Cooper, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Edgar Allan Poe -- told stories and wrote poems that could have only come from the heart and soul of this fledgling countryProgram 2. Between the War of 1812 and the Mexican American War that ended in 1848, America experienced an exuberant economic period of growth. And, it was during this time that American authors produced the nation's first great wave of classic literature. In this program, such literary giants as Herman Melville, Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow make their mark on the American psycheProgram 3. After the Civil War the modern American novel took shape ... It was led by Louisa May Alcott, Mark Twain and Henry James. It was also the time that the American literary voice came from everyone and from everywhereProgram 4. During this time frame America lost its innocence. Its writers now began to struggle with the problems that accompanied modernization and industrialization. It was also the beginning of the lost generation of American authorsProgram 5. This was the most turbulent period in American history, a time of extremes: the Roaring Twenties and the Great Depression. As the 20's came to a dreadful close and the country struggled through the 30's, America's greatest collection of writers, known collectively as "the lost generation," set a new standard for American literatureProgram 6. Through the dark years of WWII and in its aftermath, America entered the technological age. The most popular American authors were becoming legends in their own time with the growth of mass media and popular culture. Their response was as diverse as the nation's response to living in the nuclear ageProgram 7. If the lost generation authors were searching for identity and meaning, the group of authors in the middle of the last century rejected everything that mainstream America embraced. Ultimately they would speak to the baby boomer generation, first as children, then as proactive teens, and ultimately as adults in the later part of the centuryProgram 8. This half century spanned generations of writers who witnessed or participated in WWII, Korea, The Cold War, The Civil Rights Movement, Vietnam and multiple wars in the Middle East. Their diverse experiences influenced them intellectually, spiritually and emotionally which contributed to the eclectic collection of thought-provoking literature of the period

Program 1. Great American authors 1650-1845. 1650 Anne Bradstreet, America's first poet -- 1702 Cotton Mather publishes The ecclesiastical history of New England ; 1773 Phillis Wheatley becomes America's first black woman poet -- 1819 Washington Irving publishes Rip van Winkle -- 1826 James Fenimore Cooper publishes The last of the Mohicans -- 1836 Ralph Waldo Emerson initiates American transcendentalism with Nature -- 1845 Edgar Allan Poe publishes The ravenProgram 2. Great American authors 1846-1855. 1846 Henry David Thoreau originates America's proud history of civil disobedience -- 1850 Nathaniel Hawthorne writes The scarlet letter -- 1851 Herman Melville's Moby Dick is published -- 1852 Emily Dickinson publishes first poem -- 1852 Harriet Beecher Stowe writes Uncle Tom's cabin -- 1855 Frederick Douglass publishes My bondage and my freedom -- 1855 Walt Whitman publishes Leaves of grass -- 1855 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow writes The song of HiawathaProgram 3. Great American authors 1856-1906. 1868 Louisa May Alcott writes Little women -- 1878 Henry James writes Daisy Miller -- 1885 Mark Twain publishes The adventures of Huckleberry Finn -- 1906 Upton Sinclair's novel The jungle is published -- 1906 the whole country speaks ; Stephen Crane ; O. Henry ; Theodore Dreiser ; Willa Cather ; Jack London ; Sherwood AndersonProgram 4. Great American authors 1907-1925. 1913 poet William Carlos Williams publishes his first book of poems, The tempers -- 1914 Carl Sandburg publishes his poem Chicago -- 1920 Edith Wharton wins a Pulitzer Prize for The age of innocence -- 1922 The innovators ; e.e. cummings ; Ezra Pound and T.S. Eliot ; Henry Miller -- 1923 Robert Frost publishes Stopping by woods on a snowy evening -- 1925 F. Scott Fizgerald writes The great GatsbyProgram 5. Great American authors 1926-1939. 1929 Thomas Wolfe writes Look homeward angel -- 1929 William Faulkner showcases the South with The sound and the fury -- 1930 Sinclair Lewis becomes the first American to win the Nobel Prize for Literature -- 1931 Pearl Buck writes The good Earth -- 1936 playwright Eugene O'Neill wins Nobel Prize for Literature -- 1939 Steinbeck writes The grapes of wrathProgram 6. Great American authors 1940-1949. 1940 Ernest Hemingway's For whom the bell tolls is published -- 1941 James Thurber writes The secret life of Walter Mitty -- 1947-1953 the era of popular science fiction ; Robert Heinlein ; Isaac Asimov ; Ray Bradbury -- 1948 Tennessee Williams wins his first Pulitzer Prize for A street car named Desire -- 1949 Arthur Miller produces Death of a salesmanProgram 7. Great American authors 1950-1957. 1950 Gwendolyn Brooks wins the Pulitzer Prize -- 1951 setting the stage for the Baby Boomer Generation ; J.D. Salinger ; Sylvia Plath -- 1952 speaking for the American black male ; Ralph Ellison ; James Baldwin -- 1957 Jack Kerouac begins the Beat Generation in American literature -- 1957 Dr. Seuss writes The cat in the hatProgram 8. Great American authors 1958-present. 1959 Lorraine Hansberry's play A raisin in the sun is produced -- 1961 Joseph Heller writes Catch-22 -- 1966 Truman Capote writes In cold blood -- 1969 Kurt Vonnegut writes Slaughterhouse five -- 1982 John Updike's Rabbit is rich wins Pulitzer Prize for literature -- 1989 Asian American Amy Tan publishes The joy luck club -- 1993 redefining the black experience ; Toni Morrison ; Alice Walker ; August Wilson -- 2007 Cormac McCarthy wins the Pulitzer Prize for The road

live action