PRAXIS American Authors

Maya Angelou

African American autobiographer, poet, and civil rights activist who started as a dancer and rose to global prominence during the 1960s Civil Rights Movement

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and “Still I Rise”

Notable works by Maya Angelou

Cultural/historical context of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

Details her childhood experiences with racism, and overcoming severe trauma, making it the first nonfiction best seller by a Black woman in history

Cultural/historical context of “Still I Rise”

• Addresses an oppressive force

• Boldly declares refusal to be broken by racism, sexism, and hatred

Ray Bradbury

• mid to late 20th centuries

• Closely associated with the Golden Age of science fiction

• Classic works reflect the specific cultural and political anxieties of the early Cold War and the onset of the atomic age that influenced the loss of human connection to rapid globalization

• Openly opposed McCarthyism and was investigated

Fahrenheit 451, The Martian Chronicle, “The Pedestrian”

Works by Ray Bradbury

Cultural/historical context of Fahrenheit 451

• response to political climate of the 1950s

• response to the censorship of the McCarthy era

• response to the threat of nuclear annihilation during the Cold War

Cultural/historical context of The Martian Chronicle

Reflection on the anxieties of post-WW2 America and uses science fiction to critique the Cold War, the legacy of colonial expansion, and the flaws of the Jim Crow Era

Willa Cather

Novelist during the 19th and 20th centuries who is renowned for chronicling the frontier and pioneer experience of the American West, especially the immigrant settlement of the Great Plains

“Paul’s Case,” O Pioneers, Death Comes for the Bishop, The Song of Lark, My Antonia

Works by Willa Cather

Stephen Crane

Writer during the late 19th century who bridged three major overlapping movement: Realism, American Naturalism, and Impressionism

The Red Badge of Courage historical/cultural context

A psychological critique of warfare by deconstructing romanticized American Civil War myths, pioneering American Naturalism and exploring how modern psychological stress, Darwinism, and chaotic environments strip away individual agency.

Emily Dickinson

Victorian Era Poet whose work spans the transition from Transcendentalism to Realism and is noted for her mystical and unrhymed poems

“Wild Nights” and “Fly Buzz When I Died”

Notable poems by Emily Dickinson

Ralph Waldo Emerson

A prominent essayist, poet, and philosopher who led the Transcendentalist movement in the mid 19th century

Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essays and lectures explored themes like

freedom, individuality, and the inner potential of humans which he called the “infinitude of the private man”

American Literary Transcendentalist Movement

A 19th century philosophical and literary movement centered in New England that emphasized individualism, the inherent goodness of people and nature, and the belief that divine truth is found through intuitive insight rather than logical reason or institutionalized religion

The Transcendentalist Movement flourished as a reaction against

rationalism, strict religious doctrines, and the materialism of the growing industrial revolution

Henry David Thoreau was a

key figure in New England transcendentalism, a social critic, and an abolitionist who worked on the Underground Railroad

Walden and “Civil Disobedience”

Notable works by Henry David Thoreau

Walden is a

Reflection on a simple living in nature

“Civil Disobedience” is an

argument for citizen disobedience against injustice

Harriet Beecher Stowe

19th century author and abolitionist who was a leading voice in the fight against slavery and credited with “humanizing” slavery and helping launch the civil war.

Uncle Tom’s Cabin

Novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe that explores the profound cruelties of slavery by following two paths: the Northern space of an enslaved woman (Eliza) and the tragic journey of an enslaved man, Uncle Tom, who is sold to the Deep South

Walt Whitman

19th century poet and essayist called the “the father of free verse” because he rejected traditional rhyme and meter

Leaves of Grass

A collection by Walt Whitman that is considered a foundational text that helped define the American Literary Voice

F. Scott Fitzgerald

Irish American writer best known for depicting the Jazz Age of the 1920s

Fitzgerald’s work often explores themes of

love, money, and the American Dream

The Great Gatsby and The Side of Paradise

Novels by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Anne Bradstreet

Puritan author

Mark Twain

19th century/Gilded Age author who helped transition literature away from romanticism, pioneering the use of regional vernacular and addressing social issues with dark satire. He favored realism and regionalism

Robert Frost

20th century poet who primarily belonged to the modernist literary period and used traditional metrical forms.

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn

Novels by Mark Twain

“The Road Not Taken,” “Fire and Ice,” “Birches”

popular poems by Robert Frost

Avi

a young adult and children’s author of the late 20s and early 21st centuries, primarily belonging to the Contemporary movement

Crispin: The Cross of the Lead

Novel by Avi that follows Crispin's journey as he unravels the mystery of his past, fights for his freedom, and learns to think for himself, all while navigating the harsh realities of feudalism. 

Scott O’Dell

Celebrated historical fiction author for young readers during the mid-to-late 20th century

The Island Blue Dolphins, The Black Pearl, Over Sea, Under Stone

Books by Scott O’Dell

Paul Zindel (Playwright)

Recognized as a pioneer of the YA realistic fiction literary movement, paving the way for authentic storytelling by exploring teenage angst, dysfunctional household, and rebellious youth

The Pigman

Novel by Paul Zindel about two high school sophmores’s who form an unlikely friendship with elderly man, Mr. Pignati

Sylvia Plath is primarily associated with the

mid-20th century Confessional poetry movement and the Postmodern or late Modernist literary periods

Sylvia Plath’s work explored

mental illness, trauma, and complex family dynamics

The Bell Jar

A novel by Sylvia Plath that fictionalizes her struggles with depression and treatment. It is about a young woman (Esther Greenwood) whose tales and intelligence have brought her close to achieving her dreams, but she must overcome suicidal tendencies.

Jack London

A pioneer of commercial fiction and American magazines and a central figure in American realism and Naturalism. He was one of the first American authors to become an international celebrity and earn a large fortune from writing

The Call of the Wind

A novel by Jack London about a pampered dog and how he adjusts to the harsh realities of life in the North as he struggles with his recovered wild instinct and finds a master who treats him right

Louisa May Alcott

Victorian era author whose literary style is deeply rooted in 19th century American Realism and the Transcendentalist Movement

Little Women

Novel by Louisa May Alcott that reflects post-Civil War American values, emerging feminist ideals, and the Transcendentalist movement

SE Hinton

Key figure in YA literature, credited with pioneering the genre, and author of the The Outsiders

Louis Sachar

YA author best known for his novel Holes

Holes cultural context

Explores social injustices and the Justice System

Katherine Paterson

Author of Bridge to Terabithia

Christopher Paul Curtis

Children’s book author

Lois Lowry

YA and children’s author

The Giver Quartet and Number the Stars

Works by Lois Lowry

The Giver Quartet

Historical fiction set during World War II

Ester Forbes

Novelist and historian and the first woman elected to the membership of the American Antiquarian Society

Johnny Tremain

Historical fiction novel by Ester Forbes that follows a proud 14-year-old silversmith apprentice in Boston whose hand is permanently crippled in an accident. Adapting to his disability, he joins the Sons of Liberty and witnesses key events of the American Revolution

Patricia MacLachlan

Children’s writer known for Sarah, Plain, and Tell

Phillis Wheatley

First African American poet, sold into slavery, raised and educated in her family

“On Being Brought from Africa to America” and “To the Right Honorable William, Earl of Dartmouth”

Poems by Wheatly

Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

Author during the late 20th and early 21st centuries known for children and YA fiction

Shiloh and Alice

Works by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

William H. Armstrong

An educator and author best known for his 1969 novel Sounder. He is recognized for his 20th century children’s and YA literature that depict the rural African-American sharecropping experience in the Deep Soth at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century.

Elizabeth George Speare

Recognized for her children’s historical fiction like The Witch of Blackbird Pond, The Sign of the Beaver, The Bronze Bow

Madeline L’Engle

20th century writer known for her novel A Wrinkle in Time

Gary Paulsen

Writer of children’s and young adult fiction + best known for coming-of-age stories about the wilderness like Hatchet, Brain’s Winter, Tracker, and Dogsong

Carl Hiaasen

American journalist and novelist known for his novels Bad Monkey, Fever Beach, and Hoot

Author of The Chocolate War

Robert Cormier

The House on Mango Street

A novel by Sandra Cineros that demonstrates the experiences of Mexican-American immigrants and their children in a patriarchal community, reflecting themes of social class and identity

Elie Wiesel

Author of the novel Night which is based on his experiences as a Jewish prisoner at Auschwitz and Buchenwald during the Holocaust

First woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for fiction for her novel The Age of Innocence

Edith Wharton

The Age of Innocence

revolves around the rigid, ritualistic society of 1870s “Old New York,” comparing the Gilded Age against a post WW1 era that has shattered the social conventions of the Gilded Age

Mildred Taylor

Her award-winning historical fiction books highlight the African American experience during the Jim Crow era and spans from the Reconstruction Era through the Great Depression and into the Civil Rights movement

Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry

Novel by Mildred Taylor where she explores the struggles of African Americans in the 1930s Mississippi through the perspective of nine-year-old Cassie Logan

Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings

Author whose works capture the rural, post-frontier Southern life, with her Pulitzer Prize-winning classic, The Yearling, solidifying her legacy in mid 20th century American Literature

Jean Craighead George

Children and young adult author whose works included common themes of the environment and the natural world

Julie of the Wolves and My Side of the Mountain

Novels by Jean Craighead George

Kate Chopin

Writer of the late 19th and early 20th centuries with work categorized under Realism, Naturalism, and Regionalism, while her progressive themes also foreshadow later feminist and existentialist literature

The Awakening and “The Storm”

novels by Kate Chopin

The Awakening Cultural context

Explores the class between French Creole societal norms, which confined women to the domestic sphere and the "new woman” movement, which challenged patriarchal structures and advocated for female independence and sexual autonomy

“The Storm”

Classic short story that challenges Victorian-era gender norms and the strict moral expectations of the American South set in Louisiana

Langston Hughes

A leading poet of the Harlem Renaissance who wrote “The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” “Theme for English B,” “My People,” “Not Without Laughter,” and “The Weary Blues”

“Incident”

“Any human to another”

“Color”

“Ballad of a Brown Girl”

“Heritage”

“Fruit of the Flower”

Poems by the famous Harlem Renaissance writer, Countee Cullen

Ernest Hemingway

Writer during the 20th century Modernist period and a key figure in the “Lost Generation” with works that capture the disillusionment following WW1 and the historical and political conflicts of that era

A Farewell to Arms

A classic novel by Ernest Hemingway set during WW1 that tells the story of American Ambulance driver, Fredric Henry, and his love affair with English nurse, Catherine Barkley, exploring themes of love, war, disillusionment, and the “Lost Generation”

The Devil and Tom Walker

The Legend of Sleepy Hallow

Rip Van Winkle

Short stories by Washington Irving

Washington Irving

wrote during the American Romantic period/gothic literatue and is a foundational figure in 19th century American literature (the legend of sleepy hollow)

Arthur Miller

Prominent 20th century American writer whose work often explores social issues and moral questions. His work is considered to have transformed American theater after WW2

The Crucible (1949)

A play by Arthur Miller, set in 1692 Salem witch trials, but was written in 1953 as a direct allegory for the Red Scare to critique mass hysteria, government paranoia, and the effects of McCarthyism

James Russell Lowell

Prominent American Romantic writer and critic. He is a key figure in the Fireside Poets group and is known for his abolitionist writings, political satire, and literary criticism during the American Renaissance

“The First Snowfall”

Personal elegy by James Russell Lowell within the 19th century Romantic movement that reflects a cultural shift toward viewing nature as a source of important emotional comfort and the rise of sentimental domestic poetry that processed grief

“The Breakfast Table” and “The Chambered Nautilus”

Works by the poet and member of the Fireside poets, Oliver Wendell Holmes

William Cullen Bryant

BEst remembered for helping introduce European Romanticism to American literature

“To a Waterfowl”

Classic early American Romanticism poem that uses the bird’s lonely journey to symbolize human vulnerability and express unwavering faith in Divine Providence

Karen Hessee

Children and YA literature writer who often writes with historical settings

Out of the Dust, is story told in free-verse poems, tracks a young girl’s struggle to survive ecological disaster, greed, and poverty in the Oklahoma Panhandle, set against the backdrop of the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl, is written by ____

Karen Hassee