Twenty-five Books That Shaped America

Name: Twenty-five Books That Shaped America
Brand: Harper Audio
Availability: InStock
Author: Thomas C. Foster
ISBN: 9780062072702

Author: Thomas C. Foster

Narrator: Sean Pratt

Unabridged: 12 hr 2 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: HarperAudio

Published: 05/24/2011

Categories: Nonfiction, Literary Criticism, Literary Collections

Synopsis

Thomas C. Foster, acclaimed author of the phenomenal bestseller How to Read Literature Like a Professor, returns with a hugely entertaining appreciation of twenty-five works of literature that have greatly influenced the American identity. In a delightfully informative, often wry manner, Twenty-Five Books that Shaped America looks closely at important literary classics that are true national treasures. From The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, The Scarlet Letter, Moby Dick, and Huckleberry Finn through Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, Jack Kerouac’s On the Road, and Thomas Pynchon’s The Crying of Lot 49, Twenty-Five Books that Shaped America examines masterpieces of the written word that have greatly influence what we are as a people and a nation.

About Thomas C. Foster

Thomas C. Foster is the author of How to Read Literature Like a Professor, How to Write Like a Writer, How to Read Nonfiction Like a Professor, and other works. He is professor emeritus of English at the University of Michigan, Flint, where he taught classes in contemporary fiction, drama, and poetry as well as creative writing and freelance writing. He is also the author of several books on twentieth-century British and Irish literature and poetry.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Lillian

Readers love books about books and this one is a gem. Foster makes it clear that this is not 'the' list of 25 books that shaped America, but 'a' list. Some of his favorites are Moby Dick, The Maltese Falcon, The Great Gatsby (mine as well) and others while significant are not. His least favorites in......more

Goodreads review by Eliza

2/5 First off, I didn't read the whole book. I was only required to read a few sections for class - and the few sections that I did read, well, they weren't too good... His writing doesn't grab my attention. His sections are informative, yes. But not necessarily a "new" perspective on anything he's t......more

Goodreads review by Jan C

It is, for the most part, a decent list of books that may have helped shape America. I read 13 of them, 6 of them for school. Of course, he may have persuaded me not to read one of them which is currently on my shelf, The Crying of Lot 49. Reminded me that I have been lax in my re-reading of Moby-Di......more

Goodreads review by Joseph

This list is actually 26 books (two Robert Frost collections are merged as one entry) and 15 additional suggestions in the afterward. Foster's intro tries to define criteria for his system. He states, "A book is the end point of the efforts of a great many people, only one of whom typically gets a na......more

Goodreads review by Stephen

Foster has done it again: written an engaging book that will appeal to anyone who likes good fiction. His expressed intent here is not to list the best books written by Americans, but those that had a hand in shaping who we are as a country and a culture. Consequently, the books he choses are "illus......more