Critical Reviews

This list should help those who want to read more widely in this period after this semester; reports on these works will also give us a more complete sense of the period and fuel ideas as we write final papers. The Web links give author biographies and capsule summaries of the books. Choose something close to your interests.  Read the book carefully, take notes, do some background research on the author and the work.  Then, write a 3-5 page critical review of your findings. In most cases, your reader may not know the author or title in question. Your responsibility is to become the explainer and evaluator of the text, and to make a persuasive case for your reading.

A critical review may contain the following: a concise summary of contents; an evaluation of themes, narrative form, use of language and imagery; suggestion of a larger framing context, and estimate of the quality of the project. 

 

After you write your review, we will post it here so others may benefit from it.  For samples, see these two reviews:  Beloved, The Woman Warrior.

Novels and Short Stories

Adams, Henry.  Democracy.

Alger, Horatio. Ragged Dick, or, Street Life in New York.
    review by Jaime Schwalb

Barnum, P.T.  The Humbugs of the World.
    review by Heather Matlock

Bellamy, Edward. Looking Backward, from 2000 to 1887.

Bonnin, Gertrude Simmons (Zitkala-Sa). An Indian Teacher Among Indians; Old Indian Legends.

Cable, George Washington. Old Creole Days.
    review by Kristina Oliver

Chestnut, Charles W. The House Behind the Cedars.

Chopin, Kate. The Awakening.
    review by Jennie Judy

Crane, Stephen.  Selected Poetry.
    review by Wade Coleman

Davis, Rebecca Harding.   "Life in the Iron Mills."
    review by Will Dillard

De Forest, John W. Miss Ravenel's Conversion. 

Du Bois, W.E.B.  The Souls of Black Folk.

Dreiser, Theodore.  The Financier.

Frederic, Harold.  The Damnation of Theron Ware.

Freeman, Mary E. Wilkins.  A New England Nun and Other Stories.
   review by Janet Phillips

Gilman, Charlotte Perkins.  Women and Economics; The Home:  Its Work and Influence.
    review by Kelly McCarty

Glasgow, Ellen.  Virginia; review by Rebekah Metz;
                        Deliverance; review by Cammie Abell

Harte, Bret. The Luck of Roaring Camp.
   review by Meghan Honaker

Howells, William Dean.  A Modern Instance.
    review by Jessica Cook

James, Henry. The Bostonians.
    review by Beth Morris

Jackson, Helen Hunt.  Ramona.

King, Clarence.  Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada.
    review by Clay Ramey

London, Jack.  The Call of the Wild.
    review by Leslie Royston

Muir, John.  The Mountains of California.

Murfree, Mary.  In the Tennessee Mountains; The Prophet of the Great Smoky Mountains.

Powell, John Wesley. Exploration of the Colorado River and Its Canyons.

Sinclair, Upton. The Jungle.

Thorpe, Thomas Bangs. "The Big Bear of Arkansas"

Twain, Mark. Pudd'nhead Wilson; The Gilded Age.

Wharton, Edith. The Custom of the Country.
   review by April Lively

Wister, Owen.  The Virginian.
    review by Josh Reed

Critical Sources

If you'd rather work with a critical text, you might report on one of the following critical sources. 

Bell, Michael Davitt.  The Problem of American Realism. 

Kaplan, Amy.  The Social Construction of American Realism.

Michaels, Walter Benn. The Gold Standard and the Logic of Naturalism.

Mitchell, Lee Clark.  Determined Fictions.

Note: If you do not find a writer (or topic) here, you may chose your own with the consent of your instructor.   Find out more about these books through the library; if we don't have them, you will have to order through interlibrary loan.  You can also find out more about them through Amazon.com.