AP U.S. History
Fiction
Uncle Tom's Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe
There May Be No Other Novel in American History as Significant as Uncle Tom's
Cabin. A feat of gripping storytelling -- the first American work of fiction to
become an international bestseller -- no other book so effectively expressed the
moral case against the "peculiar institution" of slavery. Oxford University Press
is pleased to announce a special 150th anniversary edition of this American
classic. This volume features a new introduction by Charles Johnson, recipient of a
MacArthur Foundation fellowship and winner of the National Book Award for his 1990
novel Middle Passage. Johnson examines Uncle Tom's Cabin with an eye that is at
once appreciative and critical, discussing its considerable craft, its impact on
its 1852 audience, and its "ineluctably racist" view of African Americans. He
describes how Stowe created vibrant and dramatic characters from all levels of
Southern society -- the mulatto genius George Harris, his light-skinned wife Eliza,
the vicious slave trader Dan Haley, the guilt-ridden Augustine St. Clare -- hurling
them along truly exciting plotlines. She also infused her book with her
then-controversial awareness of the humanity of black men and women, giving her
audience a sense of the personal reality of the horrors of slavery. But even as
sympathetic an author as Stowe, Johnson observes, substituted one kind of racism
for another, depicting her black characters with a patronizing condescension. A
classic of American fiction, a pivotal moment in history, and a cultural
touchstone, Uncle Tom's Cabin has not lost its relevance or its power. With this
insightful new introduction by one of our finest writers, it deserves a place on a
bookshelf in every home.
A Rumor of War, by Philip Caputo
In March of 1965, Marine Lieutenant Philip J. Caputo landed at Danang with the
first ground combat unit committed to fight in Vietnam. Sixteen months later,
having served on the line in one of modern history's ugliest wars, he returned
home-physically whole, emotionally wasted, his youthful idealism shattered. A
decade later, Caputo would write "A Rumor of War." It was the book that shattered
America's deliberate indifference to the fate of the men it sent to fight in the
jungles of Vietnam, and in the years since it was first published it has become a
basic text on that war. But in the literature of war that stretches back to Homer,
it has also taken its place as an esteemed classic. As William Broyles-himself a
decorated Marine veteran of Vietnam-wrote in Texas Monthly, "Not since Siegfried
Sassoon's classic of World War I, "Memoirs of an Infantry Officer," has there been
a war memoir so obviously true, and so disturbingly honest."
Native Son, by Richard Wright
Right from the start, Bigger Thomas had been headed for jail. It could have been
for assault or petty larceny: by chance, it was for murder and rape. Native Son
tells the story of this young black man caught in a downward spiral after he kills
a young white woman in a brief moment of panic. Set in Chicago in the 1930s,
Wright's powerful novel is an unsparing reflection of the poverty and feelings of
hopelessness experienced by people in inner cities across the country and of what
it means to be black in America.
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, by Betty Smith
"A profoundly moving novel, and an honest and true one. It cuts right to the heart
of life...If you miss A Tree Grows in Brooklyn you will deny yourself a rich
experience...It is a poignant and deeply understanding story of childhood and
family relationships. The Nolans lived in the Williamsburg slums of Brooklyn from
1902 until 1919...Their daughter Francie and their son Neely knew more than their
fair share of the privations and sufferings that are the lot of a great city's
poor. Primarily this is Francie's book. She is a superb feat of characterization,
an imaginative, alert, resourceful child. And Francie's growing up and beginnings
of wisdom are the substance of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn." -New York Times
The Things They Carried, by Tim O'Brien
"Vietnam was full of strange stories, some improbable, some well beyond that, but
the stories that will last forever are those that swirl back and forth across the
border between trivial and bedlam." First published in 1979, Tim O'Brien's The
Things They Carried is an unparalleled Vietnam testament, a classic study of men at
war that brilliantly -- and painfully --illuminates the capacity, and the limits,
of the human heart and soul. Focusing on the members of a single platoon (one of
whom happens to be a 21-year-old grunt named Tim O'Brien) the 22 interconnected
stories of this collection catalogue not only the things they carried into battle
-- M-16s, grenade launchers, candy, Kool-Aid, and cigarettes -- but more
importantly, the things they carried inside, and the nightmares they carried home.
Gone with the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell
A monumental classic considered by many to be not only the greatest love story ever
written, but also the greatest Civil War saga.
On the Road, by Jack Kerouac
Few novels have had as profound an impact as On the Road, and Kerouac's vision
continues to inspire: three generations of writers, musicians, artists, and poets
cite their discovery of On the Road as the event that "set them free." This
hardcover edition commemorates the fortieth anniversary of the original publication
of an American classic. On the Road chronicles Kerouac's years traveling the North
American continent, from East Coast to West Coast to Mexico, with his friend Neal
Cassady, "a sideburned hero of the snowy West." As "Sal Paradise" and "Dean
Moriarty," the two roam the country in a quest for self-knowledge and experience.
Kerouac's love of America, his compassion for humanity, and his sense of language
as jazz combine to make On the Road an inspirational work of lasting importance.
My Antonia, by Willa Cather
Willa Cather's My Antonia is considered one of the most significant American novels
of the twentieth century. Set during the great migration west to settle the plains
of the North American continent, the narrative follows Antonia Shimerda, a pioneer
who comes to Nebraska as a child and grows with the country, inspiring a childhood
friend, Jim Burden, to write her life story. The novel is important both for its
literary aesthetic and as a portrayal of important aspects of American social
ideals and history, particularly the centrality of migration to American culture.
Cold Mountain, by Charles Frazier
Based on local history and family stories passed down by the author's
great-great-grandfather, Cold Mountain is the tale of a wounded soldier Inman, who
walks away from the ravages of the war and back home to his prewar sweetheart, Ada.
Inman's odyssey through the devastated landscape of the soon-to-be-defeated South
interweaves with Ada's struggle to revive her father's farm, with the help of an
intrepid young drifter named Ruby. As their long-separated lives begin to converge
at the close of the war, Inman and Ada confront the vastly transformed world
they've been delivered. Charles Frazier reveals marked insight into man's
relationship to the land and the dangers of solitude. He also shares with the great
nineteenth-century novelists a keen observation of a society undergoing change.
Cold Mountain recreates a world gone by that speaks eloquently to our time.
A Frolic of His Own, by William Gaddis
A Frolic of His Own, his long-anticipated fourth novel, adds more luster to his
reputation, as he takes on life in our litigious times. "Justice? - You get justice
in the next world, in this world you have the law." So begins this mercilessly
funny, devastatingly accurate tale of lives caught up in the toils of the law.
Oscar Crease, middle-aged college instructor, savant, and playwright, is suing a
Hollywood producer for pirating his play Once at Antietam, based on his
grandfather's experiences in the Civil War, and turning it into a gory blockbuster
called The Blood in the Red White and Blue. Oscar's suit, and a host of others -
which involve a dog trapped in an outdoor sculpture, wrongful death during a river
baptism, a church versus a soft drink company, and even Oscar himself after he is
run over by his own car - engulf all who surround him, from his freewheeling
girlfriend to his well-to-do stepsister and her ill-fated husband (a partner in the
white-shoe firm of Swyne & Dour), to his draconian, nonagenarian father, Federal
Judge Thomas Crease, who has just wielded the long arm of the law to expel God (and
Satan) from his courtroom. And down the tortuous path of depositions and decrees,
suits and countersuits, the most lofty ideas of our culture - questions about the
value of art, literature, and originality - will be wrung dry in the meticulous,
often surreal logic and language of the law, leaving no party unscathed. Gaddis has
created a whirlwind of a novel, which brilliantly reproduces the Tower of Babel in
which we conduct our lives.
Middle Passage, by Charles Johnson
It is 1830. Rutherford Calhoun, a newly freed slave and irrepressible rogue, is
desperate to escape unscrupulous bill collectors and an impending marriage to a
priggish schoolteacher. He jumps aboard the first boat leaving New Orleans, the
Republic, a slave ship en route to collect members of a legendary African tribe,
the Allmuseri. Thus begins a daring voyage of horror and self-discovery. Peopled
with vivid and unforgettable characters, nimble in its interplay of comedy and
serious ideas, this dazzling modern classic is a perfect blend of the picaresque
tale, historical romance, sea yarn, slave narrative, and philosophical novel.
The Killer Angels, by Michael Shaara
"July 1863. The Confederate Army of Northern Virginia is invading the North, and
these warring forces will clash at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. General Robert E. Lee
has made this daring and massive move with seventy thousand men in a determined
effort to draw out the Union Army of the Potomac and mortally wound it. His right
hand is General James Longstreet, a brooding man who is loyal to Lee but stubbornly
argues against his plan. Opposing them is an unknown factor: General George Meade,
who has taken command of the Union Army only two days before what will be perhaps
the crucial battle of the Civil War." In the four most bloody and courageous days
of our nation's history, two armies fight for two conflicting dreams. One dreams of
freedom, the other of a way of life. More than rifles and bullets are carried into
battle. The soldiers carry hope. Promises. Love. And more than men fall on those
Pennsylvania fields. Bright futures, untested innocence, and pristine beauty are
also the casualties of war.
The Color Purple, by Alice Walker
Celie is a poor black woman whose letters tell the story of 20 years of her life,
beginning at age 14 when she is being abused and raped by her father and attempting
to protect her sister from the same fate, and continuing over the course of her
marriage to "Mister," a brutal man who terrorizes her. Celie eventually learns that
her abusive husband has been keeping her sister's letters from her and the rage she
feels, combined with an example of love and independence provided by her close
friend Shug, pushes her finally toward an awakening of her creative and loving self.
All the King's Men, by Robert Penn Warren
Set in the '30s, this Pulitzer Prize-winning novel traces the rise and fall of
demagogue Willie Stark, a fictional character who resembles the real-life Huey
"Kingfish" Long of Louisiana. Stark begins his political career as an idealistic
man of the people but soon becomes corrupted by success and caught between dreams
of service and an insatiable lust for power. As relevant today as it was fifty
years ago, All the King's Men is one of the classics of American literature.
Nonfiction
Founding Brothers, by Joseph Ellis
An illuminating study of the intertwined lives of the founders of the American
republic -- John Adams, Aaron Burr, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas
Jefferson, James Madison, and George Washington. During the 1790s, which Ellis
calls the most decisive decade in our nation's history, the greatest statesmen of
their generation -- and perhaps of any -- came together to define the new republic
and direct its course for the coming centuries. Ellis focuses on six discrete
moments that exemplify the most crucial issues facing the fragile new nation: Burr
and Hamilton's deadly duel, and what may have really happened; Hamilton, Jefferson,
and Madison's secret dinner, during which the seat of the permanent capital was
determined in exchange for passage of Hamilton's financial plan; Franklin's
petition to end the "peculiar institution" of slavery -- his last public act -- and
Madison's efforts to quash it; Washington's precedent-setting Farewell Address,
announcing his retirement from public office and offering his country some final
advice; Adams's difficult term as Washington's successor and his alleged scheme to
pass the presidency on to his son; and finally, Adams and Jefferson's renewed
correspondence at the end of their lives, in which they compared their different
views of the Revolution and its legacy. In a lively and engaging narrative, Ellis
recounts the sometimes collaborative, sometimes archly antagonistic interactions
between these men, and shows us the private characters behind the public personas:
Adams, the ever-combative iconoclast, whose closest political collaborator was his
wife, Abigail; Burr, crafty, smooth, and one of the most despised public figures of
his time; Hamilton, whose audacious manner and deep economic savvy masked his
humble origins; Jefferson, renowned for his eloquence, but so reclusive and
taciturn that he rarely spoke more than a few sentences in public; Madison, small,
sickly, and paralyzingly shy, yet one of the most effective debaters of his
generation; and the stiffly formal Washington, the ultimate realist,
larger-than-life, and America's only truly indispensable figure. Ellis argues that
the checks and balances that permitted the infant American republic to endure were
not primarily legal, constitutional, or institutional, but intensely personal,
rooted in the dynamic interaction of leaders with quite different visions and
values. Revisiting the old-fashioned idea that character matters, Founding Brothers
informs our understanding of American politics -- then and now -- and gives us a
new perspective on the unpredictable forces that shape history.
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