The Portable American Realism Reader

From the end of the Civil War to the beginning of the first World War there was a flowering of American writing. Here a good representation of it is grouped together under the heading of 'American Realism and Naturalism'. The 'Realism' is the critical term of William Dean Howells and the Naturalism is much more suitable to certain writers, say Harold Frederic, than it is to others, say Henry James. In short there is a great variety of voices in this collection and taken together they give a sense of the energetic motion of American life and literature at the time. Some of it is great literature, James , Twain, Crane , and much of it is competent first- class writing. A very worthwhile anthology for one who wishes to both enjoy first- rate Literature and have a special insight into a period of American Literary History.