Research Guides: American Literature: Reference Sources

Why Reference:

After you've chosen the topic for your paper, you'll want to find yourself some REFERENCE sources. Why? Because reference sources (think encyclopedias, dictionaries, bibliographies, and databases) allow you to get a firmer grasp on basic facts before you dive into the more interpretive literature (such as criticism articles, biographies, autobiographies, etc.) available on your topic.

Use the reference sources below to get started on your research. The facts you glean from these and other reference sources will enable you to keep an objective view while doing further research. They will also instill confidence in your own knowledge of the subject when writing your paper.

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Reference Books In Print

The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Literature by Jay Parini (Editor)
Call Number: PS21 .E537 2003
The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Literature gathers together 350 essays from more than 190 leading scholars on the whole of American literature, from European discovery to the present.
Encyclopedia of Southern Literature by Mary Ellen Snodgrass
Call Number: PS261 .S515 1997
"ABC-CLIO's Encyclopedia of Southern Literature surveys the region's major authors, works, movements, genres, and themes as a method of illustrating its contributions to American and world literature. The alphabetically arranged entries contain biographical and literary history along with bibliographic citations, critical commentary, and cross-references.
The Concise Oxford Companion to African American Literature by William L. Andrews (Editor); Frances Smith Foster (Editor); Trudier Harris (Editor)
Call Number: PS153 .N5 C59 2001
ISBN: 9780195138832
Publication Date: 2001-02-15
This abridgement of The Oxford Companion to African American Literature will make the entries of the greatest general interest available to a wider audience, providing the same calibre of scholarship and information as the original volume. The Concise collects more than 400 biographies (authors, critics, literary characters and historical figures) of both well-known figures and the lives and careers of writers not found in other reference works. The abridgement also includes the 150 plot summaries of major works.
The Cambridge Companion to the Literature of the American South by Sharon Monteith (Editor)
Call Number: PS261 .C336 2013
This Companion maps the dynamic literary landscape of the American South. From pre- and post-Civil War literature to modernist and civil rights fictions and writing by immigrants in the 'global' South of the late-twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
A Jury of Her Peers by Elaine Showalter
Call Number: PS147 .S46 2009
A Jury of Her Peers is an unprecedented literary landmark: the first comprehensive history of American women writers from 1650 to 2000.

Reference eBooks

Encyclopedia of African-American Heritage by Susan Altman
An excellent reference for young readers, The Encyclopedia of African-American Heritage chronicles more than a millennium of history -- the rich and varied tapestry woven by Africans who remained on their ancestral continent, those who were forced to leave their homes, and their descendants who developed roots in a new land. The broad scope of coverage highlights people, places, culture, politics, and history.
Reading Native American Literature by Joseph L. Coulombe
ISBN: 1136839593
Publication Date: 2011-03-17
Native American literature explores divides between public and private cultures, ethnicities and experience. In this volume, Joseph Coulombe argues that Native American writers use diverse narrative strategies to engage with readers and are 'writing for connection' with both Native and non-Native audiences.
From Battlefields Rising by Randall Fuller
This book considers the effects of the American civil war on those who helped a young nation imagine itself, the writers and artists of the early to mid-nineteenth century. One of the war's many traumas was the pain of witnessing the disintegration of a symbolic order they had helped construct in previous decades. If Emerson, Whitman, Hawthorne and Melville grounded their writing on a coherent national myth, aimed at a familiar audience, the civil war challenged every prior presumption and called on the writers to confront novel exigencies with a suitable new style and form.
The Devil's Mousetrap by Linda Munk
The Devil's Mousetrap approaches the thought of three colonial New England divines-Increase Mather, Jonathan Edwards, and Edward Taylor-from the perspective of literary theory. Author Linda Munk focuses on the background of these men's ideas and on the sources from which they drew, both directly and indirectly, in framing their theology.
Landmark American Speeches by Maureen Harrison (Editor); Steve Gilbert (Editor)
Including speeches by: John Adams, Samuel Adams, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, Increase Mather, Mary Easty, Anne Hutchison, Thomas Paine, Patrick Henry, Benjamin Franklin, Powhatan, Benjamin Rush, John Winthrop, Jonathan Edwards, John Hancock, Henry Lee, James Otis, William Penn, Roger Williams, and George Washington.
Slavery by Peter J. Parish
This study of slavery focuses initially on the drastic revisions in the historical debate on slavery and the present understanding of the 'peculiar institution'. It gives a concise explanation of the nature of American slavery and its impact on the slaves themselves and on Southern society and culture. And it broadens our understanding of the debates among historians about slavery; compares Southern slavery with slavery elsewhere in the New World; and shows how slavery evolved and changed over time and how it ended. Peter Parish examines some of the important recent works on slavery to identify crucial questions and basic themes and define the main areas of controversy.

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American Literature: Reference Sources

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Why Reference:

Reference Books In Print

Reference eBooks

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