The American Writer: Literary Life in the United States from the 1920s to the Present

by Lawrence R. Samuel

The American writer--both real and fictitious, famous and obscure--has traditionally been situated on the margins of society, an outsider looking in. From The Great Gatsby 's Nick Carraway to the millions of bloggers today, writers are generally seen as onlookers documenting the human condition. Yet their own collective story has largely gone untold. Tracing the role of the writer in the United States over the last century, this book describes how those who use language as a creative medium have held a special place in our collective imagination.

170 pages, Paperback

Published December 5, 2017

About the author

Lawrence R. Samuel is the founder of Culture Planning LLC, a Miami– and New York–based resource offering cultural insight to Fortune 500 organizations. He is the author of The End of the Innocence: The 1964–1965 New York World’s Fair, Future: A Recent History, Rich: The Rise and Fall of American Wealth Culture, Freud on Madison Avenue: Motivation Research and Subliminal Advertising in America, Supernatural America: A Cultural History, and a number of other books.