What do you think?
Rate this book
The Complete Idiot's Guide to American Literature
Looks at American authors from Washington Irving to John Updike and provides brief biographical sketches, excerpts and summaries of major works, and explanations of major literary movements
496 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 1999
27 people are currently reading
163 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
October 28, 2017
WHY’D YOU READ THIS BOOK?
This book is nearly 20-years old. About ten years ago, my friend’s son was tossing it in the trash, so I pulled it from him and told him I’d read it someday when I felt like brushing up on American lit., and that day finally came.
DO YOU NOW FEEL SUFFICIENTLY “BRUSHED UP”?
Yes, I do. Where the American lit. courses I’ve taken in the past were deep, this book is wide. For example, in all my years of education—primary, secondary, and tertiary—I have never read anything by Mark Twain, and I feel guilty about it since I have a degree in English literature, so I’m slightly relieved that this book offers a decent write up on Twain and his work. As I understand it, academia has tended to snub Twain, and I never understood why, but having now read sufficient excerpts of his work, I don’t feel as clueless about it.
WHAT ELSE DID YOU LEARN FROM THIS BOOK?
Well, I mostly felt my knowledge was being refreshed, and now that I’m older, I feel especially appreciative of authors like Kate Chopin who must have had to cope with incredible anxiety before and after writing her controversial The Awakening.
I was grateful for the write up on Ezra Pound. I recall Pound being mentioned by professors, but I knew virtually nothing of him other than a few pithy lines of poetry, but, of course, it’s no wonder since he was—eh-um—sympathetic towards fascism, and we all know universities don’t like that sort so much.
By the way, I ended up adding numerous books to my impossible collection of books to be read after learning more about Maxine Hong Kingston and Zora Neale Hurston.
WAS THERE ANYTHING WORTHY OF NEGATIVE CRITICISM IN THIS BOOK?
Not really. I was surprised to see a few typos, more than usual for a non-indie publisher. At one point Mark Twain’s name was written “Mark Train.”
I think the coverage of Langston Hughes was a bit short-changed. Actually, for a book like this, if an author is mentioned, an excerpt of at least 100 words should be included. It seems excerpts of writing drastically fell off as authors whose copyrights were still in effect were mentioned.
IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE YOU’D LIKE TO SAY?
Well, yeah, there is. I figure some scholarly types might frown upon a book like this, thinking maybe reading it doesn’t result in the most erudite effect, especially if you’re an author (albeit an indie author in my case). The title—Idiot’s guide—most definitely doesn’t help of course. Nevertheless, I’d rather err on the side of barbarism than read some utterly pedantic and inaccessible mumbo jumbo.
DO YOU RECOMMEND THIS BOOK TO OTHERS?
Yes, I recommend the book, but probably seeking out an updated version (if there is one) is better since the humor in this book is a little dated. I mean, I doubt Millennials will get Imelda Marcos shoe jokes. Also, there are some great authors that have emerged since the release of this old book, Victor Villaseñor for one, and readers shouldn’t miss out on learning about them.
This book is nearly 20-years old. About ten years ago, my friend’s son was tossing it in the trash, so I pulled it from him and told him I’d read it someday when I felt like brushing up on American lit., and that day finally came.
DO YOU NOW FEEL SUFFICIENTLY “BRUSHED UP”?
Yes, I do. Where the American lit. courses I’ve taken in the past were deep, this book is wide. For example, in all my years of education—primary, secondary, and tertiary—I have never read anything by Mark Twain, and I feel guilty about it since I have a degree in English literature, so I’m slightly relieved that this book offers a decent write up on Twain and his work. As I understand it, academia has tended to snub Twain, and I never understood why, but having now read sufficient excerpts of his work, I don’t feel as clueless about it.
WHAT ELSE DID YOU LEARN FROM THIS BOOK?
Well, I mostly felt my knowledge was being refreshed, and now that I’m older, I feel especially appreciative of authors like Kate Chopin who must have had to cope with incredible anxiety before and after writing her controversial The Awakening.
I was grateful for the write up on Ezra Pound. I recall Pound being mentioned by professors, but I knew virtually nothing of him other than a few pithy lines of poetry, but, of course, it’s no wonder since he was—eh-um—sympathetic towards fascism, and we all know universities don’t like that sort so much.
By the way, I ended up adding numerous books to my impossible collection of books to be read after learning more about Maxine Hong Kingston and Zora Neale Hurston.
WAS THERE ANYTHING WORTHY OF NEGATIVE CRITICISM IN THIS BOOK?
Not really. I was surprised to see a few typos, more than usual for a non-indie publisher. At one point Mark Twain’s name was written “Mark Train.”
I think the coverage of Langston Hughes was a bit short-changed. Actually, for a book like this, if an author is mentioned, an excerpt of at least 100 words should be included. It seems excerpts of writing drastically fell off as authors whose copyrights were still in effect were mentioned.
IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE YOU’D LIKE TO SAY?
Well, yeah, there is. I figure some scholarly types might frown upon a book like this, thinking maybe reading it doesn’t result in the most erudite effect, especially if you’re an author (albeit an indie author in my case). The title—Idiot’s guide—most definitely doesn’t help of course. Nevertheless, I’d rather err on the side of barbarism than read some utterly pedantic and inaccessible mumbo jumbo.
DO YOU RECOMMEND THIS BOOK TO OTHERS?
Yes, I recommend the book, but probably seeking out an updated version (if there is one) is better since the humor in this book is a little dated. I mean, I doubt Millennials will get Imelda Marcos shoe jokes. Also, there are some great authors that have emerged since the release of this old book, Victor Villaseñor for one, and readers shouldn’t miss out on learning about them.
January 28, 2019
American Literature is a relatively new thing compared to other types of literature. It hasn’t always had the reputation that it possesses now. I mean, we have big names. We have important works. This was not always the case. At one time, Washington Irving lied about his identity due to shame in being an American Writer. It seems that every new generation wants to create a great American Novel, a book that encapsulates all of our issues and problems in an artful manner. However, we Americans have created works that have stood the tests of time.
This book is named “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to American Literature.” The book is straightforward. It gives you the tools needed to analyze literature in all of its different flavors. There are three major types of literature; Prose, Poetry, and Drama. The book talks about that and goes through major eras in our literature.
America’s first writers were the Puritans since the Native Americans did not have a written language. All of their myths and legends and stories were passed down through oral transmission. So this book is a sort of basic course in American Literature. It is exactly what it says it is. It makes for a good bunch of references and it provides a number of history lessons. If you don’t have a cultured bone in your body, this might be a good place to start out. The book gives a shorthand coverage of all of these things.
A lot of the chapters just cover one author in depth and explore their works. For example, Chapter 6 covers Edgar Allan Poe. It talks about his works and how they were received in his own day, along with talking about how groundbreaking the stuff he wrote was for the time. The end of each chapter has a section that summarizes the chapter.
Some pieces it includes in their entirety. The Declaration of Independence is one of those works. It also has some pieces of poetry, such as Annabelle Lee by E. A. Poe. The book was published in 1999 so there might be some stuff that the book missed, but this doesn’t really bother me all that much. The biggest disadvantage is that it is a printed piece of material and can’t be updated.
This book was pretty good, but it is difficult to condense the contents of it into this review, so I will stop trying. Perhaps I will read something else related to literature in this series.
This book is named “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to American Literature.” The book is straightforward. It gives you the tools needed to analyze literature in all of its different flavors. There are three major types of literature; Prose, Poetry, and Drama. The book talks about that and goes through major eras in our literature.
America’s first writers were the Puritans since the Native Americans did not have a written language. All of their myths and legends and stories were passed down through oral transmission. So this book is a sort of basic course in American Literature. It is exactly what it says it is. It makes for a good bunch of references and it provides a number of history lessons. If you don’t have a cultured bone in your body, this might be a good place to start out. The book gives a shorthand coverage of all of these things.
A lot of the chapters just cover one author in depth and explore their works. For example, Chapter 6 covers Edgar Allan Poe. It talks about his works and how they were received in his own day, along with talking about how groundbreaking the stuff he wrote was for the time. The end of each chapter has a section that summarizes the chapter.
Some pieces it includes in their entirety. The Declaration of Independence is one of those works. It also has some pieces of poetry, such as Annabelle Lee by E. A. Poe. The book was published in 1999 so there might be some stuff that the book missed, but this doesn’t really bother me all that much. The biggest disadvantage is that it is a printed piece of material and can’t be updated.
This book was pretty good, but it is difficult to condense the contents of it into this review, so I will stop trying. Perhaps I will read something else related to literature in this series.
September 10, 2024
When I write a new class, I like to pick up any easily-available books on the subject, aimed at as wide a variety of audiences as possible, just to see what else is out there. I didn't have particularly high expectations (I can't remember ever using any of the Idiot's Guides before, but my impression of them has never been particularly positive), and I barely made it through the Puritans before giving up. It's trying too hard to be snarky and edgy and appealing to people who don't want to actually put in any effort to read and understand these works.
July 6, 2020
I picked this up as a lark at the used book store, but I really enjoyed it. It was well-written, really well organized and pointed out a lot a big holes in my ol’ English degree. One for the bookshelf to reference when I’m looking for one of the classics.
April 12, 2008
Good for an overview of American Literature. Learned a lot about the personal lives of many well-known authors and what inspired them.
Couple of nags: Now I'm not the greatest proofreader in the world, but, geez, I must have come across at least three typos in this book. Also the Marx Brothers, yes, the Marx Brothers have half a page about their contribution to humor, which has nothing to do with writing--except that they hung out with some famous writers like Dorothy Parker.
Couple of nags: Now I'm not the greatest proofreader in the world, but, geez, I must have come across at least three typos in this book. Also the Marx Brothers, yes, the Marx Brothers have half a page about their contribution to humor, which has nothing to do with writing--except that they hung out with some famous writers like Dorothy Parker.
January 23, 2009
Interesting overview of some of my favorite authors and many more I'm not familiar with. Seems like all of the post 1950's writers were clinically depressed, insane, or both. I was, however, not impressed with the numerous typos throughout the book.
November 14, 2008
I love these books. Great overviews of subjects. Much better grasp of Americas literary heritage due to this book , also prompted me to start reading some of the classics
May 18, 2009
Good prep for the CLEP American Literature test, though not always the most wholesome subject matter.
July 15, 2010
A must-have for anyone needing an readable overview for the CLEP test!
Read
February 19, 2013Using in my American Lit class.
April 23, 2011
Not only is tgis book very educational... but it's also entertaining. It keeps you informed about American Literature in the past and at the same time, you enjoy the stories of the authors' lives.
July 18, 2011
This was an amazing resource! This book allowed me to get a passing score on my practice test and I hope to read through it again before I take the real CLEP test next week.
Read
March 14, 2012Great Book to learn all about American Lit. in a hurry.
Read it for my Clep exam test resource.
Read it for my Clep exam test resource.
August 11, 2016
A nice introduction to Classic American Literature. Enjoyed it.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews