The phrase literature and environment only achieved popularity in recent decades, yet writers dating back to the explorers of the 1500s--and later such 19th-century Romanticists as Thoreau--have long been addressing environmental issues through literary expression. This volume introduces students and educators to the field by tracing the evolution of environmental writing in the United States. Chapters written by distinguished scholars offer new perspectives on important environmental issues, guiding readers through 11 carefully selected literary works. Each chapter provides brief...

Gang culture is one of the most volatile issues to have impacted young people throughout history and around the world. By focusing on the fictional representation of youth gangs, this work presents a unique perspective on an all-too-real phenomenon and its many manifestations. Organized chronologically and topically, the volume begins with a powerful essay tracing the origins and developments of youth gangs, from the early days of the Wild West to immigration gangs in 19th- and 20th-century America and the

Twenty chapters, each introduced with a primary document, fully explore the...

Issues of race and racism permeate American society and are of central concern to students and teachers. The chapters in this reference explore how these issues have been addressed in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Native Son, The House on Mango Street, Ceremony, and other major novels widely read by high school students. The works discussed reflect racial issues from a range of cultural perspectives. Each chapter is devoted to a particular novel and provides a plot summary, an overview of the work's historical background, a literary analysis, and...

The daily newspaper headlines revealing deaths, illnesses, and injuries in the workplace, along with the ongoing decline of workers' rights, make this book an especially timely volume. Included are chapters devoted to such widely read texts as Hard Times, Life in the Iron Mills, Bartleby the Scrivener, The Grapes of Wrath, and several others. Each chapter examines the historical background and plot of the work, the labor and workplace issues raised by the author, and the history of those issues since the text was published. Just a few of the issues raised are...