Richard Yates has been referred to as American's least known great writer. Today Yates is known primarily for the novel Revolutionary Road, considered by many critics as the greatest American novel of the second half of the twentieth century. This critical study examines the life and work of Yates by placing his body of work in both cultural and personal context. Topics covered include the writing of his major novels, homosexuality, his role as a critic, and his relationship with Hollywood. This text divulges new details about his life and offers a thorough analysis of unpublished materials...

Many factors contributed to the United States' westward expansion across the continent. But the role that sex played has largely been unexplored by scholars. This is a book-length study to examine such topics as Thomas Jefferson's interest in the sex lives of American Indians, white's fear of Indians raping white women, Christian missionary beliefs that Native American sexual practices needed to be altered in order to save Indian souls, and the desire of Mormons to practice polygamy.

Olivia Langdon was born into what became the richest family in Elmira, New York, in 1845, and was one of the first females in the country to attend a college. But her life became extraordinary when she married Mark Twain in 1870. As the wife of the man who was destined to become the best known, and perhaps best loved, American in the world, she would befriend the literary elite of America and Europe, travel around the globe, and dine with royalty.

But her life was filled with tragedy. Her son was born prematurely, was never healthy, and died when he was a year and a half old. Her...

A public argument with her friend, Frederick Douglass, led Susan B. Anthony to alter her strategy of seeking a broad range of rights for women and blacks and focus exclusively on winning the right to vote for women. As a result, she defied state and federal law by voting in the presidential election of 1872. She was arrested and tried in a case presided over by a U.S. Supreme Court justice, who ordered - for the only time in American history - the jury to deliver a directed verdict in a criminal case. She was sentenced to pay a fine, but she defiantly told the judge she would never pay it....