John Bunyan's Christian allegory The Pilgrim's Progress has had an undeniable impact on America. As one of the most influential religious works of the seventeenth century, it was widely read throughout the centuries and is presumably still read today in religious circles as well as university classrooms. In what way this work seems to have been an inspiration for several American authors will be analyzed in the course of this study. As a necessary prerequisite one needs to examine Bunyan's work as well as the circumstances marked by the Civil War. Some analysis will be targeted at why The...