List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction: The Literary Landscape
1
Celebrating the Many in One
Walt Whitman Birthplace, Huntington, Long Island, New York
2 Living
in Harmony with Nature
Walden Pond, Concord, Massachusetts
3
Freedom’s Port
The New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park, New Bedford,
Massachusetts
4 The
House that Uncle Tom’s Cabin Built
Harriet Beecher Stowe House, Hartford, Connecticut
5 The
Irony of American History
The Mark Twain Boyhood Home, Hannibal, Missouri, and the Mark Twain
House, Hartford, Connecticut
6 Native
American Voices Remember
Wounded Knee, Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, South Dakota
7 “I Know
Why the Caged Bird Sings”
The Paul Laurence Dunbar House, Dayton, Ohio
8 Leaving
the Old World for the New
The Tenement Museum, New York City
9 The
Revolt from the Village
The Original Main Street, Sauk Centre, Minnesota
10 Asian American
Writers and Creativity in Confinement
Angel Island Immigration Station, San Francisco, California, and
Manzanar National Historic Site, Independence, California
11 Harlem and the
Flowering of African American Letters
The 135th Street Library / The Schomburg Center for Research on
Black Culture, New York City
12 Mexican American
Writers in the Borderlands of Culture
Roma, La Lomita, San Agustin de Laredo, and San Ygnacio Historic
Districts, Lower Rio Grande Valley, Texas
13 American Writers
and Dreams of the Silver Screen
Hollywood Boulevard Commercial and Entertainment District, Los
Angeles, California
Index of Authors
Index of Historic Sites
SHELLEY FISHER FISHKIN is the Joseph S. Atha Professor of Humanities, professor of English, and director of American studies at Stanford University. She is also the award-winning author, editor or co-editor of over forty books and over one hundred articles, essays, columns, and reviews. She holds a Ph.D. in American Studies from Yale University and is a former president of the American Studies Association.
Shelley Fisher Fishkin talks literature, place, and what it means
to be American with Josh Logue (https://goo.gl/W1dgt7)
*Inside Higher Ed*
Winner of the John S. Tuckey 2017 Lifetime Achievement Award for
Mark Twain Scholarship from The Center for Mark Twain Studies
*The Center for Mark Twain Studies*
"A vibrant and thoughtful guide through American literary
history."
*Chicago Tribune*
"There is no one better suited to illuminate the connections
between America’s great authors and the places in which they built
their writing and their lives than Shelley Fisher Fishkin; give
yourself a thoughtful treat and keep this book by your bedside to
dip in and out of as the mood strikes."
*Harper's Bazaar*
"The depth of Fishkin's knowledge and the dynamism of her
enthusiasm elevate this 'reader's companion' from superb resource
to lustrous and delectable."
*Booklist journal, starred review*
"A must for book-loving travelers of the armchair and more intrepid
kinds."
*Library Journal, starred review*
"Meeting at the intersection of physical place, history and
literature, Writing America brings readers along for the ride,
pinpointing the locales that fueled the imaginations of some of our
most important writers."
*Ms. Magazine*
“Published on the eve of the 50th anniversary of the Historic
Preservation Act, [Writing America] traces the footsteps of William
Faulkner, Allen Ginsberg, Zora Neale Hurston, Herman Melville,
Harriet Beecher Stowe and many others. With more than 60
illustrations, it's a fascinating trek.”
*San Jose Mercury News*
"Using the National Register of Historic Places as her guide, the
author sparks interesting questions regarding how writers
influence, and are influenced by, place … Fishkin's book offers a
diverse look at our nation's literary landscape and history."
*Publishers Weekly*
"The Langston Hughes House, the Angel Island Immigration Station,
and Hollywood Boulevard…they're all here, having influenced the
writing of America's great literary geniuses. But the most poignant
and memorable pages aren't about buildings and places; they're
about the daily lives, crises, and interactions that motivated
these writers to record fascinating, beautiful, and painful
passages of history."
*American Road*
"Perfect for the armchair traveler or the reader who enjoys hitting
the road, Shelley Fisher Fishkin’s Writing America is a
meticulously researched, beautifully written survey of the nation’s
most beloved literary sites ... A vivid mosaic of the cultures,
voices and geographies that inform America’s literary inheritance
... It’s the ultimate trip advisor for lovers of literature and
history."
*BookPage*
"Big, handsome, well-illustrated ... A book to own and read over
and over again."
*Booklist online*
"Writing America is a triumph of scholarship and passion, a
profound exploration of the many worlds which comprise our national
canon . . . a book that redraws the literary map of the United
States."
*author of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao*
"Shelley Fisher Fishkin is the best guide you could have through
American literature and the places that inspired it. She writes
like an angel. She appreciates the diversity and humor of the
American spirit. Read her!"
*poet and author*
"Writing America is designed for those who love not only
literature, but also history and landscape, and the conversation
they have with one another. I could not stop reading."
*author of Playing Indian*
"Shelley Fisher Fishkin's Writing America is an uncommon travel
narrative. Fishkin takes the National Register of Historic Places
as a starting point to develop a diverse literary itinerary for the
nation … For Fishkin and those who travel with her, literature
makes these places and their histories come to life - and this can
inspire us all to look anew at the historic places around us."
*The Journal of American History*
"Writing America is an intelligent, meandering look at the rich
interplay between writers and their places… Fishkin writes like a
favorite college professor speaks: throwing out quotable lines,
grabbing our attention with revelatory anecdotes, making us laugh
at the human comedy, making us cry at inhumane injustice - while
all the time, whetting our appetite to read more American
literature. Highly recommended."
*The Journal of American Culture*
"A splendid travel guide for readers."
*Yale Alumni Magazine*
“When landscape and literature meet in Writing America, the life
and work of great authors light up as in vivid
Technicolor.”
*Stanford Report*
"Through the prism of more than 150 National Register historic
sites, this eclectic, essential work honors authors’ voices both
mainstream and underrepresented. Thought- and even tear-provoking,
Writing America will leave you in awe of the writers whose worlds
and words comprise our country’s canon. Lovers of American lit,
commence salivating."
*Swarthmore College Bulletin*
"An impressive body of exceptional and detailed scholarship. Highly
recommended."
*Midwest Book Review*
"Filled to the brim with literary treasures; it is a fine traveling
companion for those with a little time to wander - and to wonder
about America's literary past."
*Book Chase*
"This book cuts straight to the soul of America in all its shades
and colors. I don't think anyone has ever put together a book
that’s quite so extraordinary. I certainly have never read
one."
*actor, Mark Twain Tonight!, author, Harold*
"Just when you thought you knew American literature, along comes
Shelley Fisher Fishkin to show you what you've missed . . . and to
make you think about it. She ushers us into both familiar and
unusual spaces with prose as accessible as it is learned,
observations that are clear and sometimes quirky, and quotations
that prove the synergy between literature and place. She takes
American literature out of the library and relocates it in the
public square, revealing its essence as the most eloquent tour
guide imaginable."
*author of South Street and The Chaneysville Incident*
"What a fine, informative, and welcome book by Professor Fishkin.
In brief, a first class piece of work that has been long in coming.
It not only deserves a warm reception, it is also to be treasured
by professionals as well as by beginners."
*novelist and essayist*
"This absorbing and wondrous book is a glorious cornucopia of
America's literary memory. Writing America is necessary, delicious,
and nourishing food for the American artist, reader and
writer."
*author of Free Food for Millionaires*
"Smartly introduced, lavishly illustrated, and beautifully
designed, Writing America treats the reader to sites associated
with American authors and puts houses, landmarks, memorials, and
museums into a vivid relationship with texts."
*coeditor with Greil Marcus of A New Literary History of
America*
"Writing America presents us with an exquisitely rendered
geography, in word and image alike, of the nation's diverse
literary heritage."
*Andrew W. Mellon Professor of the Humanities, Johns Hopkins
University*
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