American Literature Root and Flower, Volume I: Significant Poets, Novelists and Dramatists, 1775–1955

A companion to Rubinstein’s celebrated study of English literature, American Literature Root and Flower examines the lives and works of over fifty important American novelists, poets, and dramatists. This two-volume study is one of remarkable scope, ranging from Hawthorne to the Harlem Renaissance, from Poe to Pynchon. It illuminates the relationship between the producers of American literature and their ever-changing social and political contexts, while emphasizing the current of critique and resistance that runs through the entire tradition. Monthly Review Press is proud to present the first-ever U.S. printing of this valuable and enlightening work.

Annette Rubinstein (1910–2007) was a literary and political scholar and longtime socialist activist. She is the author of The Great Tradition: From Shakespeare to Shaw as well as innumerable articles for Monthly Review and Science & Society, among many others.