Iconic American Authors

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    Iconic American Writers

  • Washington Irving

    Washington Irving wrote his most famous pieces, Rip Van Winkle andThe Legend Of Sleepy Hollow, in 1819 and 1820, respectivley.
  • James Fenimore Cooper

    James Fenimore Cooper's iconic story of American frontier life during the French and Indian War. The story tells the fictional life of a young white male raised by the Delaware Indians and his struggle for identity and adventure as he grows.
  • Nathaniel Hawthorne

    Nathaniel Hawthorne C-SPAN Video In 1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote his most famous novel "The Scarlet Letter." This story, set in Puirtan era New England, is the tale of a young woman who had an affair, bore an illegitimate child and was marked for her sin with a red letter A to wear on her chest. It is the story of her sin, guilt, and the terrible cruelty she endured at the hands of her community.
  • Henry David Thoreau

    Henry David Thoreau wrote "Waldon" in 1854, the story of his two year experiment living a simple life at Waldon Pond away from the chaos of civilation.
  • Walt Whitman

    Wlat Whitman wrote "Leaves of Grass" inspired by Ralph Waldo Emerson
  • Mark Twain

    Mark Twain wrote "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn"
  • Willa Cather

    https://www.willacather.org/ In 1918, Willa Caher wrote her most famous novel, My Antonia. Through the voice of a smitten suitor we get a glimpse of frontier life and a free-spirited immigrant girl, Antonia.
  • F. Scott Fizgerald

    The Great Gatsby is a cautionary tale of intrigue, endulgence and excess during the Jazz Age. Primarily centered around the mysterious character, Jay Gatsby, the story tells the tale of an old love affair and his obsession with throwing lavish parties in an attempt to see her again.
  • Ernest Hemingway

    Ernest Hemingway Documentary
    Considered one of the most prolific of all American authors, the Illinois native is best known for his action-packed stories about bullfighting, big-game hunting, war, fishing, and relationships. His novels include; The Sun Also Rises, 
1926; A Farewell to Arms, 1929; For Whom the Bell Tolls, 1940; and The Old Man and the Sea, 1952.
  • Harper Lee

    Harper Lee's Impact on American Literature Harper Lee wrote "To Kill A Mockingbird" which won the Pulitzer Prize that year. Up until 2014, this was Harper Lee's only published work.