This volume focuses on a variety of topics, from the violence of war and the struggle for civil rights to the social impact of technology and the moral significance of money. A concise, engaging guide to American contemporary literature, this volume provides information on late-20th century writers; the 1950s, '60s, and beyond; contemporary American poetry; new voices; and the postmodern movement.
Topics include:- Post-World War II and Vietnam War literature
- New Journalism
- Beat literature and existentialism
- The rise of ethnic and minority literature
- The Civil Rights movement
- Postmodernism
- Confessional poetry and poetry of witness
- and more.
Writers covered include:- Raymond Carver
- Sandra Cisneros
- Ralph Ellison
- Robert Frost
- Norman Mailer
- N. Scott Momaday
- Toni Morrison
- Sylvia Plath
- Thomas Pynchon
- Adrienne Rich
- J.D. Salinger
- Kurt Vonnegut
- Tom Wolfe
- and many others.