American Prose and Poetry in the 20th Century - Cambridge Contexts in Literature

American Prose and Poetry in the 20th Century Author/s: Caroline Zilboorg The literature written by Americans during the twentieth century encompasses a wide variety of voices; voices that attempt to capture the breadth and diversity of American experience in a century of dizzying change. This book examines the dramatic social changes and political events - such as the Great Depression, American involvement in the Second World War and the civil rights movement - that helped to shape American writing throughout the century. Features: Each title includes a wide-ranging yet carefully levelled introductory discussion of a literary period, genre or theme, to provide students with an excellent introduction to an area of literature. Helps students to address the new assessment objective 4 ('demonstrate understanding of the significance and influence of the contexts in which literary texts are written and received') - worth up to 35% of the A level qualification under new guidelines. Discussion questions and end-of-section tasks offer an invaluable resource for self study as well as helpful exam preparation. A mini-anthology of texts and extracts saves teachers time searching for appropriate 'wider reading' texts.