Main currents in American thought

I. The American Scene. For history of the period see Allan Nevins, The Emergence of Modern America, 1865–1878 (in the series A History of American Life, Vol. VIII, New York, 1927); E. P. Oberholtzer, History of the United States since the Civil War (3 vols., New York, 1917–1926); Frederick L. Paxson, Recent History of the United States (Boston and New York, c. 1921).

For economic backgrounds see Harold Underwood Faulkner, American Economic History (New York and London, 1924); Gustavus Meyers, History of Great American Fortunes (3 vols., Chicago, 1910); Robert Irving Warshaw, Jay Gould: The Story of a Fortune (New York, 1928); and for the part played by railroads see John P. Davis, The Union Pacific Railway (New York, 1894); C. E. Russell, Stories of Great Railroads (Chicago, 1912); and Charles Francis Adams, Jr., and Henry Adams, Chapters of Erie and Other Essays (Boston, 1871).

II. The Culture of the Seventies. For valuable sidelights on culture in the decade see Constance Mayfield Rourke, Trumpets of Jubilee (New York, c. 1927); Paxton Hibben, Henry Ward Beecher: An American Portrait (New York, c. 1927); Horace Greeley, Recollections of a Busy Life (New York, 1868); James Parton, The Life of Horace Greeley (Boston, c. 1896); Lewis Mumford, The Golden Day: A Study in American Experience and Culture (New York, 1926); and his Sticks and Stones, A Study of American Architecture and Civilization (New York, c. 1924).

For history of literature see Fred Lewis Pattee, A History of American Literature since 1870 (New York, 1915); his Sidelights on American Literature (New York, 1922); his The Development of the American Short Story (New York and London, 1923); and Carl Van Doren, The American Novel (New York, 1921).

Sarah Orne Jewett. A Country Doctor (Boston and New York, c. 1884); A Native of Winby and Other Tales (Boston and New York, c. 1893); Deephaven (Boston and New York, 1894). Tales of New England (Boston and New York, 1894); The Life of Nancy (Boston and New York, 1895); The Queen’s Twin and Other Stories (Boston and New York, 1899); The Country of Pointed Firs (Boston and New York, c. 1910). For her life see The Letters of Sarah Orne Jewett (Boston and New York, 1911).

Mrs. Mary E. (Wilkins) Freeman, A Humble Romance, and Other Stories (New York, 1887); The New England Nun, and Other Stories (New York, 1891); The Pot of Gold, and Other Stories (Boston, c. 1892); Pembroke; a Novel (New York, c. 1894); People of Our Neighborhood (New York, 1901); The Portion of Labor (New York, c. 1901). Young Lucretia, and Other Stories (New York, 1903); By the Light of the Soul (New York and London, 1907).

Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass (Inclusive edition edited by Emory Holloway, Garden City, New York, 1927); The Complete Prose Works of Walt Whitman (New York, 1898); The Half-breed and Other Stories (New York, 1927); Autobiographia: or, the Story of a Life (New York, 1892); The Gathering of Forces (New York and London, 1920); and The Uncollected Poetry and Prose of Walt Whitman (2 vols., Garden City, New York, 1921). For Whitman’s life see Horace Traubel, With Walt Whitman in Camden (3 vols., New York, 1908–1914); Emory Holloway, Whitman (New York, 1926); John Addington Symonds, Walt Whitman: a Study (London, 1893); Léon Bazalgette, Walt Whitman, the Man and his Work (Garden City, New York, 1920); John Burroughs, Whitman: a Study (Boston and New York, c. 1924); Bliss Perry, Walt Whitman: his Life and Work (Boston and New York, 1906); and J. Johnston, M. D., and J. W. Wallace, Visits to Walt Whitman (New York, 1918).

For his life see Mark Twain’s Autobiography (New York and London, 1924); Albert Bigelow Paine, Mark Twain, a Biography (3 vols., New York, c. 1912); Van Wyck Brooks, The Ordeal of Mark Twain (New York, c. 1920); W. D. Howells, My Mark Twain (New York, c. 1910).

III. Changing Theory. For a general history of economic theory see, Charles Gide and Charles Rist, A History of Economic Doctrines from the Time of the Physiocrats to the Present Day (Authorized translation from the second revised and augmented edition of 1913, Boston, New York, Chicago, 1913); The Trend of Economics (Edited by R. G. Tugwell, New York, 1924).

For material covered in this section see Francis Wayland, Elements of Political Economy (New York, 1837); Henry Charles Carey, Principles of Social Science (3 vols., Philadelphia, 1858–1860); his The Harmony of Interests: Agricultural, Manufacturing, and Commercial (2nd ed., New York, 1852); and his Miscellaneous Works (Philadelphia, 1875). Francis A. Walker, The Wages Question, a Treatise on Wages and the Wages Class (New York, 1891); his Land and Its Rent (Boston, 1891); and his Political Economy (New York, 1888).

For a general treatment of political theories see William A. Dunning, A History of Political Theories from Rousseau to Spencer (New York, 1920); Charles E. Merriam, History of American Political Theories (New York, 1920); and his American Political Ideas: Studies in the Development of American Political Thought, 1865–1917 (New York, 1920).

Henry D. Lloyd, Wealth Against Commonwealth (New York, c. 1894); Lords of Industry (New York and London, 1910); Men the Social Creator (New York, 1906); Strike of Millionaires Against Miners, or the Story of Spring Valley, with an Open Letter to Millionaires (Chicago, 1890). For his life see Caroline Augusta Lloyd, Henry Demarest Lloyd, 1847–1903, (2 vols., New York and London, 1912). (Parrington had intended to discuss Lloyd.)

IV. The Beginnings of Criticism. Wendell Phillips, Speeches, Lectures, and Letters (2 vols., Boston, 1891–1892). For his life see Carlos Martyn, Wendell Phillips, the Agitator (Revised ed., New York, 1890); and Charles Edward Russell, The Story of Wendell Phillips (Chicago, c. 1914).

George William Curtis, Nile Notes of a Howadji (New York, 1851); Trumps (New York, 1861); Potiphar Papers (New York, 1854); Prue and I (New York, n. d.); Orations and Addresses (3 vols., New York, 1894); From the Easy Chair (3 vols., New York, 1894–1902); Early Letters of George William Curtis to John S. Dwight; Brook Farm and Concord (New York and London, 1898). For his life see Edward Cary, George William Curtis (Boston and New York, 1894).

Edwin Lawrence Godkin, Reflections and Comments, 1865–1895 (New York, 1895); Unforeseen Tendencies of Democracy (Boston, 1893); Problems of Modern Democracy; Political and Economic Essays (Third ed., New York, 1898). For his life see, The Life and Letters of Edwin Lawrence Godkin (Ed. by Rollo Ogden, 2 vols., New York and London, 1907). See also Gustav Pollak, The Nation, Fifty Years of American Idealism: the New York Nation, 1865–1915 (New York, 1915).

The political novel: Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner, The Gilded Age (2 vols., New York, 1873); Henry Adams, Democracy (New York, 1880); F. Marion Crawford, An American Politician (New York, 1884). See also Albion W. Tourgée, A Fool’s Errand (New York, 1880).

The sociological novel: Hjalmar Hjorth Boyesen, The Mammon of Unrighteousness (New York, 1891); his The Golden Calf (New York, 1892); and his Social Strugglers (New York, 1893); Robert Grant, Unleavened Bread (New York, 1900); Samuel Merwin and H. K. Webster, Calumet K (New York, 1901); and their Short Line War (New York, 1899). Francis Churchill Williams, J. Develin-Boss (New York, 1901); Elliot Flower, The Spoilsman (Boston, 1903); Winston Churchill, Coniston (New York, 1907); and his Mr. Crewe’s Career (New York, 1908); Will Payne, Mr. Salt (Boston and New York, 1903); and his The Money Captain (New York, 1898).

For general accounts see Carl Van Doren, The American Novel (New York, 1921); Fred Lewis Pattee, A History of American Literature since 1870 (New York, 1915); John Curtis Underwood, Literature and Insurgency (New York, 1914); and W. D. Howells, Criticism and Fiction (New York, 1891).