The Library of America, a reissue series that began in 1982, repackaged classic works of American writers at a low cost to encourage readers to engage with what it considered the American literary canon.

Critics have debated 'the great American novel,' arguing which book best captures the spirit of American literature since the 19th century.

Benjamin Franklin founded America's first lending library, the Library Company of Philadelphia, in 1731.

Read 'The New Negro,' the influential collection that helped define the Harlem Renaissance.

Check out cheap, mass-market, and often trashy editions of classic books from Ralph Ellison, James Joyce, Jane Austen, and many more.

Walt Whitman helped define the voice and spirit of American literature

The 19th-century poet is considered one of the most important voices in the American canon. His collection “Leaves of Grass,” in particular, is regarded as a foundational text and is widely taught in American high schools and colleges.

Emily Dickinson's poems were heavily altered after her death, with editors removing many of the peculiar aspects that readers now identify with her work.

A book series aimed at World War II soldiers helped popularize works like 'The Great Gatsby' and 'Of Mice and Men.'

Audit a Yale course on great American novels after 1945

Wish you'd paid more attention back in college? There's good news: You can still pop into some college classes, without having to pay tuition (or write term papers). This course from one-time Yale professor Amy Hungerford walks through the great American novels after World War II, including works from Toni Morrison, Philip Roth, Cormac McCarthy, and more.

Read the works of Mark Twain

Twain's books are in the public domain, meaning they can be freely distributed. Digital versions of his classic novels—including "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer," "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court"—as well as many of his short stories and satirical essays can be accessed through Project Gutenberg.

Browse the original 'Walden' manuscripts

Henry David Thoreau began writing the book about his time living at Walden Pond in 1846, but it went through seven iterations before being published in 1854. You can look through scans of early proofs, including some of Thoreau's handwritten corrections, through the Huntington Digital Library.

Twain read (and lampooned) classic literature

Ever the ironist, Twain claimed to have “ no liking for novels or stories.” Obviously, that was untrue: He read widely, devouring books by Charles Dickens, slave narratives, and texts on astronomy. He also loved John Milton’s “Paradise Lost,” which he called “something everybody wants to have read and nobody wants to read.”

A free archive of firsthand historical documents from explorers of America

Maintained by the Wisconsin Historical Society, the American Journeys collection contains more than 18,000 pages of primary source documents—journals, letters, maps, and accounts written between roughly 1000 CE and the early 1800s. These include eyewitness records of the Norse arrival in North America, Spanish conquistador expeditions, and the Lewis and Clark journey. Browse this list of highlights where pages from the original texts are specified (clicking a link opens a PDF).

Benjamin Franklin donated the books that became the first true public library in the US.

Many consider Twain 'the father of American literature'

In "Green Hills of Africa," Ernest Hemingway declared that all modern American literature sprang from Twain's "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn." That's a sentiment shared by many scholars, who assert that Twain's book changed American fiction by challenging the country's racist history and incorporating a more realistic vernacular.

Whitman revolutionized American poetry

Whitman was a groundbreaking force in American literature, legitimizing the national idiom, capturing the spirit of the evolving country, and inspiring younger generations of writers for centuries to follow.

The Vintage Contemporaries imprint defined the voice of 1980s and 1990s American fiction

The carefully curated line of fiction featured some of the brightest stars in late-20th-century American literature, including Jay McInerney, Cormac McCarthy, and Don DeLillo, and featured eye-catching covers that looked like nothing else on bookshelves.

Circulating libraries helped the novel's popularity surge

As literacy rates began to rise in the 19th century, so did the demand for reading materials. The only problem? Newspapers and books weren’t cheap, and newly literate middle-class families struggled to afford literature. That changed when booksellers began offering small fees for patrons who decided to borrow rather than purchase books. This was eventually called a circulating library, an innovation that would satisfy the burgeoning readership of novels and increase literacy rates further.

Read the works of Charles Dickens

Dickens' work has long been in the public domain, meaning it's freely available to readers. Project Gutenberg's collection of Dickens' novels allows you to read classic novels like "Oliver Twist" and "A Tale of Two Cities," as well as early works like "Sketches by Boz," at no cost.

Ralph Waldo Emerson celebrated Walt Whitman, then regretted it

Emerson famously praised the first edition of Whitman’s “Leaves of Grass,” which Whitman used to promote the collection. In doing so, Whitman effectively created the modern book blurb, though he did so without Emerson’s permission, leading to a prolonged, passive beef between the two.

See a massive collection of Norman Rockwell's paintings

Rockwell's works sought to capture authentic scenes from American life and, in the process, came to define the American ideal. This collection includes 244 of his paintings, from his early days at the Saturday Evening Post through his more socially minded work for Look, to the end of his career. Below is 1951's "Saying Grace."

How Dickinson's reputation changed in the 20th century

In 1955, Thomas Johnson edited the first complete edition of Dickinson's poetry, using the original handwritten manuscripts as his guide. Unlike previous editors, Johnson allowed Dickinson's unique choices to remain. The collection established her as a singular, innovative voice, a reputation that only continued growing through the decades.

Twain ruthlessly criticized other writers

The writer was known for lambasting popular writers of his time, including Jane Austen and Robert Louis Stevenson. One of his most famous takedowns is “Fenimore Cooper’s Literary Offences,” an essay that simultaneously mocks Cooper’s popular adventure tales and satirizes the pretentiousness of literary criticism. Remarking on Cooper’s novel “The Deerslayer,” Twain wrote, “its conversations are—oh! Indescribable; its love-scenes odious; its English a crime against the language.”

14 famous authors trash-talking classic books

Just because something's considered a "classic" doesn't mean it's universally loved. Even the world's most respected writers don't agree on what defines great literature. Look no further than this list of writers criticizing canonical texts, like Charlotte Brontë deriding Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice" or Virginia Woolf on James Joyce's "Ulysses." The most succinct might be Aldous Huxley on Jack Kerouac's "On the Road": "I got a little bored after a time. I mean, the road seemed to be awfully long."

Walt Whitman wrote a poem for the official celebration of America's 100th anniversary, but was not invited to read at the event.

The 'Howl' obscenity trial changed American publishing

The "Howl" obscenity trial is one of the most significant in American publishing, affirming that material with the "slightest redeeming social importance" cannot be considered "obscene." In the process, it permits artists, like Allen Ginsberg, to use the language they see fit to express themselves.

Reports of a recording of Whitman's voice are said to be a hoax

A recording of Whitman reading a portion of his poem "America" has been mass-produced and broadcast, but the Library of Congress and other scholars say the recording is a hoax.

How literary agent Scott Meredith invented the modern book auction

Prior to the 1964 auction of "The Night Action" for $13,500 to New American Library, a gentleman's code persisted in the literary world: no manuscript should be shared with more than one publisher at a time. Meredith—the agent behind Norman Mailer, Carl Sagan, and Arthur C. Clarke—leveraged his deep knowledge of the talent pool to publishers, sending around manuscripts to 19 different publishers to generate a bidding war. The Beat-influenced novel eventually flopped and is now out of print.

Explore a collection of famous literary maps, including original images from 'Treasure Island,' 'The Swiss Family Robinson, ' and 'Walden.'

Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, William S. Burroughs, and Neal Cassady were early Beats

Works like Ginsberg’s "Howl" and Kerouac’s "On the Road" redefined literature, inspiring countercultural movements for several decades.

Alain Locke's 'The New Negro' anthology helped define the Harlem Renaissance

The 1925 collection of poetry, drama, short fiction, lyrics, and essays by Black writers was intended to document what Locke, a Harvard-trained philosopher and the first Black Rhodes Scholar, believed was a burgeoning Black consciousness that was "vibrant with a new psychology." The book is now considered one of the major impetuses for the Harlem Renaissance.

'The Wonderful Wizard of Oz' was the first major American fantasy novel

Baum blended elements of Hans Christian Andersen, the Brothers Grimm, and Lewis Carroll, placing them in an American context. The illustrations of William Wallace Denslow brought the fantastical elements to life, as seen below. The book was an instant smash hit, selling out its initial 10,000-book pressing within the first eight months. By the time it entered the public domain in 1956, it had sold 3 million copies.

Science-fiction legend Ray Bradbury couldn't afford college, but he spent several days a week in his local library, teaching himself how to become a writer.

DH Lawrence's novel 'Lady Chatterley's Lover' was banned for obscenity in numerous countries, but small private printings turned it into an underground sensation in the late 1920s.

'Leaves of Grass' was banned several times for obscenity.

Five books edited by Toni Morrison

Early in her literary career, Toni Morrison was an editor for Random House, where she acquired titles and worked with their writers to fine-tune their manuscripts. In 1983, Morrison left to focus on her own books, but she still managed to work on several excellent books. This list of five of those titles helpfully offers some context to highlight the ways Morrison acquired and assisted the writers through publication.

Walt Whitman wrote a temperance novel

Before “Leaves of Grass” there was “Franklin Evans,” a novel about a young man whose drinking ruins his life. Whitman all but disowned the novel for the rest of his life, though critics note that he preached teetotaling throughout his life.

Walt Whitman's lost novel

In 2016, a long-forgotten piece of Walt Whitman's earliest work was uncovered. First published anonymously in 1852, "Life and Adventures of Jack Engle" is a serialized story that predates "Leaves of Grass." It offers a rare look at Whitman's early writing, before he became one of the most influential poets in US history.

Newspaper headlines from a century ago today

The Library of Congress' Chronicling America project is dedicated to providing access to information about historic newspapers, with the goal of digitizing these windows into the country's past. This (among other archives) lets you explore a number of different local papers' front pages from a century ago on today's date.

See inside the Boston Public Library, the first city-run free public library in the US

Founded in 1848, the McKim building opened in 1895 during a period of cultural optimism and social reform. Its Beaux-Arts architecture features marble staircases, murals by John Singer Sargent, and a Renaissance-inspired courtyard.

Improve your typing speed by retyping classic literature

Why practice with nonsense letters and syllables when you can retype full books you always wanted to read, from Jane Austen and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to George Orwell and W.E.B. duBois. And it's free.

'Huckleberry Finn' has a long history of book bans

Twain’s most famous novel was first banned in March 1885. Librarians in Concord, Massachusetts, called it “suitable only for the slums.” Since then, it’s been banned many more times, mostly because of how it deals with race. In recent decades, its use of the N-word, has led to its removal.

Mark Twain started writing 'The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn' to distract himself.

A guide to the poetry of Walt Whitman

The resource allows you to explore over 100 of Whitman’s essential works, from the iconic “Leaves of Grass” through poems you’ll recognize from pop culture, like “When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer” and “O Captain! My Captain!”

'Uncle Tom's Cabin,' published in 1852, was the second best-selling book of the 19th century, after the Bible.

Peruse the works of spooky 19th-century writer Edgar Allen Poe

Edgar Allen Poe is one of the central figures of Gothic and Romantic literature of the 19th century, penning famous short stories like "The Tell-Tale Heart" and the long poem "The Raven." This digital library collects over 130 of his works in one...

Browse a collection of Harlem Renaissance poetry

This guide from the Poetry Foundation walks you through the movement's major poems, including works by writers like Langston Hughes, Claude McKay, Anne Spencer, James Weldon Johnson, and more. Helpfully, it's organized them into four major eras, allowing you to analyze the movement's steady evolution.

Browse an Orwell superfan's book collection

This Brown University Library exhibit displays scans from collector Daniel Leab's extensive trove of Orwell's works, including many first editions and translations. In addition to the beautiful covers, there's also plenty of fascinating bibliographic information.

Explore the unexpected ways people use public libraries in this 'This American Life' episode

Libraries serve as far more than book repositories. This episode follows a family experiencing homelessness that spent months living in their local library, Iranian students reuniting with family across the US-Canada border because the library straddled both countries, and a Vermont man who built his own library to house unpublished manuscripts.

After her death, Emily Dickinson's editors marketed her as a children's poet, believing it would be the best way to have her work published.

A beginner's guide to Toni Morrison

The legendary American writer died in 2019, but her fiction is still as relevant as ever. This primer walks aspiring Morrison fans through her body of work, outlining the ideal starting point for several different kinds of readers. (Some readers may experience a paywall.)