A History of American Literature (Barnes & Noble Digital Library)

This pioneering history, published in 1915, championed the study of American literature.  In its preface, Pattee boldly writes, "One can say of the period . . . that the great mass of its writings could have been produced nowhere else but in the United States." Mark Twain, Bret Harte, Walt Whitman, southern poets, and the main themes of American literature—all are deservedly mentioned here.