Books in the The American Literatures Initiative series

Makes the compelling case that the New Negro first emerged long before the Great Migration to the North. The New Negro in the Old South reconstructs the vibrant black community that developed in Nashville after the Civil War, demonstrating how it played a pivotal role in shaping the economic, intellectual, social, and political lives of African Americans in subsequent decades.

Explores how a major change in the nature and forms of working-class power affected novels about U.S. industrial workers in the first half of the twentieth century.

Drawing from major figures in American literature, including Mark Twain, Flannery O'Connor, Carson McCullers, and David Foster Wallace, as well as introducing texts from the emerging canon of disability studies, this demonstrates the place of disability at the core of American ideals.

Provides a more complete history of the zombie than has ever been told, explaining how the myth's migration to the New World was facilitated by the transatlantic slave trade, and reveals the real-world import of storytelling, reminding us of the power of myths and mythmaking, and the high stakes of appropriation and homage.

Examines the issue of national affiliation in cases where two nations have become one or one nation has become two. It uses the US Civil War as a case study to demonstrate loyalty and allegiance can be used. It analyses literary works written during and after the conflict to reveal that post-war literature was profoundly shaped by loyalty.