Books in the The Greenwood Press "Literature in Context" Series series

The memoirs in the chapter Mark Twain's Mississippi Valley illuminate the novel's pastoral view of nature in conflict with a violent civilization resting on the institution of slavery and shaped by the genteel code of honor.

Du Bois on the one hand, to Black Codes, Jim Crow laws, and white supremacist pronouncements on the other, Felgar creates a dialogue between the voices of oppressed blacks, including Richard Wright, and those of oppressing whites over the issue of race and racism.

Part Four draws connections between two issues raised by the novel - the unwed mother and the lapsed minister - that remain controversial today and features recent news articles on these issues.

While The Tempest has always been one of Shakespeare's most entertaining and enchanting plays, it continues to stir up passionate debate throughout the world because of its ideas and attitudes toward race, class, political power, and colonialism.

Winner of the 1953 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and specifically cited by the Swedish Academy when Hemingway received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954, The Old Man and the Sea remains one of the author's most beloved works.

This analysis aims to help young readers relate to the themes of disillusionment, guilt and betrayal, and the fear of failure and intergenerational conflicts experienced by the teenaged characters in the novel.

This collection of social, cultural, and historical documents and popular materials, with linking explanations and commentary, will help the reader to study the play in the context of its time and cultural background.

Newlin has unearthed significant documentation on the dilemma of Victorian women, supplying original social commentary such as Mary Wollstonecraft's 1792 A Vindication of the Rights of Women, and John Stuart Mill's 1861 The Subjection of Women.

In doing so, it helps students understand the political climate of South Africa under apartheid, as well as the challenges of racism that continue to plague contemporary society. Alan Paton's Cry, the Beloved Country (1948) is one of the most influential works of South African literature.

This text provides an analysis of World War II literature, with an historical overview of the particular aspect of the war covered to aid understanding of context. It offers primary documents to bridge history and fictional accounts, and suggests topics for discussion and papers.

Following a literary analysis of "Animal Farm", this text then examines the historical, political and literary issues raised by the novel to basic tenets of Marxism, the Russian Revolution and Josef Stalin, and the relation of George Orwell's life to the writing of the novel.

Since its publication in 1985, Annie John has become one of the most widely taught novels in American high schools. A literary analysis of Annie John examines the novel in light of its historical, social, and cultural contexts and as a coming-of-age novel.

Although John Steinbeck's novellas Of Mice and Men, The Red Pony, and The Pearl are works of fiction, they provide a window on the history of the times and places they portray.

The topic of the relationship between African American men and women is explored in a variety of articles on the African American family, black fatherhood, black masculinity, and the problems of African American women.

His analysis of the play helps students interpret Shakespeare's plot and interwoven subplots, the sources that helped shape the play and the characters, and the thematic issues relating to justice, mercy, and the myriad bonds of human relationships.

Willa Cather's novels Oh Pioneers! and My Antonia are at once accurate representations of life on the midwestern prairies in the era of their first settlement and continuations of a literary tradition that stretches back to Virgil and other classical writers who celebrated nature and pondered humanity's place within it.

This lively gathering of materials about Shakespeare's Julius Caesar will enrich students' understanding of the historical context of the play and encourage interpretations of its cultural meaning.

This casebook begins by establishing the dramatic and literary concerns of the play, such as structure, themes, poetic language, and original sources and classical inspiration. Four historical context chapters consider attitudes toward gender relations, social distinctions, popular culture, and imagination in Shakespeare's time, revealing contemporary social and political issues and debates reflected in the comedy.

For thousands of years, The Odyssey has resonated throughout the Western world. Homer has been an original source of inspiration to writers, painters, sculptors, and filmmakers, as well as a vital source of information about the mythology, history, and culture of ancient Greece. This casebook uniquely blends commentary and primary documents, situating the epic within historical contexts that are important for students to understand.

In addition to a literary analysis of the novel, this text acquaints students with the larger world in which Holden Caulfield moves: Hollywood films; Broadway plays; and jazz musicians. It also presents a detailed account of the censorship challenges to the novel.

Although Othello has been one of Shakespeare's most popular plays, its performance history has been marked with risk and tension because of the play's focus on racial prejudice, gender conflict, and sexuality.

When The Grapes of Wrath was published in 1939, it had an explosive effect on the public, calling attention to the problems of migrant farm workers during the Great Depression. the legacy of the 1930s-Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers, and working and living conditions of farm workers long after the publication of the novel.

Following a literary analysis of the novel, the casebook contains documents and commentary on the following topics: inheritance and marriage laws and customs, 18th-century views on marriage, the status of unmarried women, women's education and moral training, and issues in the 1980s and 1990s that can be contrasted with those in the novel.

This casebook probes the many layers of meaning in Golding's "Lord of the Flies". It examines its literary, philosophical, historical, scientific and religious significance, integrating primary and secondary documents, with extracts from texts as diverse as the Bible and war crimes interviews.

A Tale of Two Cities, does not waste a word in telling a humanly touching, suspenseful tale against the background of one of the most bloody events in history, the French Revolution.

Through these documents, the reader also gains a taste for the historical events which influenced the novel as well as the novel's relevance in today's world. The significant parallels of this case to the novel paint a social and historical background of the novel.

This rich interdisciplinary collection of primary materials and commentary about Shakespeare's Macbeth will help student and teacher explore historical, literary, theatrical, social, and political issues related to the play.

Shakespeare's Hamlet, regarded by many as the world's most famous play by the world's most famous writer, is one of the most complex, demanding, discussed, and influential literary texts in English.