Research Guides: American Literature Research Guide: Books & eBooks

Use the library catalog to search for books on your subject, or place holds on the books listed below:

Wake Tech Library Catalog (opens in new window)

Search for books at the six Wake Tech library locations. You can also request books from community colleges across the state.

Look for monographs (sustained studies on scholarly
topics) from University Presses.  For Example: Duke 
University Press, Oxford University Press, etc.

The Norton Anthology of American Literature by Robert S. Levine; GerShun Avilez; Michael A. Elliott; Sandra M. Gustafson; Amy Hungerford; Lisa Siraganian
ISBN: 9780393696783
Publication Date: 2022
This edition introduces diverse, compelling, relevant texts-from Civil War songs and stories to The Turn of the Screw to The Great Gatsby to poems by Juan Felipe Herrera and Claudia Rankine to a science fiction cluster featuring Octavia Butler and N. K. Jemisin.
Anthology of American Literature by George McMichael; James Leonard
ISBN: 9780131987999
Publication Date: 2006
Carefully selected works introduce readers to America's literary heritage, from the colonial period of William Bradford and Anne Bradstreet to the contemporary era of Saul Bellow and Toni Morrison.
The Norton Anthology of African American Literature by Henry Louis Gates (General Editor); Cheryl A. Wall (Editor); Valerie Smith (General Editor); William L. Andrews (Editor); Kimberly Benston (Editor); Brent Hayes Edwards (Editor); Frances Smith (Editor); Deborah E. McDowell (Editor); Robert G. O'Meally (Editor); Hortense Spillers (Editor)
ISBN: 9780393911558
Publication Date: 2014
The Third Edition brings together the work of 140 writers from 1746 to the present writing in all genres, as well as performers of vernacular forms--from spirituals and sermons to jazz and hip hop. Fresh scholarship, new visuals and media, and new selections--with an emphasis on contemporary writers.
American Women Fiction Writers, 1900-1960 by Harold Bloom (Editor)
ISBN: 9780791046531
Publication Date: 1999
Part of an ongoing series covering the texts and lives of the most important women writers of English, this book contains introductory essays by Harold Bloom and provides biographical information, a wide selection of critical excerpts, and complete bibliographies of 11 authors.
Beyond Gatsby by Robert McParland
ISBN: 9781442247086
Publication Date: 2015
Many of the heralded writers of the 20th century including Ernest Hemingway, John Dos Passos, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and William Faulkner first made their mark in the 1920s, while established authors like Willa Cather and Sinclair Lewis produced some of their most important works during this period.
The Oxford Companion to Mark Twain by Gregg Camfield
ISBN: 0195107101
Publication Date: 2003
The Oxford Companion to Mark Twain encapsulates the most important scholarship on Twains life, his works, and his times. This volume contains entries on all of his works, people and places related to his biography, and analyses of Twains.
Kate Chopin by Harold Bloom
ISBN: 0791093697
Publication Date: 2007
Initially known for her short stories and articles, Kate Chopin was considered to be little more than a regional writer. Now, Chopin's work is known for its play with narrative styles and its examination into the complexities of women's interior lives.

Wake Tech students have access to thousands of eBooks.

Try these databases or the titles below:

Ebook Central (opens in new window)
- Over 35,000 eBooks available to read and download.
eBook Collection (EBSCOhost) (opens in new window)
- This database allows you to use an online dictionary and create a citation for the eBook
O'Reilly Higher Education (opens in new window)
- O’Reilly for Higher Education includes critical tech and business ebooks, videos, learning paths, exclusive content and more along with a personalized experience. Login instructions: https://www.waketech.edu/sites/default/files/page-file-uploads/OReilly%20Instructions.pdf

Modern American Literature by Catherine Morley
ISBN: 9780748630721
Publication Date: 2012
An incisive study of modern American literature, casting new light on its origins and themes.
Nineteenth-Century American Literature and the Long Civil War by Cody Marrs
ISBN: 9781107109834
Publication Date: 2015
American literature in the nineteenth century is often divided into two asymmetrical halves, neatly separated by the Civil War. In Nineteenth-Century American Literature and the Long Civil War, Cody Marrs argues that the war is a far more elastic boundary for literary history than has frequently been assumed.
The Latest Early American Literature by R. C. De Prospo
ISBN: 9781611495997
Publication Date: 2016
The Latest Early American Literature bids to follow in the footsteps of the two, rare, early Americanist dissenters whom Philip F. Gura once distinguished as "prophets without honor in the field" William Spengemann and Michael Colacurcio.
The Labour of Laziness in Twentieth-Century American Literature by Zuzanna Ladyga
ISBN: 9781474442923
Publication Date: 2019
Uncovers the ethical dimension of the writing of Stein, Hemingway, Barth, Barthelme and Wallace by situating them in the context of the 20th century non-normative ethical and aesthetic tradition.
Author under Sail by Jay Williams
ISBN: 9780803249929
Publication Date: 2021
In Author Under Sail: The Imagination of Jack London, 1902-1907, Jay Williams explores Jack London's necessity to illustrate the inner workings of his vast imagination.