American classics

These political essays argue for adopting the United States Constitution rather than retaining the Articles of Confederation.

A walk into the Catskill Mountains leads Rip toward a strange sleep and a changed America.

Ichabod Crane’s courtship and rivalry unfold in Sleepy Hollow under the shadow of a headless rider.

Two sisters’ journey through upper New York becomes a story of capture and pursuit on a wartime frontier.

Emerson’s essays examine individual judgment and character alongside questions about nature, grief, and living among others.

A raven’s midnight arrival brings a grieving man’s questions about loss into a room already filled with mourning.

Hester Prynne’s public punishment places shame and hidden guilt at the heart of life in Puritan Boston.

Ishmael’s whaling voyage becomes a hunt for revenge as Captain Ahab pursues the whale that took his leg.

Tom’s sale and Eliza’s escape show slavery separating families and forcing parents to fight against that separation.

A Wall Street copyist’s quiet refusals disturb the orderly working life his employer expects to maintain.

Whitman’s poems connect individual experience with nature, desire, other people, and the wider life of a nation.

The March sisters grow up in New England with different hopes while their father serves during the Civil War.

An American woman’s easy friendliness in Europe unsettles expectations about proper conduct and her social freedom.

Huck and Jim’s journey down the Mississippi brings a runaway boy together with a man escaping slavery.

A governess at an English country house believes that ghosts threaten the two children in her care.

Shipwreck, war, and poverty expose people to danger, with survival depending on effort and the limits of strength.

Edna Pontellier’s life in Louisiana brings a wife and mother’s wishes into conflict with other people’s expectations.

Buck’s forced passage from a California estate to a northern sled team makes survival the central struggle.

A poor Massachusetts farmer’s feelings for another woman place love and marriage in painful opposition.

A musician’s changing understanding of his background brings race, identity, and the possibility of passing into focus.

Alexandra Bergson takes charge of her family’s Nebraska farm, trusting land whose possibilities others struggle to see.

A young Ohio reporter listens to small-town people struggling with loneliness and feelings they cannot easily express.

An engaged New York lawyer’s love for another woman puts personal desire against his society’s rules.

Gatsby’s lavish Long Island parties frame a story of lost love and his hope of winning Daisy back.

A French bishop’s travels through New Mexico follow his work in a territory newly under American rule.