Concise Dictionary of American Literary Biography covers only the American authors most frequently studied in high school and college literature courses. It extracts and fully updates essays in their entirety from the much larger Dictionary of Literary Biography series. The 6-vol. set begins each entry with a helpful chart that instantly shows the important places, influences and relationships; literary movements; major themes; cultural and artistic influences; and social and economic influences that most affected the featured author's work. The set is organized chronologically. Each volume is devoted to a single historical period, covering 30-40 representative writers from all genres. They include: Colonization to the American Renaissance, 1640-1865 Realism, Naturalism, and Local Color, 1865-1917 The Twenties, 1917-1929 The Age of Maturity, 1929-1941 The New Consciousness, 1941-1968 Broadening Views, 1968-1988 The Supplement to the 6-vol. set, Modern American Writers, provides additional information on 20th-century authors featured in the original volumes.
