A "deeply researched and uncommonly engrossing" book profiling ten trailblazing literary women, including Dorothy Parker and Joan Didion (Paris Review).
In Sharp, Michelle Dean explores the lives of ten women of vastly different backgrounds and points of view who all made a significant contribution to the cultural and intellectual history of America. These women—Dorothy Parker, Rebecca West, Hannah Arendt, Mary McCarthy,...

This engaging illustrated guide to the modernist movement in American literature provides a wealth of information on American modernism, the Lost Generation, modernism in the American novel, the Harlem Renaissance, modernism in poetry and drama, and the literary culture of the Moderns.

A St. Louis summer in the 1950s. A great summer for the coming-of-age of a 16-year-old boy. A great summer to learn a little about love and a lot about life. Through the eyes and heart of Ben, our story follows his mother's need for his sister to "marry well." His sister's ambivalence toward her rich suitor intertwines with the bloom of Ben's own romantic yearnings as he discovers in that summer the hopeful yet perplexing mix of emotions that rule...

From the pen of Pulitzer Prize-winning author John Updike (Witches of Eastwick, Rabbit Run) comes the story of a young man's exploration of the questions of life and death, and the wondrous discovery of living in the soaring beauty of one of nature's simplest creations. Starring Christopher Collet and Caroline McWilliams.

Imagine a summer that would never end; imagine a boy who would never group up; imagine a small town, the kind you just don't find anymore... Enter a mysterious stranger. A man who calls himself Charles Dickens (Fred Gwynne), a writer by trade and a spinner of stories, whirls through town, and somewhere in the wide-eyed imagination of a 12-year-old boy and the loving eyes of a lady who would prefer to be known as Emily Dickinson comes a wondrous change...

Abe Snopes (Tommy Lee Jones) is a Southern tenant farmer whose unrelenting and violent nature proves to be his undoing in William Faulkner's Barn Burning. Snopes sets his employer's barn on fire when he thinks he's been treated unfairly, and his son, Sarty, is horrified. Snope escapes justice for lack of proof, but he and his family are told to move on. No sooner do they move than Snopes is offended by his new rich employer. Torn between trying to...

Lost in a world of fantasy, young working-class Paul dreams of escaping his dreary existence in turn-of-the-century Pittsburgh. As fate would have it Paul gets his chance by stealing some money and subsequently running off to glamorous New York City. Once there, Paul experiences everything he ever dreamed of, from a luxurious hotel suite to his first taste of champagne. However, when reality finally comes crashing down around him, Paul realizes the...

Harold Krebs (Richard Backus) went off to fight World War I, "the war to end all wars." Then he came home...and found himself wishing it had never ended. Harold finds he doesn't fit in anymore. He's outgrown his old life and now needs peace and quiet to work things out for himself. Yet he's pressured by his loving but misunderstanding mother (Nancy Marchand) to rejoin a community in which he feels alien. Over the course of "Soldier's Home," Hemingway's...

Traveling from town to town during the summer of 1919, young Andy (Ron Howard) has left his Ohio home in search of adventure and romance as a horse trainer on the country fair racing circuit. More than a little "wet behind the ears," Andy learns a bittersweet lesson about life when he meets Lucy (Amy Irving,) the girl of his dreams, at the racetrack one day. Ashamed of his occupation, Andy leads Lucy to believe he's wealthy. Soon one lie leads to...

Granny Weatherall (Geraldine Fitzgerald) is a spunky old lady of 80 who bosses her doctor and her children. She seems so strong and in control. Yet she has never had the upper hand in her destiny. One morning, a flood of long-forgotten memories bring her to the realization that of all her accomplishments, she cannot console herself for the shame-filled day she was left standing at the altar. Still, her indomitable will to live and act independently...