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Home > Bibliographies > Minibibliographies > Best of American Fiction, 1900-1945
Content last modified January 2012
This minibibliography, second of two minibibliographies lists the best of American fiction, covering the period from 1900 to 1945.
Theodore Dreiser, author of Sister Carrie, was the first voice to be heard as American literature entered the twentieth century. His reportorial vision and his message that outside forces direct human affairs were a continuation of the trend toward realism and naturalism first presented in the works of William Dean Howells, Henry James, Stephen Crane, and Frank Norris (see The Best of American Fiction: Early Period). Dreiser also set the stage for other realistic and naturalistic American writers such as Erskine Caldwell, Jack London, and Sherwood Anderson.
Other writers of the period from 1900 to 1945 focused their critical vision on particular regions or geographical locations. William Faulkner, Thomas Wolfe, and Ellen Glasgow captured the character and conflicts of the South while Willa Cather and O.E. Rolvaag chose the desolate American prairie as a setting to communicate timeless visions of humanity and its struggles.
During the 1920s, two of the best known American literary figures, Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald, reflected the shattered idealism and morality of the Jazz Age in The Sun Also Rises (Hemingway) and The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald).
The shattered dreams, social unrest, and economic depression of the prewar period of the 1930s and early 1940s found expression in the works of John Dos Passos, John Steinbeck, and James Farrell. Contemporary writers would echo and expand these themes in the aftermath of World War II.
Books chosen for this minibibliography are based upon the recommendations offered in Good Reading, edited by J. Sherwood Weber; The Reader's Advisor, 12th edition, volume 1; "Darien's First 'Classics' Collection," from Library Journal, November 15, 1981; and American Novel, Crane to Faulkner edited by Frank N. Magill.
Books in this list are arranged in alphabetical order by author and then, within author, by title. The dates following the annotations are the original dates of publication. All books are available from NLS network library collections.
Braille and digital book numbers that are also links will take one to the Web-Braille or Braille and Audio Reading Download (BARD) version. These password-protected electronic files are freely available to readers who register with a cooperating library in the NLS network. More about Web-Braille. More about BARD.
Winesburg, Ohio: A Group of Tales of Ohio Small-Town Life
The revolt in the 1920s against the mediocrity of small-town life and in favor of realism was inaugurated by these sketches of a Midwestern community. 1919
RC 18118
The Good Earth
Describes the rise of Wang Lung, a poor Chinese peasant. The story begins with his wedding day, as he ponders his good fortune that now he will have a woman to take over the chore of lighting a fire to heat the water for his bath. With the help and patience of his new wife, O-lan, Wang Lung becomes a rich landowner. Pulitzer Prize. 1931
RC 37294
Jurgen: A Comedy of Justice
An allegory set in a semi-medieval country, Jurgen is allowed to regain his youth for a year of amorous adventures in a story filled with a variety of strange beasts, alien gods, fabulous lands, beautiful women, and an aura of the supernatural. 1919
RC 14431
The Postman Always Rings Twice
A novel of clandestine love, murder, and accidental death. Vagabond Frank Chambers stops at a California roadside sandwich stand run by a Greek man and his American wife. Captivated by her, Frank hires on and they begin a mutually destructive affair. Some violence and some descriptions of sex. 1934
RC 17817
BR 19141 INPROCESS
God's Little Acre
A Georgia mountaineer, who has been digging for gold for fifteen years on his farm, keeps the proceeds from one acre for the church. Several family tragedies occur but nothing stops him from his search. Strong language and explicit descriptions of sex. 1933
RC 23881
BR 6926
Tobacco Road
The saga of Jeeter Lester and his shiftless family. Their ribald adventures along Tobacco Road, a once a flourishing plantation, attract a lusty preacher, Sister Bessie. Explicit descriptions of sex. 1932
RC 46240
My Antonia
A lawyer recalls his Nebraska boyhood and the girl who was a strong influence on his life in this novel about pioneering conditions and the assimilation of immigrants. 1918
RC 13491
The Ox-Bow Incident
Nevada, 1885. Wrangler Art Croft reluctantly joins a group of citizens in a small town who hastily form a posse to catch murdering cattle rustlers. Three men are accused of the crime and, although there are some doubts about their guilt, lynched. Some violence and some strong language. 1940
RC 52564
U.S.A.
Three novels first published as a trilogy in 1938: The 42nd Parallel (1930), 1919 (1932), and The Big Money (1936). Dos Passos satirizes life in America from 1900 until the 1930s, using period "newsreels," autobiographical pieces, and biographical sketches. Some strong language. 1938
RC 42698
An American Tragedy
Based on an actual murder case, this classic novel depicts the dark side of the American dream in the story of a young man who will do almost anything to gain wealth and social acceptance. While he loves a poor factory worker who is carrying his child, he is dazzled by a rich woman who seems to embody all his fantasies. 1925
RC 23138
Sister Carrie
Naive eighteen-year-old Caroline Meeber leaves rural Wisconsin for Chicago, where she temporarily moves into her sister and brother-in-law’s flat. Seeking an escape from a drab existence, Carrie welcomes the affections of two men--one of whom is married--who bring her wealth, sophistication, and success, but ultimately dissatisfaction. 1900
RC 25296
Young Lonigan: A Boyhood in Chicago Streets
Set in the turbulent south side of Chicago, a psychological novel that traces the life of a tough Irish youth from his graduation from grade school to his entrance into high school. 1932
RC 12902
The Young Manhood of Studs Lonigan
Covers the years from 1917, when Studs Lonigan is still in high school, to 1929 when he is trapped into marriage by a woman he grows to hate. Strong language and some explicit descriptions of sex. 1934
RC 12607
Judgment Day
Nearly thirty, Studs Lonigan reflects the values fostered by the movies, cheap daily newspapers, and his streetwise companions: he still wants to be a tough guy. His life ends in disillusionment and despair after being beaten down by the Great Depression. 1935
RC 33611
Absalom, Absalom!
The rise and fall of a nineteenth-century Southern family are reconstructed by several narrators with differing views. A Southern gentleman attempts to found a dynasty but fails; he cannot see that human values are superior to social. 1936
RC 27313
BR 7218
As I Lay Dying
A poor white family treks across the Mississippi countryside struggling with its own incompetence, flooding rivers, and buzzards to deliver its dead mother's body for burial in her hometown. 1930
DB 49008 INPROCESS
RC 49008
Light in August
Joe Christmas, an orphan of mixed blood, travels to the South seeking a place and people with whom he can belong. Soon he becomes hardened by black and white bigotry. 1932
RC 20001
The Sound and the Fury
In 1928 Yoknapatawpha County, Mississippi, the Compson brothers--Quentin, Jason, and the "idiot" son Benjy--narrate events that trace the gradual disintegration of the family and include the ostracism of their wanton sister, Caddy. 1929
RC 49885
The Great Gatsby
The glitter and recklessness of the Jazz Age form the backdrop for this novel about Jay Gatsby's desperate attempt to recapture the past and, along with it, the love of Daisy Buchanan. Amid extravagant parties at Gatsby's palatial estate, his neighbor narrates the story of Gatsby's obsession with the American dream. 1925
DB 55714 INPROCESS
RC 55714
Tender Is the Night
An American psychiatrist studying in Europe in the 1920s falls in love with a beautiful, wealthy patient in this novel about wealthy American expatriates. In their marriage, he reacts against her great dependence on him as both husband and doctor before he realizes his dependence on her. 1934
RC 18133
Barren Ground
Betrayed by her fiancée just before she is to marry him, Dorinda Oakley devotes her life to the soil. She turns her father's barren land into a thriving farm and learns compassion through adversity. 1925
RC 12813
BR 5031
A Farewell to Arms
Romance between American lieutenant Frederic Henry in the ambulance service in Italy during World War I and the English nurse Catherine Barkley, who tends him when he is wounded. When Catherine becomes pregnant, she refuses to marry Frederic. 1929
RC 49506
For Whom the Bell Tolls
American Robert Jordan has joined the Republicans fighting against the Fascists during the Spanish civil war. He is on a mission to destroy a strategically located bridge with the help of a band of guerillas. At their camp he falls in love with Maria, a young torture victim. Some violence. 1940
RC 49108
The Sun Also Rises
A wealthy group of English and American expatriates in post-World War I Europe move from the boulevards of Paris to the bullfights of Spain, bathing, eating, and drinking. The disillusioned characters are a reflection of the war-weary generation of the 1920s. Some strong language. 1926
RC 34114
BR 3615
Laughing Boy
A Pulitzer Prize-winning novel set in the Navajo Southwest of 1915. In telling the haunting story of the young lovers, Laughing Boy and Slim Girl, the author depicts the lives of the Indians from his experience as an anthropologist. Some violence and some strong language. 1929
RC 33829
Main Street
An educated young woman with a liking for "high-brow" drama and a knack for town planning, marries a small-town doctor and tries to uplift the residents of Gopher Prairie, Minnesota. 1920
RC 42189
The Call of the Wild
Buck, a St. Bernard mix, is stolen and trained to be a sled dog in the Alaskan gold fields. Abused by both men and dogs, Buck learns to fight ruthlessly until he finds a master, John Thornton, whom he loves and respects. 1903
RC 49486
The Late George Apley
A satire on the well-to-do class of proper Bostonians who once considered themselves the appointed guardians of America's social and intellectual destiny. Pulitzer Prize. 1937
RC 12087
Tropic of Cancer
An autobiographical novel about the American author's stay in Paris during the early 1930s. It tells of his poverty, reading, relationships, and growth during this time. Explicit descriptions of sex. 1931
RC 17191
Gone with the Wind
A romantic Civil War epic in which Scarlet O'Hara, a forceful and ruthless heroine, and Rhett Butler, a war profiteer, play out their tempestuous love affair against the background of the war-torn South. Pulitzer Prize. 1936
RC 33082
Appointment in Samarra
Fast-moving first novel by journalist/critic John O’Hara (1905-1970) set in 1930s small-town Pennsylvania. As Gibbsville celebrates Christmas with parties, music, and liquor, aristocratic drunkard Julian English breaks with polite society in one rash moment, beginning his rapid descent to self-destruction. 1934
RC 58197
Giants in the Earth: A Saga of the Prairie
A saga of American pioneer life. Per Hansa, a Norwegian, becomes the founder of a settlement in the bleak Dakota territory. The struggle to tame the prairie means life and freedom to him, but for his beloved wife, their isolated existence is a nightmare of loneliness, terror, and despair. 1924-1925
RC 22285
BR 6205
The Human Comedy
Story of a mother and her four children who live in Ithaca, California, during World War II. Features fourteen-year-old Homer, who is exposed to a lot of sadness in his job as telegraph messenger. 1943
RC 10137
The Jungle
Grim account of the deplorable conditions in the Chicago meatpacking industry around 1900, as seen through the eyes of Lithuanian immigrant Jurgis Rudkus. When first published, the novel aroused the indignation of the American public and forced government investigations that led to the passage of pure food legislation. Some violence. 1906
RC 52961
The Grapes of Wrath
The story of the depression farmers and their families driven from the dust bowl of their Oklahoma farms to the promised land of California to find work. Instead they face organized opposition to their struggle to survive. Strong language. 1939
RC 68308
Of Mice and Men
Lennie, strong but mentally deficient, and George, his responsible friend, are two itinerant laborers during the depression who dream of owning their own farm. Their hopes are shattered when Lennie accidentally kills the boss's daughter-in-law. 1937
RC 12212
BR 5106
Alice Adams
The story of a small-town girl of the Midwest who has charm and ambition but lacks imagination, money, and background. Her social-climbing mother and unsophisticated father complicate her attempts to find an appropriate career. Pulitzer Prize. 1921
RC 47570
The Grandmothers: A Family Portrait
In the old home in southern Wisconsin, young Alwyn Tower learns of his American family from pioneer days to the 1920s through family albums and the stories of his elders. 1927
RC 46733
The Day of the Locust
A man arrives in Hollywood hoping for success as a scene designer, but he becomes only another nondescript, unsuccessful character on the fringes of Hollywood studios. 1939
RC 12925
Miss Lonelyhearts
Novella about a newspaperman who takes on the lovelorn column as a joke, but becomes hopelessly involved in the problems of the people who write to him. 1933
RC 12538
BRJ 1212
The Age of Innocence
A novel of manners set in New York society in the 1870s, an age of convention, propriety, and tribal solidarity. Newland Archer is torn between his attraction to a woman separated from her husband and his security in a bland, but proper, marriage. Pulitzer Prize. 1920
RC 65343
Ethan Frome
A tale of retribution about a discouraged New England farmer and his hypochondriac wife. Their empty lives are suddenly changed when her cousin, a young girl who still finds joy in life, comes to visit them. 1911
RC 17455
The House of Mirth
The orphaned daughter of a New York merchant is endowed with beauty and charm and is hopelessly addicted to the pleasures of luxury and wealth. Though she wants to marry someone with money, she is attracted to a lawyer of modest means. 1905
RC 35369
The Bridge of San Luis Rey
Surveys the lives of five Peruvian travelers, victims of the collapse of a famous Incan bridge, and weaves a story of why these people were linked together at such a significant point in their lives. 1927
RC 41185
The Virginian: A Horseman of the Plains
Known as the Virginian, the handsome, rough Wyoming cowboy finally convinces Molly, the New England schoolteacher, that violence is sometimes necessary to bring law and order to the frontier community. A classic novel of the American West. 1902
RC 36421
You Can't Go Home Again
Bitter and nostalgic, Wolfe's fourth autobiographical novel continues the story of George Weber, now a successful novelist but unsuccessful lover. He returns home to old Catawba, only to be sadly disillusioned by the discovery that everything he once loved there no longer exists. 1940
RC 50279
BRJ 1971
Native Son
Showing the plight of victimized African Americans fighting against the political and social conditions of Chicago in the 1930s, this novel centers on a frustrated and resentful man driven to violence and murder. 1940
RC 25087
BRX 0110
Also contained in:
Early Works
This volume covers Wright’s prose through 1940. The editor restores Wright’s original manuscripts, which had been extensively changed for publication. Includes Lawd Today!, Uncle Tom’s Children, Native Son, How "Bigger" Was Born, a literary chronology, and notes by Arnold Rampersad. Prequel to Richard Wright: Later Works (RC 41553, BR 10300). Violence, strong language, and some descriptions of sex.
RC 41552
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Posted on 2012-01-27