The writing of America (2002)

"In this study, Geoff Ward puts forward the claim that the founding documents of American identity are essentially literary. America was invented, not discovered, and it remains in thrall to the myth of an earthly Paradise. This is Paradise[superscript TM], and American ideology imprisons as it inspires. The Writing of America shows the tension between these forces in a wide range of literary and other texts, from Puritan sermons and the Declaration of Independence, through nineteenth-century classics, to folk and blues lyrics and the popular novel. Alongside his reassessments of canonical writers, Ward offers new material on lost or neglected figures from the world of literature, film and music. His analyses of American literature and culture make this an essential guide to what Lincoln termed the last best hope of earth."--Jacket.