Jane Lyster is a working artist who can turn her hand to almost any craft or food project. Jane recently launched Making, a magazine for contemporary crafts in the home. She regularly contributes to food publications in the UK, and works on food sets for major films.

Preface vii
Acknowledgments xv
1 Introduction to the American Novel: From Charles BrockdenBrown's Gothic Novels to Caroline Kirkland's Wilderness 1
2 Historical Codes in Literary Analysis: The Writing Projects ofNathaniel Hawthorne, Elizabeth Stoddard, and Hannah Crafts 23
3 Women, Blood, and Contract: Land Claims in Lydia Maria Child,Catharine Sedgwick, and James Fenimore Cooper 45
4 Black Rivers, Red Letters, and White Whales: Mobility andDesire in Catharine Williams, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and HermanMelville 67
5 Promoting the Nation in James Fenimore Cooper and HarrietBeecher Stowe 91
6 Women's Worlds in the Nineteenth-Century Novel: Susan B.Warner, Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, Fanny Fern, E. D. E. N.Southworth, Harriet Wilson, and Louisa May Alcott 119
Afterword 151
Further Reading 165
Index 171

Reading the American Novel 1780-1865 provides valuableinsights into the evolution and diversity of fictional genresproduced in the United States from the late 18th century until theCivil War, and helps introductory students to interpret andunderstand the fiction from this popular period.
* Offers an overview of early fictional genres and introducesways to interpret them today
* Features in depth examinations of specific novels
* Explores the social and historical contexts of the time to helpthe readers' understanding of the stories
* Explores questions of identity - about the novel, its19th-century readers, and the emerging structure of the UnitedStates - as an important backdrop to understanding Americanfiction
* Profiles the major authors, including Louisa May Alcott,Charles Brockden Brown, James Fenimore Cooper, Nathaniel Hawthorne,Herman Melville, Harriet Beecher Stowe, alongside less familiarwriters such as Fanny Fern, Caroline Kirkland, George Lippard,Catharine Sedgwick, and E. D. E. N. Southworth
* Selected by Choice as a 2013 Outstanding Academic Title