BOOKLISTS: Historical American Fiction 20th Century and Beyond
1890s to World War I | The 1920s: Growth and the Jazz Age | The 1930s and the Great Depression | 1941-1949 World War II and Aftermath
1950-1970 Korea, Civil Rights, and Vietnam | After 1970, Late 20th Century
1890s to World War I
Angell, Judie. ONE WAY TO ANSONIA. 1985
Rose emigrated from Russia to America with her father. He marries a widow with one child, the same age as Rose's youngest sibling. Her stepmother refuses to allow the older
children to move in. The older children, including Rose, are parceled out to be raised by other families. YOUNG ADULT/ANGELL,JUD
Arnow, Harriette. THE DOLLMAKER. 1999
War forces Gertie Nevels, a courageous Kentucky countrywoman, to leave her happy though poverty-stricken community and move to Detroit with her family. YOUNG ADULT/ARNOW,HAR
Doctorow, E.L. RAGTIME. 1975
Many historical figures are intertwined in this story of a family living in the first decade of the 20th century. It features Houdini, Henry Ford, Freud, Emma Goldman, and Booker T. Washington. FICTION/DOCTOROW,E.L.
Dunbar, Paul Laurence. THE SPORT OF THE GODS. 1984
The Hamiltons, a close-knit Southern family, move north to New York City seeking refuge and opportunity. But New York of the 1890s takes its toll on each of the family members. The
father is unjustly sentenced to prison, and racial intolerance and the temptations of the city leave them devastated. FICTION/DUNBAR,PAU
Dreiser, Theodore. SISTER CARRIE. 1994
This book depicts the life of the lower middle class in New York and Chicago with insights into the business world. FICTION/DREISER,THE
Hemingway, Ernest. A FAREWELL TO ARMS. 1995
This is the story of the tragic romance of an American ambulance army officer serving on the Austro-Italian front during the First World War.
FICTION/HEMINGWAY,ERNHesse, Karen. LETTERS FROM RIFKA. 1992
In letters to her cousin, a young Jewish girl chronicles her family's flight from Russia in 1919. Rifka is separated from her beloved family in Belgium. Suffering from a disease, she is detained on Ellis Island and forbidden to rejoin her family in America. YOUNG ADULT/HESSE,KAR
Nixon, Joan Lowery. LAND OF DREAMS. 1994
In 1902, 16-year-old Kristin travels with her family from Sweden to a new life in Minnesota, where she finds herself frustrated by the restrictions placed on what girls of her age are expected or allowed to do. YOUNG ADULT/NIXON,JOA
Norris, Frank. OCTOPUS: A Story of California. 1994
Here is the story of the "war" between the wheat farmers of California and the railroads they depend upon to reach their markets. FICTION/NORRIS,FRA
Sinclair, Upton. JUNGLE. 1990
Jurgis Rudkus, a Slav immigrant lured by appealing advertisements, comes to Chicago to make money in the stockyards. Unfortunately the reality of the oppressed life of the worker is very different than what he expected. FICTION/SINCLAIR,UPT
Wharton, Edith. THE HOUSE OF MIRTH. 1991
New York City socialite Lily Bart has no money. The values of a society that accepts new millionaires as long as they spend their wealth on "the right things" lead to her social downfall as she promotes newcomers even as she herself sinks lower on the social scale. Unable to find hope in her situation she takes desperate action. FICTION/WHARTON,EDI
Yep, Laurence. DRAGONWINGS. 1975
Moon Shadow was eight years old when his father, Windrider, sends for him to come to the "land of the demons." His father is a kitemaker and inspired by the Wright brothers' flying machine, wants to make one. Life in the Tang village in California and friendships with the "demons," through earthquake and fire, are portrayed. YOUNG ADULT/YEP,LAU
The 1920s: Growth and the Jazz Age
Bellow, Saul.THE ADVENTURES OF AUGIE MARCH: A Novel. 1953
Set in Chicago, this is a picture of the lower levels of American society during the 1920s. FICTION/BELLOW,SAU
Bradbury, Ray. DANDELION WINE: A Novel. 1987
The summer of 1928 as experienced by a 12-year-old boy in a small town in Illinois. SCIENCE-FICTION/BRADBURY,RAY
Dos Passos, John. MANHATTAN TRANSFER. 1990
This portrait of New York City in the first quarter of the 20th century is created by narrating the stories of many people. FICTION/DOSPASSOS,JOH
Fitzgerald, F. Scott. THE GREAT GATSBY. 1995
Seen through the eyes of a relative stranger, this is the story of what might have happened if a poor boy, a war hero, "made a killing" during the Jazz Age, and tried to break into society, all for the love of a rich girl. FICTION/FITZGERALD,FRA
Lewis, Sinclair. BABBITT. 1950
A satirical look at an American small businessman, and at American middle-class life, while telling the story of a Republican real-estate agent. FICTION/LEWIS,SIN
Parks, Gordon. LEARNING TREE. 1964
Here is a year in the life of Newt, a small-town teenager, who grew up during the 1920s as a member of a minority group in a small town in Kansas. YOUNG ADULT/PARKS,GOR
Peck, Robert. A DAY NO PIGS WOULD DIE. 1972
Rural Vermont in the 1920s is the setting for this story of a boy who learns that down-to-earth farm life leaves no room for sentimentality. YOUNG ADULT/PECK,ROB
Rostkowski, Margaret I. AFTER THE DANCING DAYS. 1986
A forbidden friendship with a badly disfigured soldier in the aftermath of World War I forces 13-year-old Annie to redefine the word "hero" and to question conventional ideas of patriotism. YOUNG ADULT/ROSTKOWSKI,MAR
Walker, Alice. THE COLOR PURPLE. 1992
In this Pulitzer prize-winning novel two African-American sisters, one a missionary in Africa, and the other a child-wife living in the South, support one another through their correspondence,
beginning in the 1920s. FICTION/WALKER,ALI
Warren, Robert Penn. ALL THE KING'S MEN. 1982
Jack Burden, a young journalist, becomes involved with Willie Stark's quest for power while serving as a Southern governor. This story is based on the life, career and death of politician Huey Long. FICTION/WARREN,ROB
The 1930s and the Great Depression
Doctorow, E. L. LOON LAKE. 1979
Set in the 1930s, and moving backward and forward in history, this book gives us a view of American life from the First to the Second World War. The characters are cast from every level of society and the settings range from soup kitchens and monasteries to assembly lines. FICTION/DOCTOROW.E.L.
Fast, Howard. SECOND GENERATION. 1978
In this sequel to The Immigrants, the Lavette family's Barbara becomes involved with the troubles of the 1930s. FICTION/FAST,HOW
Hailey, Elizabeth F. A WOMAN OF INDEPENDENT MEANS. 1990
Through her letters, Bess Steed Garner, a thoroughly modern, independently wealthy woman of the 20th century writes of her life, including marriage, business, and her beloved family. FICTION/HAILEY,ELI
Lee, Harper. TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD. 1993
Two children growing up in Alabama in the 1930s witness small-town violence when their lawyer father defends a falsely accused African-American on trial. FICTION/LEE,HAR
McCullers, Carson. THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER. 1993
John Singer, a deaf-mute who lives in a Georgia mill town during the 1930s, has an effect on the town misfits who confide in him. When Singer's mute Greek companion of 10 years goes insane, Singer is left alone and isolated. He takes a room at the family home of Mick Kelly, a young girl who knows loneliness. FICTION/MCCULLERS,CAR
Meriwether, Louise. DADDY WAS A NUMBER RUNNER. 1986
When 12-year-old Francine learns that her father is a number runner, it adds to her coming of age crisis, a large part of which is growing up in Harlem's setting of despair and violence during the Great Depression. YOUNG ADULT/MERIWETHER,LOU
Steinbeck, John. GRAPES OF WRATH.1992
Oklahoma farm families, forced off their land by the dust-bowl, seek relief by flooding to California in the 1930s to work as seasonal fruit pickers until they can find a better life for themselves. FICTION/STEINBECK,JOH
Wright, Richard. NATIVE SON. 1989
A story of the frustrations in the life of Bigger Thomas in a time of total segregation - physical, geographical, psychological -between African-Americans and whites in 1930s Chicago. American communists are the only whites genuinely interested in Bigger, and the hostility of capitalists toward the labor unions is emphasized. FICTION/WRIGHT,RIC
1941-1949 World War II and Aftermath
Beach, Edward. RUN SILENT, RUN DEEP. 1986
Here is a realistic novel of submarine warfare in the Pacific. "Rich" Richardson is a hard-driving, dedicated submarine officer with one single-minded purpose -- to seek out and smash the Japanese destroyer he believes sank his former command. FICTION/BEACH,EDW
Ferry, Charles. RASPBERRY ONE. 1983
Two young crewmen, Nick and Hildy, are shipped out on their Navy bomber to the Pacific during World War II, leaving behind their girlfriends and facing kamikaze attacks in the air over Iwo Jima. It is based on the author's experiences. YOUNG ADULT/FERRY,CHA
Greene, Bette. SUMMER OF MY GERMAN SOLDIER. 1999
Patty, a Jewish-American girl in the sleepy town of Jenkinsville, Arkansas is keeping a secret: she has hidden a Nazi soldier in a room over her parents' garage. Anton, who has escaped from a camp outside of town, must move on, but he has given Patty a ring. When it is discovered she is sent to a reform school. YOUNG ADULT/GREENE,GRE
Heller, Joseph. CATCH-22: A NOVEL. 1999
This is a protest novel underscored with dark humor. It satirizes the horrors of war and the power of modern society, especially bureaucratic institutions, to destroy the human spirit. The protagonist is Clevinger, a young bombadier stationed in Italy, who is trying to avoid flying missions. FICTION/HELLER, JOS
.Hersey, John. A BELL FOR ADANO. 1970
The story of an American occupation administrator's efforts to rebuild a devastated Italian village according to his own democratic ideals. FICTION/HERSEY,JOH
Jones, James. FROM HERE TO ETERNITY. 1998
This book recounts the daily life of two soldiers, one an officer and one an enlisted man. Their affairs, their service connections to each other and the surprising, sudden onset of the beginning of World War II for America,with the bombing of Pearl Harbor bring this definitive period in history to life. FICTION/JONES,JON
Knowles, John. A SEPARATE PEACE. 1988
Gene Forrester remembers life at a New Hampshire boarding school in 1942, showing the restlessness caused by World War II. FICTION/KNOWLES,JOH
Leviton, Sonia. ANNIE'S PROMISE. 1993
Annie's friendship with Tally, an African-American, is frowned on by her parents-- surprising, especially since they were victims of persecution in Germany. Annie thrives in the diversity of the community at the summer camp she is attending. However, after deliberately humiliating another girl, she sees how easy it is to make the wrong choice. YOUNG ADULT/LEVITON,SON
Lingard, Joan. BETWEEN TWO WORLDS. 1991
The Petersons are a Latvian family left homeless by World War II. In 1948, they move to Toronto, Canada, to start a new life. When illness strikes down the father, the mother must care for him, leaving the three teenage children, Astra, Hugo and Tomas to find work to hold the family together. YOUNG ADULT/LINGARD,JOA
Mailer, Norman. THE NAKED AND THE DEAD. 1990
In World War II, an American general and a lieutenant try to lead an amphibious assault and jungle fighting by the Americans. It culminates in the capture of a Japanese-held island in the Pacific during World War II. FICTION/MAILER,NOR
Morrison, Toni. THE BLUEST EYE. 1994
Two African-American girls and their friend Pecola, who was raped by her father and is pregnant, live a year in the 1940s. Their biggest wish is for blue eyes, the symbol for them of unattainable happiness and beauty. FICTION/MORRISON,TONI
Saroyan, William. HUMAN COMEDY. 1971
The setting is in California's San Joaquin Valley during World War II. Homer Macauley, his mother, sister, and three brothers dream the dreams of America's second-generation immigrants. Homer is a 14-year-old boy who becomes a man in a world that even in the midst of war appears more livable than our own. FICTION/SAROYAN,WIL
Savin, Marcia. THE MOON BRIDGE. 1992
The friendship between two girls from San Francisco, Mitzi Fujimoto and Ruthie Fox, is changed when World War II begins and Mitzi and her family are forced to go into an internment camp. YOUNG ADULT/SAVIN,MAR
Shaw, Irwin. THE YOUNG LIONS. 1982
World War II changes the lives of an ex Communist and Nazi, a Broadway stage manager, and an American Jew married to a Christian woman. We follow their lives during the years 1938 to 1945 as they experience frustrations, hardships and the dangers of the war. FICTION/SHAW,IRW
Taylor, Mildred D. THE ROAD TO MEMPHIS. 1989
In 1941 Mississippi, Cassie and Moe have to be careful around the local whites, especially the three brothers whose favorite sport is intimidating their African-American contemporaries. This is about Moe's infatuation with Cassie, baiting by three thugs, and the quick choices that must be made as a result of Moe's resistance. YOUNG ADULT/TAYLOR,MIL
Uchida, Yoshiko. JOURNEY HOME. 1978
Yuki Sakane and her parents have been released from a concentration camp in Utah and are living in an apartment in Salt Lake City. Jobs for Japanese-Americans are scarce. Yuki's brother, Ken, has just returned from serving in the U.S. Army in France, but more than just his leg has been shattered. Sequel to Journey to Topaz. YOUNG ADULT/UCHIDA,YOS
Uchida, Yoshiko. JOURNEY TO TOPAZ: a story of the Japanese-American evacuation. 1985
The Sakane family is separated and uprooted, forced to move into concentration camps in Montana and Utah, because they are of Japanese ancestry, living on the West Coast of the United States after Pearl Harbor. Anxious to prove their loyalty, they make the best of a horrible situation. Sequel to this book is Journey Home. YOUNG ADULT/UCHIDA,YOS
Vonnegut, Kurt. SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE. 1991
Billy Pilgrim, a German-American soldier captured by the German Nazis, witnesses the firebombing and destruction of Dresden during World War II. FICTION/VONNEGUT,KUR
Wouk, Herman. CAINE MUTINY. 1992
The testimony at a court martial hearing recounts the events leading up to a mutiny aboard the US naval ship Caine. It is told by the participants and the skipper from their different points of view. FICTION/WOUK,HER
Wouk, Herman. WAR AND REMEMBRANCE. 1978
The family of Pug Henry is overtaken by World War II in this sequel to Winds of War. FICTION/WOUK,HER Wouk, Herman. WINDS OF WAR. 1971
Pug Henry and his family prepare for World War II as he progresses toward his own command and interaction with Franklin Roosevelt and Hitler. The sequel is War and Remembrance. FICTION/WOUK,HER
Wouk, Herman. YOUNGBLOOD HAWKE. 1962
Here is a clear picture of the publishing and entertainment worlds of New York and Hollywood, from 1949 to 1951. FICTION/WOUK,HER
1950-1970 Korea, Civil Rights, and Vietnam
Curtis, Christopher Paul. THE WATSONS GO TO BIRMINGHAM - 1963. 1995
Ten-year-old Kenny tells about his family, the "weird Watsons", and their experiences, particularly the trip they make to Birmingham, Alabama to visit his grandmother. During this time the local church that his sister attends is bombed, four little girls are killed, and his little sister is missing. YOUNG ADULT/CURTIS,CHR
Davis, Ossie. JUST LIKE MARTIN.1992
In 1963, 13-year-old Isaac Stone wants to emulate the non-violent teachings of Martin Luther King, Jr. despite the disdain of his widowed veteran father. When his father is beaten by police at a march in memory of children killed in a church bombing, Isaac may change his mind. YOUNG ADULT/DAVIS,OSS
DeLillo, Don. LIBRA.1988
On November 22, 1963, in the streets of Dallas, Lee Harvey Oswald's path intersected with that of President John F. Kennedy, and the world witnessed the terrifying explosion of America's dreams. FICTION/DELILLO,DON
Doctorow, E.L. BOOK OF DANIEL.1983
This is the story of the troubled lives of the now grown children of two spies executed during the 1950s McCarthy era for selling atomic secrets to the Russians. FICTION/DOCTOROW,E.L.
Drury, Allen. ADVISE AND CONSENT.1959
Here is a picture of the workings of the US Senate: a story of the political and personal conflicts set in motion as the Senate debates confirmation of the President's nomination for Secretary of State. FICTION/DRURY,ALL
Ellison, Ralph. INVISIBLE MAN.1989
Views on sharecropping, life at an African-American college, hazardous working conditions, and the experience of living in substandard housing are used to pull together a picture of what life was like in the decades before the civil rights movement. The author's grandfather, a former slave, urges him "to keep up the good fight." FICTION/ELLISON,RAL
Ellroy, James. AMERICAN TABLOID.2001
This novel of the Kennedy era portrays the president in a far from flattering light. There are three protagonists: a CIA agent who pimps for JFK, another agent who trains anti-Castro rebels, and a lawyer who is a Mafia hunter. Through their eyes we see the conflicting interests of the Kennedys and the FBI, organized crime, organized labor, Castro and Cuban exiles. FICTION/ELLROY,JAM
Fast, Howard. THE LEGACY. 1981
In this sequel to The Establishment, members of the Lavette family function during the civil rights struggle, the Vietnam War, and the Six-Day War in the Middle East. FICTION/FAST,HOW
Fast, Howard. OUTSIDER. 1984
David Hartman returns from World War II and becomes a rabbi to a small congregation in a Connecticut town. He often finds himself representing the minority view as the residents wrestle with larger moral issues. FICTION/FAST,HOW
Hooker, Richard. M*A*S*H. 1968
This is the story of the staff of a mobile army surgical hospital unit in action and in play during the Korean War. FICTION/HOOKER,RIC
King, Stephen. HEARTS IN ATLANTIS. 1999
Five interconnected, sequential narratives follow three friends from 1960 to 1999. Each story is deeply rooted in the sixties, and haunted by the Vietnam War. Makes compelling reading. FICTION/KING,STE
Kosinski, Jerzy. BEING THERE. 1972
The hero is an enigmatic gardener and chronic TV watcher named Clarence who is forced to enter the real world. FICTION/KOSINSKI,JER
Lasky, Kathryn. PAGEANT. 1986
Sara Benjamin is a Jewish teenager attending a conservative preparatory school. She gets into trouble for wearing a "Kennedy for President" button on her shepherd's costume for the annual Christmas pageant. She begins to question why she even participates in the pageant. YOUNG ADULT/LASKY,KAT
Lurie, Alison. WAR BETWEEN THE TATES.1974
Student confrontation provoked by the Vietnam War is a backdrop for the personal problems of a professor and his wife. FICTION/LURIE,ALI
Michener, James. BRIDGES AT TOKO-RI. 1973
Harry Brubaker is a reluctant Navy pilot who is part of the aircraft carrier force assigned to bomb the heavily guarded bridges at Toko-Ri, preventing supplies from reaching the Communists' front line in the Korean War. Vivid descriptions of the complications in landing on an aircraft carrier are included. FICTION/MICHENER,JAM
Myers, Walter Dean. FALLEN ANGELS. 1999
Seventeen-year-old Richie Perry, just out of his Harlem school, enlists in the army in the summer of 1967 and spends a devastating year in Vietnam. YOUNG ADULT/MYERS,WAL
Nelson, Theresa. AND ONE FOR ALL. 1991
Geraldine's brother Wing, who is not very good in school, enlists in the Marines in 1967 and he is sent off to Vietnam. His best friend Sam goes to Washington, D.C. to attend college and to protest the war. Geraldine goes to find Sam and learns about patriotism and showing love for friends along the way. YOUNG ADULT/NELSON,THE
Proffitt, Nicholas. GARDENS OF STONE. 1983
Set during the Vietnam War, the novel focuses on the Old Guard, who guarded the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and provided burial details at Arlington National Cemetery. Hazard is a veteran officer who entered service during World War II. Willow is the son of one of Hazard's army buddies. FICTION/PROFFITT,NIC
Roth, Philip. LETTING GO. 1991
This is the story of a Jewish family, their life, and the college scene in the 1950s. It is set in New York City and at the University of Chicago. FICTION/ROTH,PHI
Anonymous. PRIMARY COLORS. 1996
This is about the 1992 Democratic Presidential primary campaign, featuring an ambitious Southern governor named Jack Stanton seen through the eyes of Henry Burton, a disillusioned aide. The book paints a vivid picture of the political state of the nation. Though a work of FICTION, it seems very authentic. FICTION/PRIMARY
Auchincloss, Louis. DIARY OF A YUPPIE. 1986
Here is a story of Wall Street during the 1980s. It is about modern mores and life on the fast track in the big law firms of New York. FICTION/AUCHINCLOSS,LOU
Cao, Lan. MONKEY BRIDGE. 1997
Although Mai Nguyen adjusts to her new life in Farmington, Connecticut, after being airlifted out of Saigon, her mother cannot recover from the losses of her Vietnamese past. FICTION/CAO,LAN
Clancy, Tom. THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER.1984
Somewhere under the Atlantic, a Soviet sub commander has just made a decision to defect and turn over his nuclear submarine, the "Red October", to the west. The Americans want her, the Soviets want her back and the chase is on. FICTION/CLANCY,TOM
Coonts, Stephen. RED HORSEMAN. 1993
Rear Admiral Jake Grafton is sent on a mission to Moscow. He must ensure that 20,000 nuclear weapons are destroyed before the deadly arms fall into the hands of terrorists. But unfortunately he is undermined by a member of the United States government in this 1980s post-glasnost thriller. FICTION/COONTS,STE
Estleman, Loren D. THE KING OF THE CORNER.1992
In the 1980s, in this sequel to Motown, the civil unrest in Detroit turns into drug wars and rule by the minority. MYSTERY/ESTLEMAN,LOR
Fast, Howard.THE IMMIGRANT'S DAUGHTER. 1985
In this sequel to The Legacy, Barbara Lavette continues her activist career by running for Congress. FICTION/FAST,HOW
Goodman, Alegra. KAATERSKILL FALLS. 1998
A small Orthodox Jewish sect spends summers in a Dutch community, and in 1976, the townspeople begin to resent the intrusion into their community. Meanwhile the women of the religious group are unhappy with its laws and restrictions. FICTION/GOODMAN,ALE
Mason, Bobbie Ann. IN COUNTRY. 1989
Sam deeply resents the effects of the Vietnam War, especially the death of her father and her uncle's suffering from Agent Orange ingestion. FICTION/MASON,BOB
Vonnegut, Kurt. JAILBIRD. 1979
This wry tale follows bumbling bureaucrat Walter F. Starbuck from Harvard to the Nixon White House to the penitentiary as Watergate's least known co-conspirator. FICTION/VONNEGUT,KUR