When the United States entered the Gilded Age after the Civil War, argues cultural historian Christopher Benfey, the nation lost its philosophical moorings and looked eastward to “Old Japan,” with its seemingly untouched indigenous culture, for balance and perspective. Japan, meanwhile, was trying to reinvent itself as a more cosmopolitan, modern state, ultimately transforming itself, in the course of twenty-five years, from a feudal backwater to an international power. This great wave of ...

A lyrical biography by a celebrated poet that tracks the life of Thomas Hariot, an unjustly obscure genius of Renaissance Europe—a polymath who mapped the Moon before Galileo and taught Sir Walter Raleigh how to navigate the open seas.Thomas Hariot was one of the greatest minds of the Elizabethan era, a pioneer of the Scientific Revolution who met every current of his time headlong and yet whose name is all but forgotten, relegated to the footnotes of history. What...

The long-awaited return of a quintessentially American storyteller“You’re as likely to be hit twice by lightning on a Monday as see a wood chipper pull a man into its maw.”So begins North of Ordinary, John Rolfe Gardner’s virtuosic story collection of survivors getting by despite the odds in a shifting world. In these pages, we meet a nervous young apprentice to a weathered tree climber; a dangerously obsessed student at a Southern Bible c...

The country's most noted writers, poets, and artists converge at a singular moment in American life, a great companion to fans of the film A Quiet Passion, starring Cynthia Nixon as Emily Dickinson.At the close of the Civil War, the lives of Emily Dickinson, Mark Twain, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Martin Johnson Heade intersected in an intricate map of friendship, family, and romance that marked a milestone in the development of American art and literature....

**New York Times 100 Notable Books of 2012"Beautiful, haunted, evocative and so open to where memory takes you. I kept thinking that this is the book that I have waited for: where objects, and poetry intertwine. Just wonderful and completely sui generis." (Edmund de Waal, author of The Hare with Amber Eyes)**An unforgettable voyage across the reaches of America and the depths of memory, Red Brick, Black Mountain, White Clay follows one incredible ...

A Masterful Collection from a Renowned Southern PoetAllen Tate, one of the distinguished Southern intellectuals and artists known as the Agrarians, crafted poetry deeply rooted in the American South's rich history, people, and traditions. His works masterfully blend the forms and concerns of classic poets with the unique heritage of his beloved region.In Collected Poems, 1919-1976, Tate's artistic genius shines through in every verse. The collectio...

**A New York Times Notable Book of 2019A unique exploration of the life and work of Rudyard Kipling in Gilded Age America, from a celebrated scholar of American literature**At the turn of the twentieth century, Rudyard Kipling towered over not just English literature but the entire literary world. At the height of his fame in 1907, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, becoming its youngest winner. His influence on major figures—including Freud and William...

One of the foremost critics in contemporary American letters, Christopher Benfey has long been known for his brilliant and incisive essays. Appearing in such publications as the New York Review of Books, the New Republic, and the Times Literary Supplement, Benfey's writings have helped us reimagine the American literary canon. In American Audacity, Benfey gathers his finest writings on eminent American authors (including Emerson, Dickinson, Whitman, Mill...

Featuring a wide range of writings from Hearn’s time in America, this collection is a stunning showcase of the Greek-Irish author’s uniquely decadent literary flair and keen eye for observationA translator of Flaubert and Gautier, Lafcadio Hearn was the master of a gaudy and sometimes self-consciously decadent literary style, but he was also a tough-minded and keenly observant reporter, with an eye for the offbeat, the sensual, and occasionally the gruesome. The wr...

The long-awaited return of a quintessentially American storyteller"You're as likely to be hit twice by lightning on a Monday as see a wood chipper pull a man into its maw."So begins North of Ordinary, John Rolfe Gardiner's virtuosic story collection of survivors getting by despite the odds in a shifting world. In this book, we meet a nervous young apprentice to a weathered tree climber; a dangerously obsessed student at a Southern Bible co...

**A New York Times Notable Book of 2019A unique exploration of the life and work of Rudyard Kipling in Gilded Age America, from a celebrated scholar of American literature**At the turn of the twentieth century, Rudyard Kipling towered over not just English literature but the entire literary world. At the height of his fame in 1907, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, becoming its youngest winner. His influence on major figures—including Freud and William...

*NOW A NETFLIX LIMITED SERIES—from producer and director Shawn Levy (Stranger Things) starring Mark Ruffalo, Hugh Laurie, and newcomer Aria Mia Loberti*Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalist, the beloved instant New York Times bestseller and New York Times Book Review Top 10 Book about a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of World ...