This book offers a one-stop reference work covering the Gilded Age and Progressive Era that serves teachers and their students. This book helps students to better understand key pieces in literature from the Gilded Age and Progressive Era by putting them in the context of history, society, and culture through historical context essays, literary analysis, chronologies, documents, and suggestions for discussion and further research. It provides teachers and students with selections that align with the ELA Common Core Standards and that also offer useful connections for curriculum that integrates American literature and social studies. The book covers Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Charlotte Perkins Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper, Willa Cather's A Lost Lady, and Upton Sinclair's The Jungle. Readers will be able to appreciate the significance of this period through these canonical and widely taught works of American literature. The book also includes historical context essays, primary document excerpts, and suggested readings. Integrates and aligns material for American literature and social studies curricula Offers a range of tools to support literary works-analysis, history, document excerpts, and areas for study Provides historical context for multiple key works of literature on the Gilded Age and Progressive era

Late twentieth and early twenty-first century America has been labeled as "The New Gilded Age," a phrase that embodies the glitz and glamour of one of the wealthiest countries in the world but also suggests the greed, corruption, and inequalities teeming just below the surface. Identifying some of the sparkling moments of humanity interwoven between the moments of crisis, "Best of Times, Worst of Times" features short stories by such renowned writers as Junot Diaz, George Saunders, Jhumpa Lahiri, Tobias Wolff, and many others, whose distinctive authorial voices lend urgency and a sense of heightened awareness to the modern moment. Commenting on and making sense of what is going on in America today, fractured as it is by two ongoing wars, the aftermath of 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, and the worst economic collapse since the Great Depression, these stories speak to some of the most germane issues confronting America today, from race relations, immigration, and social class to gender issues, Iraq, and imperialism. These expertly culled, emotionally powerful stories provide the perfect mirror with which to examine the real state of the union.

Social change in the twenty-first century is shaped by both demographic changes associated with ageing societies and significant technological change and development. Outlining the basic principles of a new academic field, Socio-gerontechnology, this book explores common conceptual, theoretical and methodological ideas that become visible in the critical scholarship on ageing and technology at the intersection of Age Studies and Science and Technology Studies (STS). Comprised of 15 original chapters, three commentaries and an afterword, the book explores how ageing and technology are already interconnected and constantly being intertwined in Western societies. Topics addressed cover a broad variety of socio-material domains, including care robots, the use of social media, ageing-in-place technologies, the performativity of user involvement and public consultations, dementia care and many others. Together, they provide a unique understanding of ageing and technology from a social sciences and humanities perspective and contribute to the development of new ontologies, methodologies and theories that might serve as both critique of and inspiration for policy and design. International in scope, including contributions from the United Kingdom, Canada, the United States, Australia, Germany, Norway, Denmark, Austria, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden, Socio-gerontechnology is an agenda-setting text that will provide an introduction for students and early career researchers as well as for more established scholars who are interested in ageing and technology.

Social change in the twenty-first century is shaped by both demographic changes associated with ageing societies and significant technological change and development. Outlining the basic principles of a new academic field, Socio-gerontechnology, this book explores common conceptual, theoretical and methodological ideas that become visible in the critical scholarship on ageing and technology at the intersection of Age Studies and Science and Technology Studies (STS). Comprised of 15 original chapters, three commentaries and an afterword, the book explores how ageing and technology are already interconnected and constantly being intertwined in Western societies. Topics addressed cover a broad variety of socio-material domains, including care robots, the use of social media, ageing-in-place technologies, the performativity of user involvement and public consultations, dementia care and many others. Together, they provide a unique understanding of ageing and technology from a social sciences and humanities perspective and contribute to the development of new ontologies, methodologies and theories that might serve as both critique of and inspiration for policy and design. International in scope, including contributions from the United Kingdom, Canada, the United States, Australia, Germany, Norway, Denmark, Austria, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden, Socio-gerontechnology is an agenda-setting text that will provide an introduction for students and early career researchers as well as for more established scholars who are interested in ageing and technology.

Emily Dickinson is best known as an intensely private, even reclusive writer. Yet the way she has been mythologised has meant her work is often misunderstood. This introduction delves behind the myth to present a poet who was deeply engaged with the issues of her day. In a lucid and elegant style, the book places her life and work in the historical context of the Civil War, the suffrage movement, and the rapid industrialisation of the United States. Wendy Martin explores the ways in which Dickinson's personal struggles with romantic love, religious faith, friendship and community shape her poetry. The complex publication history of her works, as well as their reception, is teased out, and a guide to further reading is included. Dickinson emerges not only as one of America's finest poets, but also as a fiercely independent intellect and an original talent writing poetry far ahead of her time.

The Routledge Introduction to American Women Writers considers the key literary, historical, cultural, and intellectual contexts of American women authors from the seventeenth century to the present, and provides students with an analysis of the most up-to-date literary trends and debates in women s literature. This accessible and engaging guide covers a variety of essential topics such as:

• The origins of American women s writing
• The colonial period and the Puritans
• The early national period and the rhetoric of independence
• The 19th Century and the Civil War period
• The 20th Century, including Modernism and the Harlem Renaissance
• The 21st Century and the future of American women s writing
• Feminism, sexuality, regionalism, domesticity, ethnicity, and multiculturalism.

The volume examines the ways in which both canonical and lesser known women writers from diverse class and cultural backgrounds have shaped American literary traditions, addressing key contemporary and theoretical debates, and giving particular attention to the ways writers worked both inside, outside, and around the strictures of their cultural and historical moments to create a space for women's voices and experiences as a vital part of American life. This valuable introduction offers a readable, cohesive narrative of the development of literature by American women and a refreshing range of perspectives. It also includes bullet point summaries and suggestions for further reading at the end of each chapter, making it particularly useful for students."

The Routledge Introduction to African American Literature considers the key literary, political, historical and intellectual contexts of African American literature from its origins to the present, and also provides students with an analysis of the most up-to-date literary trends and debates in African American literature. This accessible and engaging guide covers a variety of essential topics such as: Vernacular, Oral, and Blues Traditions in Literature Slave Narratives and Their Influence The Harlem Renaissance Mid-twentieth century black American Literature Literature of the civil rights and Black Power era Contemporary African American Writing Key thematic and theoretical debates within the field Examining the relationship between the literature and its historical and sociopolitical contexts, D. Quentin Miller covers key authors and works as well as less canonical writers and themes, including literature and music, female authors, intersectionality and transnational black writing.

This Companion consists of 14 essays by leading international scholars. They provide a series of new perspectives on one of the most enigmatic and widely read American writers. These essays, specially tailored to the needs of undergraduates, examine all of Dickinson's writings, letters and criticism, and place her work in a variety of literary, cultural and political contexts. The volume will be of interest to scholars and students. It features a detailed chronology and a comprehensive guide to further reading.

These 28 stories explore the diverse terrain of women's experiences as mothers, daughters, wives, lovers, artists, and friends. Ellen Gilchrist's "Light Can Be Both Wave and Particle" chronicles the touching romance between a young schoolteacher from Arkansas and an earnest Chinese medical student; Alice McDermott's "Enough" introduces us to a woman with an insatiable desire for ice cream. Here, too, are stories by such classic practitioners of the form as Sandra Cisneros, Grace Paley, Alice Munro, and Joyce Carol Oates, and by writers more recently arrived on the literary scene, including Jhumpa Lahiri, ZZ Packer, and Marisa Silver. In her introduction, Wendy Martin describes this anthology as "wrestling with the cultural and social prohibitions that have been with us for centuries." Taken together, these stories provide a collective mirror of the remarkable transformations that have occurred in the lives of women in the final decades of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st.

The Routledge Introduction to African American Literature considers the key literary, political, historical and intellectual contexts of African American literature from its origins to the present, and also provides students with an analysis of the most up-to-date literary trends and debates in African American literature. This accessible and engaging guide covers a variety of essential topics such as: Vernacular, Oral, and Blues Traditions in Literature Slave Narratives and Their Influence The Harlem Renaissance Mid-twentieth century black American Literature Literature of the civil rights and Black Power era Contemporary African American Writing Key thematic and theoretical debates within the field Examining the relationship between the literature and its historical and sociopolitical contexts, D. Quentin Miller covers key authors and works as well as less canonical writers and themes, including literature and music, female authors, intersectionality and transnational black writing.

Later years are changing under the impact of demographic, social and cultural shifts. No longer confined to the sphere of social welfare, they are now studied within a wider cultural framework that encompasses new experiences and new modes of being. Drawing on influences from the arts and humanities, and deploying diverse methodologies - visual, literary, spatial - and theoretical perspectives Cultural Gerontology has brought new aspects of later life into view. This major new publication draws together these currents including: Theory and Methods; Embodiment; Identities and Social Relationships; Consumption and Leisure; and Time and Space. Based on specially commissioned chapters by leading international authors, the Routledge Handbook of Cultural Gerontology will provide concise authoritative reviews of the key debates and themes shaping this exciting new field.

Late twentieth and early twenty-first century America has been labeled as "The New Gilded Age," a phrase that embodies the glitz and glamour of one of the wealthiest countries in the world but also suggests the greed, corruption, and inequalities teeming just below the surface. Identifying some of the sparkling moments of humanity interwoven between the moments of crisis, "Best of Times, Worst of Times" features short stories by such renowned writers as Junot Diaz, George Saunders, Jhumpa Lahiri, Tobias Wolff, and many others, whose distinctive authorial voices lend urgency and a sense of heightened awareness to the modern moment. Commenting on and making sense of what is going on in America today, fractured as it is by two ongoing wars, the aftermath of 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, and the worst economic collapse since the Great Depression, these stories speak to some of the most germane issues confronting America today, from race relations, immigration, and social class to gender issues, Iraq, and imperialism. These expertly culled, emotionally powerful stories provide the perfect mirror with which to examine the real state of the union.

The Routledge Introduction to American Women Writers considers the key literary, historical, cultural, and intellectual contexts of American women authors from the seventeenth century to the present, and provides students with an analysis of the most up-to-date literary trends and debates in women s literature. This accessible and engaging guide covers a variety of essential topics such as:

• The origins of American women s writing
• The colonial period and the Puritans
• The early national period and the rhetoric of independence
• The 19th Century and the Civil War period
• The 20th Century, including Modernism and the Harlem Renaissance
• The 21st Century and the future of American women s writing
• Feminism, sexuality, regionalism, domesticity, ethnicity, and multiculturalism.

The volume examines the ways in which both canonical and lesser known women writers from diverse class and cultural backgrounds have shaped American literary traditions, addressing key contemporary and theoretical debates, and giving particular attention to the ways writers worked both inside, outside, and around the strictures of their cultural and historical moments to create a space for women's voices and experiences as a vital part of American life. This valuable introduction offers a readable, cohesive narrative of the development of literature by American women and a refreshing range of perspectives. It also includes bullet point summaries and suggestions for further reading at the end of each chapter, making it particularly useful for students."

Emily Dickinson is best known as an intensely private, even reclusive writer. Yet the way she has been mythologised has meant her work is often misunderstood. This 2007 introduction delves behind the myth to present a poet who was deeply engaged with the issues of her day. In a lucid and elegant style, the book places her life and work in the historical context of the Civil War, the suffrage movement, and the rapid industrialisation of the United States. Wendy Martin explores the ways in which Dickinson's personal struggles with romantic love, religious faith, friendship and community shape her poetry. The complex publication history of her works, as well as their reception, is teased out, and a guide to further reading is included. Dickinson emerges not only as one of America's finest poets, but also as a fiercely independent intellect and an original talent writing poetry far ahead of her time.

One of the first American novels concerned with adultery and divorce is examined in the context of its controversial historical background and untraditional heroine as well as other themes.

This Companion consists of 14 essays by leading international scholars. They provide a series of new perspectives on one of the most enigmatic and widely read American writers. These essays, specially tailored to the needs of undergraduates, examine all of Dickinson's writings, letters and criticism, and place her work in a variety of literary, cultural and political contexts. The volume will be of interest to scholars and students. It features a detailed chronology and a comprehensive guide to further reading.

Anne Bradstreet, Emily Dickinson, and Adrienne Rich share nationality, gender, and an aesthetic tradition, but each expresses these experiences in the context of her own historical moment. Puritanism imposed stringent demands on Bradstreet, romanticism both inspired and restricted Dickinson, and feminism challenged as well as liberated Rich. Nevertheless, each poet succeeded in forming a personal vision that counters traditional male poetics. Their poetry celebrates daily life, demonstrates their commitment to nurturance rather than dominance, shows their resistance to the control of both their earthly and heavenly fathers, and affirms their experience in a world that has often denied women a voice.
Wendy Martin recreates the textures of these women's lives, showing how they parallel the shifts in the status of American women from private companion to participant in a wider public life. The three portraits examine in detail the life and work of the Puritan wife of a colonial magistrate, the white-robed, reclusive New England seer, and the modern feminist and lesbian activist. Their poetry, Martin argues, tells us much about the evolution of feminist and patriarchal perspectives, from Bradstreet's resigned acceptance of traditional religion, to Dickinson's private rebellion, to Rich's public criticism of traditional masculine culture. Together, these portraits compose the panels of an American triptych.
Beyond the dramatic contrasts between the Puritan and feminist vision, Martin finds striking parallels in form. An ideal of a new world, whether it be the city on the hill or a supportive community of women, inspires both. Like the commonwealth of saints, this concept of a female collectivity, which all three poets embrace, is a profoundly political phenomenon based on a pattern of protest and reform that is deeply rooted in American life. Martin suggests that, through their belief in regeneration and renewal, Bradstreet Dickinson, and Rich are part of a larger political as well as literary tradition. "An American Triptych" both enhances our understanding of the poets' work as part of the web of American experience and suggests the outlines of an American female poetic.

A collection of 26 of the finest stories by the finest women writers tocome out of the U.S. and Canada in the past 50 years. Authors include Ann Beattie, Ann Tyler, Tama Janowitz and Alice Walker.