William Dean Howells : a writer's life

As a turn-of-the-century literary giant, Howell stood as an influential figure in the history of American letters. Here Goodman explores his boyhood in Ohio before the Civil War, his consularship in Italy under President Lincoln, his stint as editor of The Atlantic Monthly, and his emergence as America's most respected author. Not only did he help forge standards in modern American literature with other greats such as his close friend Mark Twain and fellow writes like Stephen Crane and Emily Dickinson, but Howells also mentored a younger generation of culturally-different authors, such as African Americans like Paul Dunbar and women like Sarah Orne Jewett.