William Faulkner

William Faulkner is one of the most esteemed writers in American history. Faulkner was born in Mississippi and lived in the state throughout his life. His writing is highly influenced by the culture of the South and of Mississippi. Throughout most of his life, Faulkner suffered from alcoholism that had very harmful impacts on his health and personal life. However, he was still able to produce some of America's most respected literary works.

F. Scott Fitzgerald

F. Scott Fitzgerald, who is regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century, is the author of many novels and short stories. The writer was born to an upper middle class American family on September 24, 1896. In the 1920s, Fitzgerald traveled to Europe where he established a close friendship with fellow writer Ernest Hemingway.

Ernest Hemingway

Ernest Hemingway was an American author as well as a journalist. Most of his work was produced in the 1920s to 1950s and he won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954. He published seven novels, six short story collections, and two non-fiction works.

Henry James

Henry James, hailed as a master of American literary realism, was born in New York City on April 15, 1843. Following in the footsteps of his intellectual father, James published his first short story at age 21. He would go on to pen many fictional novels, biographies, travel books, works of criticism, and even plays.

Jack London

Jack London was born John Griffith Chaney on January 12, 1876. He was an American author and journalist, also noted for his work in social activism. The native San Franciscan adopted the name Jack as a boy, and worked odd jobs that usually involved hard labor as a teenager. London was always an avid reader and began submitting his own stories and poems to many publications.

Arthur Miller

Arthur Miller was a famous American playwright. The child of two Jewish immigrants from Poland, he worked in an automotive parts warehouse to make money for college. He married his childhood sweetheart, a Catholic girl named Mary Slattery and had two children. On graduating, he wrote for Broadway, with the play that led to his fame being Death of a Salesman, first performed in 1949.

Mark Twain

Born in 1835, Samuel Clemens, A.K.A Mark Twain, is one of the most famous American writers of all time. His most popular book, the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn now stands as a primary example of the "the american novel" and indeed most american authors look to him as the formative voice in american literature.

Edith Wharton

Edith Wharton was the first woman to be awarded a Pulitzer Prize for literature. The Age of Innocence, published in 1920 and currently available for audio download, garnered her the award. As a member of New York's upper class society, Edith was able to write her novel about the morals and lifestyle of the elite from the point of view of a person living within the very circle she portrayed in the book.