American Audacity

the long version

"One of the foremost critics in contemporary American letters, Christopher Benfey has long been known for his brilliant and incisive essays. Benfey's writings have helped us reimagine the American literary canon. In American Audacity, Benfey gathers his finest work on eminent American authors, bringing to his subjects - as the New York Times Book Review has said of his earlier work - "a scholar's thoroughness, a critic's astuteness and a storyteller's sense of drama."" "Although Benfey's interests range from art to literature to social history, this collection focuses on particular American writers and the various ways in which an American identity and culture inform their work."--Jacket.