The American Writer

<p> The American writer--both real and fictitious famous and obscure--has traditionally been situated on the margins of society an outsider looking in. From <I>The Great Gatsby</I>'s Nick Carraway to the millions of bloggers today writers are generally seen as onlookers documenting the human condition. Yet their own collective story has largely gone untold.</p><p> Tracing the role of the writer in the United States over the last century this book describes how those who use language as a creative medium have held a special place in our collective imagination.</p>