This is an effort to learn about American history, society and traditions through its most important books, including not only novel, but also essay, poetry and theatre. Some may find the list of books somehow arguable, but it was necessary to make the cut somewhere and my priority was not always to choose according to the intrinsic literary quality. In some cases, I thought it was a good idea to have a book on the list simply for what represented historically, or perhaps even due to how influential it has become regardless of what one may think of their artistic value.