Reading path
The American Century
The dream, the betrayal of the dream, and the long reckoning. A nation inventing itself on the page with wild ambition and deep injustice, restless motion and painful stillness. The writers on this path held up a mirror that America didn't always want to look into. The energy and the wreckage arrive in equal measure, and the tension between them is what makes this tradition electric.
In the app a path keeps your place, marks what you have read, and hands you the next work when you are ready for it.
The first button needs the app on this device; the second gets it there.
The route
- 1. Civil DisobedienceHenry David Thoreau, 1849
- 2. Moby-DickHerman Melville, 1851
- 3. Huckleberry FinnMark Twain, 1884
- 4. The Scarlet LetterNathaniel Hawthorne, 1850
- 5. The Great GatsbyF. Scott Fitzgerald, 1925
- 6. The Sun Also RisesErnest Hemingway, 1926
- 7. A Farewell to ArmsErnest Hemingway, 1929
- 8. The Sound and the FuryWilliam Faulkner, 1929
- 9. The Grapes of WrathJohn Steinbeck, 1939
- 10. East of EdenJohn Steinbeck, 1952
- 11. Their Eyes Were Watching GodZora Neale Hurston, 1937
- 12. Native SonRichard Wright, 1940
- 13. Invisible ManRalph Ellison, 1952
- 14. The Catcher in the RyeJ.D. Salinger, 1951
- 15. The Adventures of Augie MarchSaul Bellow, 1953
- 16. On The RoadJack Kerouac, 1957
- 17. The Dharma BumsJack Kerouac, 1958
- 18. Catch-22Joseph Heller, 1961
- 19. In Cold BloodTruman Capote, 1966
- 20. Slaughterhouse-FiveKurt Vonnegut, 1969
- 21. Song of SolomonToni Morrison, 1977
- 22. Blood MeridianCormac McCarthy, 1985
- 23. Lonesome DoveLarry McMurtry, 1985
- 24. American PastoralPhilip Roth, 1997
- 25. Infinite JestDavid Foster Wallace, 1996
- 26. The Savage DetectivesRoberto Bolaño, 1998
- 27. A Tree Grows in BrooklynBetty Smith, 1943
- 28. Crossing Brooklyn FerryWalt Whitman, 1856
- 29. An American TragedyTheodore Dreiser, 1925
- 30. Bonfire of the VanitiesTom Wolfe, 1987
- 31. Let Us Now Praise Famous MenJames Agee, 1941
- 32. Of Mice and MenJohn Steinbeck, 1937
- 33. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and ClayMichael Chabon, 2000
- 34. The GodfatherMario Puzo, 1969
- 35. The World According to GarpJohn Irving, 1978
- 36. Henderson The Rain KingSaul Bellow, 1959
- 37. BlondeJoyce Carol Oates, 2000
- 38. The Man Who Loved ChildrenChristina Stead, 1940
- 39. For Whom the Bell TollsErnest Hemingway, 1940
- 40. The Long GoodbyeRaymond Chandler, 1953
- 41. The Last of the MohicansJames Fenimore Cooper, 1826
- 42. Gone With the WindMargaret Mitchell, 1936
- 43. The CorrectionsJonathan Franzen, 2001
- 44. Uncle Tom's CabinHarriet Beecher Stowe, 1852
- 45. Look Homeward, AngelThomas Wolfe, 1929
- 46. The JungleUpton Sinclair, 1906
- 47. UnderworldDon DeLillo, 1997
- 48. Rabbit, RunJohn Updike, 1960
- 49. To Kill a MockingbirdHarper Lee, 1960
- 50. All the King's MenRobert Penn Warren, 1946
- 51. The Big SleepRaymond Chandler, 1939
- 52. The Maltese FalconDashiell Hammett, 1930
- 53. American PsychoBret Easton Ellis, 1991
- 54. BabbittSinclair Lewis, 1922
- 55. Call It SleepHenry Roth, 1934
- 56. Fear and Loathing in Las VegasHunter S. Thompson, 1971
- 57. Humboldt's GiftSaul Bellow, 1975
- 58. If I Forget Thee, JerusalemWilliam Faulkner, 1939
- 59. The Education of Henry AdamsHenry Adams, 1907
- 60. The Naked and the DeadNorman Mailer, 1948
- 61. My AntoniaWilla Cather, 1918
- 62. Bury My Heart at Wounded KneeDee Alexander Brown, 1970
- 63. The FountainheadAyn Rand, 1943
- 64. Appointment in SamarraJohn O'Hara, 1934
- 65. The 42nd ParallelJohn Dos Passos, 1930
- 66. Young LoniganJames T. Farrell, 1932
- 67. From Here to EternityJames Jones, 1951
- 68. The Wapshot ChronicleJohn Cheever, 1957
- 69. Main StreetSinclair Lewis, 1920
- 70. The Day of the LocustNathanael West, 1939
- 71. RagtimeE.L. Doctorow, 1975
- 72. Sophie's ChoiceWilliam Styron, 1979
- 73. The Postman Always Rings TwiceJames M. Cain, 1934
- 74. The Magnificent AmbersonsBooth Tarkington, 1918
- 75. The Right StuffTom Wolfe, 1979
- 76. WorkingStuds Terkel, 1974
- 77. Cadillac DesertMarc Reisner, 1986
- 78. The Rise of Theodore RooseveltEdmund Morris, 1979
- 79. A Bright Shining LieNeil Sheehan, 1988
- 80. This Boy's LifeTobias Wolff, 1989
- 81. The Journalist and the MurdererJanet Malcolm, 1990
- 82. The Autobiography of Benjamin FranklinBenjamin Franklin, 1791
- 83. Daisy MillerHenry James, 1878
- 84. O Pioneers!Willa Cather, 1913
- 85. The Blithedale RomanceNathaniel Hawthorne, 1852
- 86. Washington SquareHenry James, 1880
- 87. The Iron HeelJack London, 1908
- 88. The Sea-WolfJack London, 1904
- 89. The Song of HiawathaHenry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1855
- 90. Roughing ItMark Twain, 1872
- 91. Play It As It LaysJoan Didion, 1970
- 92. BattlebornClaire Vaye Watkins, 2012