Great American Bestsellers: The Books That Shaped America

Best-selling books have played a critical role in influencing the tastes and purchasing habits of American readers for more than 100 years. But there is more to America's great best-selling books than the sales figures they rake in. American bestsellers also offer us ways to appreciate and understand particular periods of American culture. In this series of 24 lectures you'll enjoy a pointed look at key best-selling works and their places within the greater fabric of American cultural history. Guided by an award-winning teacher, you'll explore representative bestsellers at various stages of American history, from the first book published in the English-speaking New World to the blockbuster authors who dominate the 21st-century publishing industry. The result is an expert look at the evolution of American culture - its tastes, its hopes, its dreams - through the unique lens of the books that have captivated its readers at various points in American history. Each of the 22 works discussed - from literary masterpieces (The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn) to enduring self-help books (How to Win Friends and Influence People) - has had a crucial and unique impact on American society. Studying these representative works will give you a deeper understanding of how American literature can both mirror the events of its time and, in many instances, have a pronounced impact on them. These lectures are your opportunity to see our nation's best-selling books as more than just popular forms of entertainment that have managed to make their authors lots of money, but as stunning microcosms of American cultural history.

All Lectures:
1. Why Do Bestsellers Matter?
2. The Bay Psalm Book
3. Common Sense
4. The Last of the Mohicans
5. Uncle Tom's Cabin
6. Ragged Dick
7. Little Women
8. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
9. The Virginian
10. The House of Mirth
11. The Jungle
12. Main Street
13. The Maltese Falcon
14. The Good Earth
15. Gone with the Wind
16. How to Win Friends and Influence People
17. The Grapes of Wrath
18. Native Son
19. The Catcher in the Rye
20. To Kill a Mockingbird
21. Catch-22
22. The Woman Warrior
23. John Adams
24. Recent Bestsellers