Summary

Throughout American literary history, writers have dealt with the rapid pace of technological growth in our society. This was particularly true in the last half of the nineteenth century; the Civil War spurred advances in industrial methods, urbanization consolidated populations in major metropolitan areas and away from earlier farms, and transcontinental railroads transformed manufacturing and the economy. Attitudes, approaches, and beliefs vary from author to author and era to era. What can we learn about a particular work by focusing on its possible relation to industrialization and urbanization, and what can we learn about a particular literary time period by

Washington Irving	Rip Van Winkle	-expressed fast paced change in American life, bewilderment at technology
Henry David Thoreau	Walden	-guide to living wisely; urge to reevaluate consumerism and mechanization
Rebecca Harding Davis	Life in the Iron Mills	-precursor of realism
Mark Twain	Huckleberry Finn, The Gilded Age	-Colonel Beriah Sellers in Huck Finn as robber baron figure -Gilded Age denounces spirit of acquisitiveness
Sarah Orne Jewett	Country of the Pointed Firs	-dealt with the Embargo Act's effect on locals
Frank Norris	McTeague	-called the railroads "the giant octopus" that spread throughout the nation.
Hamlin Garland	Main Travelled Roads	-dealt with the effect of land speculation and absentee ownership on farmers
William Dean Howells	The Rise of Silas Lapham A Hazard of New Fortunes	-addresses the interplay between America's industrialization and its moral condition
Upton Sinclair	The Jungle	-indictment off horrible conditions in Chicago meatpacking industry