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Literature by Place

It's kind of crazy to what extent geography can inform an author's work. Jack London spent most of his life at sea, dog-sledding across Alaska, boxing and generally being an adventurous guy who would put today's REI crowd to shame. Would he have penned some of the greatest American novels otherwise? especially ones concerned primarily with man battling the elements for survival in both a mental and physical sense? Very probably not, which explains why Oscar Wilde didn't write about wolves and crazy ship captains.

No, Oscar Wilde wrote primarily about fops and society people parrying witticisms incessantly. That's not to say his work has no place in a serious consideration of literature—au contraire, The Picture of Dorian Grey is one of the finest novels written in English. It's just more evidence that if you're an author who lives in the Canadian mountains or the clubs of London, your writing will reflect that.

Physical terrain isn't the only consideration. Sartre wrote about people lolling about with no real sense of purpose except to drink wine and smoke cigarettes and look languorous because he lived in France in the 1940s. Friedrich Nietzsche had immense mustaches and espoused a form of nihilism because he was German. The Russians wrote impossibly long novels because they lived in Russia. And Chinua Achebe was almost entirely influenced by his African upbringing.

That's not to say no one can write well about a context they haven't experienced firsthand. I'm pretty sure Robert Heinlein never visited Mars, and even if he did it wasn't as his books describe; the same goes for Bradbury. And no, Roald Dahl was never lost in a delightfully (though at times, terrifyingly) absurd chocolate factory. Yet even with these examples, the authors conveyed essentially the attitudes of the countries they came from—Heinlein and Bradbury from the U.S., Dahl from the U.K.

Our Literature by Place subcategories are admittedly Anglo-centric. North American literature features, well, American literature, and you can be pretty sure British literature reflects the same system; everything else goes in world literature. We have plenty of non-American or -British literature, we just don't have much from any one place besides those two. At any rate, we hope these categories are helpful, and if they guide you toward one book you're looking for (or maybe one you didn't even know existed), they've done their job.

Review by C. Hollis Crossman
C. Hollis Crossman used to be a child. Now he's a husband and father who loves church, good food, and weird stuff. He might be a mythical creature, but he's definitely not a centaur. Read more of his reviews here.
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74 Items found Print
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Active Filters: Autobiographies & Memoirs, Trade Paperback
Account of Mary Rowlandson and Other Indian Captivity Narratives
by Mary Rowlandson
from Dover Publications
for 9th-Adult
in 17th Century Literature (Location: LIT4-17)
$6.95
American Childhood
by Annie Dillard
from Harper & Row
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Autobiography of Charles G. Finney
by Charles G. Finney
from Bethany House
Autobiography for 9th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$19.00
Autobiography of G. K. Chesterton
by G. K. Chesterton
from Ignatius Press
Autobiography for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$18.95
Black Like Me
by John Howard Griffin & Robert Bonazzi
35th anniversary from Signet Classics
for 8th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$9.99 $6.00 (1 in stock)
Blue Like Jazz
by Donald Miller
from Thomas Nelson Publishers
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$3.00 (3 in stock)
Born Free
by Joy Adamson
Anniversary from Pantheon Books
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Brendan Voyage
Modern Library Exploration
by Tim Severin
from Modern Library
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
Bridge to the Sun
by Gwen Terasaki
from Rock Creek Books
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$15.99 $8.00 (1 in stock)
Compleat Angler
from Oxford University
for 10th-Adult
in 17th Century Literature (Location: LIT4-17)
Confessions
by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
from Penguin Classics
for 10th-Adult
in 18th Century Literature (Location: LIT5-18)
$13.00
Confessions of Jean-Jacques Rousseau
by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
from Heritage Press
for 10th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Confessions of St. Augustine
by Saint Augustine (translation by Henry Chadwick)
from Oxford University
for 10th-Adult
in Medieval Literature (Location: LIT2-MED)
$7.95
Confessions of St. Augustine
by St. Augustine (translation by Frank J. Sheed)
2nd Revised Edition from Hackett Publishing Company
for 10th-Adult
in Medieval Literature (Location: LIT2-MED)
Diary of a Napoleanic Foot Soldier
by Jakob Walter
from Penguin Putnam
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$6.50 (1 in stock)
Down and Out in Paris and London
by George Orwell
from Mariner Books
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$15.99
Egg and I
by Betty MacDonald
from HarperCollins
Biography for 8th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$15.99
Falcons of France
by Charles Nordhoff & James Norman Hall
from Little, Brown & Company
for 7th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
First They Killed My Father
by Loung Ung
from Harper Perennial
for 11th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
First Voyage to America
by Christopher Columbus
from Dover Publications
Historical Primary Sources for 10th-Adult
in Age of Exploration (1450-1700) (Location: HISA-16EXP)
$9.95
Four Voyages
by Christopher Columbus
from Penguin Classics
Historical Primary Sources for 9th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$17.00
Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners
by John Bunyan
from Penguin Classics
for 10th-Adult
in 17th Century Literature (Location: LIT4-17)
$15.00
Grief Observed
by C. S. Lewis, with a foreword by Madeleine L'Engle
from HarperCollins
Death/Grief for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$17.99
Homage to Catalonia
by George Orwell
from Mariner Books
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$19.99
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
by Harriet Jacobs
from Dover Publications
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$5.00 $3.00 (1 in stock)
Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano
by Olaudah Equiano
from Modern Library
for 10th-Adult
in 18th Century Literature (Location: LIT5-18)
$15.00
Jack Nastyface
by William Robinson
from Naval Institute Press
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Journals of Jim Elliot
by Jim Elliot
from Fleming H Revell Co.
for 9th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Kit Carson's Autobiography
by Kit Carson
from University of Nebraska
Autobiography for 9th-12th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Life and Diary of David Brainerd
by David Brainerd
from Baker Books
Biography for 10th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$17.00 $9.00 (2 in stock)
Lord God Made Them All
by James Herriot
from St. Martin's Press
for 7th-Adult
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
$17.99
Meditations
by Marcus Aurelius
from Modern Library
Classic Literature for 9th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$11.00
Mein Kampf
by Adolf Hitler, translated by Ralph Manheim
from Houghton Mifflin
Autobiography for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
Mein Kampf
by Adolf Hitler, translated by Michael Ford
from Elite Minds, Inc.
Autobiography for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$29.95
Memoirs of Gluckel of Hameln
by Gluckel of Hamelin
from Schocken
for 8th-Adult
in 17th Century Literature (Location: LIT4-17)
Million Miles in a Thousand Years
by Donald Miller
from Thomas Nelson Publishers
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
My Family and Other Animals
by Gerald Durrell
from Penguin Classics
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$18.00
Napoleon's Russian Campaign
by Count Philippe-Paul de Segur
from Time-Life Books
for 11th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$2.00 (1 in stock)
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
by Frederick Douglass, edited and introduction by David W. Blight
from Bedford Press
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Never Sniff A Gift Fish
by Patrick F. McManus
from Henry Holt and Company
for 8th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$17.99
Night
by Elie Wiesel
Revised from Hill & Wang
Autobiographies & Memoirs for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$12.00 $4.00 (11 in stock)
Night Country
by Loren Eiseley
from Charles Scribner's Sons
for Adult
in Clearance: Literature (Location: ZCLE-LIT)
Omoo
by Herman Melville
from Dover Publications
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$10.95
Orthodoxy
by C. K. Chesterton
from Moody Press
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$9.99
Persepolis:
by Marjane Satrapi
1st edition from Pantheon Books
for 10th-Adult
in Comic Books & Graphic Novels (Location: FIC-COMIC)
$8.00 (2 in stock)
Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant
Penguin Classics
by Ulysses S. Grant
from Penguin Classics
Autobiography for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek
by Annie Dillard
from HarperCollins
Meditation/Philosophy for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
Road to Wigan Pier
by George Orwell
from Mariner Books
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$16.99 $9.00 (1 in stock)
Roadhouse Tales
by Matilda Clark
2004 printing from Bullerville Press
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
Sea Around Us
by Rachel Carlson
from Oxford University
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
Severe Mercy
by Sheldon Vanauken
from HarperOne
Biography for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$15.99
Shadow of His Wings
by Gereon Karl Goldmann
Revised from Ignatius Press
for 11th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$18.95
Solzhenitsyn Reader
by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
2nd Edition from Intercollegiate Studies Institute
for 11th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$22.00
Souls of Black Folk
by W. E. B. Du Bois
from Penguin Classics
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$14.00
Souls of Black Folk
by W. E. B. Du Bois
from Dover Publications
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$5.00
Sufferings in Africa
by Capt. James Riley
from Skyhorse Publishing
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Survival in Auschwitz
by Primo Levi
1st edition from Touchstone
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$14.00 $5.50 (2 in stock)
Things They Carried
by Tim O'Brien
from Mariner Books
for 11th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$15.95
Three Cups of Tea
by David Oliver Relin & Greg Mortenson
from Penguin Putnam
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$12.00
Through Painted Deserts
by Donald Miller
from Thomas Nelson Publishers
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
To Own a Dragon
by Donald Miller
from Thomas Nelson Publishers
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Traveling Mercies
by Anne Lamott
Anchor Books ed from Anchor Books
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$6.50 (1 in stock)
Travels of Marco Polo
by Marco Polo
from Penguin Classics
Historical Non-Fiction for 10th-Adult
in Medieval Literature (Location: LIT2-MED)
$17.00 $9.00 (1 in stock)
Travels with Charley in Search of America
by John Steinbeck
from Penguin Classics
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$13.00
Twelve Years a Slave
by Solomon Northup
from Dover Publications
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$9.95
Two-Part Invention
by Madeleine L'Engle
from HarperOne
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
Typee
from Modern Library
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$12.95
Up From Slavery
Copper Lodge Library
by Booker T. Washington, annotated by Stephanie B. Meter
from Classical Conversations
Autobiography for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$11.95
Voyages and Discoveries
by Richard Hakluyt
from Penguin Classics
for 10th-Adult
in 17th Century Literature (Location: LIT4-17)
$17.00
Walk in the Woods
by Bill Bryson
from Broadway Books
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
War
by Sebastian Junger
from Twelve
for Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Welcome Shore
by Suzanne Underwood Rhodes
from Canon Press
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$8.50
When Broken Glass Floats
by Chanrithy Him
from W. W. Norton and Co.
for 11th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
Writing Life
by Annie Dillard
First Printing from Harper Perennial
for Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
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