A Concise Companion to Postwar American Literature and Culture

by Josephine G. Hendin (Editor)

This Concise Companion is a guide to the creative output of the United States in the postwar period, in its diverse energies, shapes and forms.

Genres: Nonfiction

444 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

Reviews

[The Half-blood Reader]

Winter, 2010
College reads: I only read chapters/sections relevant to my studies, hence the dnf (Chapter 3, The Beat Generation is now about everything by Regina Weinreich)

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of papers from an assemblage of contributing university profs, this publication is (as promised) concise since each contributor is limited to one chapter on his or her area of research. Of course, as in all publications of this type, some of the essays are better than others, but they all offer a general overview of of the main names/texts/events for each category. Ironically, the last essay, written by librarian and archivist Marvin J. Taylor, offers some sharp observations on the pitfalls of established methods of classification and categorization. Ah, labels!

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sometimes useful, but not indispensable set of essays on later-20th-century American culture. Informative if nothing else.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Useful for my thesis, however, I was surprised by Kesey's absence in this collection of essays regarding postwar culture.