Volume 2 investigates and analyzes major authors and works in American literature from the World War I era to the present. Students discuss the Lost Generation, local color, literature and the human spirit, and the variety of styles and content provided by modern American writers. Students respond to pieces by Anderson, Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Ellison, O’Neill, Harlem Renaissance poets, Steinbeck, Wright, Faulkner, Sandburg, McCullers, Bradbury, Hispanic-American authors, Momaday, and Malamud.

Lessons emphasize individual and group projects, discussion, in-class writing, and enrichment activities—all designed to engage honors students in the issues and values that emerged in the twentieth century and continue to affect American life and cultures. Students are encouraged to recognize the suffering and achievements of minority cultures in the United States. Suggestions for further reading and an appendix of appropriate Web sites are also included.

Students are encouraged to see connections to the arts, to public policy, to ethics, and to their own character development. They are invited to imagine, to create, and to remember. Students are encouraged to see connections to the arts, to public policy, to ethics, and to their own character development. They are invited to imagine, to create, and to remember. Students read, discuss, analyze, compare and contrast writers, imitate writing styles of authors, examine Imagism, write essays, react to plays, research, and prepare group presentations.