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Great American Bestsellers: The Books That Shaped America
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Taught By Professor Peter Conn, Ph.D., Yale University,
New Releases University of Pennsylvania Course No. 2527

Best Sellers
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Recommendations 24 lectures, 30 minutes/lecture

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Average Customer Rating:
Religion & Theology
4.5 out of 5
Philosophy & Intellectual History 14 of 16 (88%) customers w ould recommend the
Literature & English Language course to a friend.
Read review s Write a review
Business & Economics
Better Living When a work of fiction or nonfiction captures the attention—and
Professional wallets—of American readers, it speaks volumes about the nation's
cultural climate.
Course Lecture Titles
High School
24 Lectures
View All Courses Best-selling books have played a critical role in influencing the
30 minutes / lecture
tastes and purchasing habits of American readers for more than
100 years. Weekly best-seller lists appear in various national 1. Why Do Bestsellers Matter?
newspapers. Nationwide reading clubs help propel books (and (info)
Find a Course authors) into mass popularity. Strategic marketing campaigns help 2. The Bay Psalm Book (info)
embed the importance of a particular work in the American public's 3. Common Sense (info)
Keyword or Course #
consciousness. 4. The Last of the Mohicans
(info)
But there is more to America's great best-selling books than the 5. Uncle Tom's Cab in (info)
LEARN MORE ABOUT sales figures they rake in. American bestsellers also offer us ways
6. Ragged Dick (info)
The Great Courses to appreciate and understand particular periods of American culture.
7. Little Women (info)
What are The Great Courses? 8. The Adventures of
The 24 lectures of Great American Bestsellers: The Books That
About Our Sales Huckleb erry Finn (info)
Shaped America give you a pointed look at key best-selling works
Lifetime Guarantee 9. The Virginian (info)
and their places within the greater fabric of American cultural history.
Recommendations 10. The House of Mirth (info)
Guided by award-winning Professor Peter Conn of the University of
11. The Jungle (info)
Pennsylvania, you explore representative bestsellers at various
12. Main Street (info)
stages of American history, from the first book published in the
13. The Maltese Falcon (info)
English-speaking New World to the blockbuster authors who
"A serious force in 14. The Good Earth (info)
dominate the 21st-century publishing industry.
American education." 15. Gone with the Wind (info)
The result is an expert look at the evolution of American culture—its 16. How to Win Friends and
—THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
tastes, its hopes, its dreams—through the unique lens of the books Influence People (info)
More Testimonials that have captivated its readers at various points in American history. 17. The Grapes of Wrath (info)
18. Native Son (info)
What Bestsellers Reveal about America 19. The Catcher in the Rye (info)
20. To Kill a Mockingb ird (info)
Newsletter Sign-Up Throughout America's storied history, thousands of books have
21. Catch-22 (info)
Be notified of special promotions claimed the term "bestseller" in one form or another. The 22 works
22. The Woman Warrior (info)
and new releases (privacy policy) selected for Great American Bestsellers, however, were chosen for
23. John Adams (info)
Your email address the wealth of information they provide about both the concept of
24. Recent Bestsellers (info)
American bestsellers and the larger scope of American culture.

Every work in this course, from literary masterpieces (The

Adventures of Huckleb erry 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 gives you a deeper understanding of how
American literature can both mirror the events of its time and interact with—and in
many instances impact—them.

Professor Conn shows you how the works in this course have performed many
functions in American culture:

Shedding light on our nation's political history: Thomas Paine's widely read
Common Sense helped chart America's course for independence in the months
leading up to the Declaration of Independence. Pamphlets like Paine's were the
preferred method of political debate in colonial America; they were cheaper to
produce than books and lasted longer than posters and newspapers.
Intervening on behalf of change: Published in 1852, Uncle Tom's Cab in is
virtually synonymous with efforts to end slavery in America. Harriet Beecher
 virtually synonymous with efforts to end slavery in America. Harriet Beecher
Stowe did not set out to write the "great American novel." Rather, she infused the
work with her rage and despair at the ills of slavery. The immediate popularity of
Uncle Tom's Cab in put a human face on slavery and swayed public opinion in
favor of its abolition.
Offering keen looks at America's social climate: Sinclair Lewis was part of an
unofficial group of 20th-century American writers who revolted against the idea of
small-town America as an idealized environment. The popularity of Lewis's
satirical Main Street —in which a woman finds herself trapped in a small
Minnesotan community—reflects the eagerness of many Americans to deflate
the myth of the small town as a utopia.
Instigating—and enduring—controversy: Native Son 's brutal violence and frank
look at American racial tension drew the ire of many readers and critics,
including author James Baldwin, who thought the character of Bigger Thomas
nothing more than a vehicle for propaganda. Despite the debates the novel
created, Native Son is still considered an iconic work of 20th-century American
literature.

Professor Conn also notes that, despite the level of their literary merit, most of these
bestsellers are exceptionally entertaining to read.

His lectures unpack the plot, themes, and critical issues of a particular American
bestseller. He takes care to inject each lecture with a pointed analysis that proves
each work's importance within the larger fabric of American culture—and frequently
draws insightful connections between bestsellers from different genres and time
periods in American history.

Encounter Moments in American Literary History

As you travel chronologically through this rich sampling of American bestsellers, you
encounter moments in American literary history that speak to the rise and
prominence of specific genres. Bestsellers, because of the rich variety of American
reading habits, can encompass works that fall into time-tested categories like
romances, historical epics, memoirs, war novels, and more.

In Great American Bestsellers, you come to understand how many of our nation's
best-selling works helped make these genres important parts of the nation's
reading life. For example, you discover

how Owen Wister's The Virginian , with its evocative depiction of life in the
American West, sparked the popularity of the Western—a wholly American
literary genre;
how The Maltese Falcon brought to the forefront of the American readership the
detective story, originated by Edgar Allan Poe in the 19th century; and
how the enormous success of Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and
Influence People reflects the important role of self-help literature in establishing
and strengthening American values.

Professor Conn takes you inside works from the last few decades of American
publishing, including Joseph Heller's Catch-22; Maxine Hong Kingston's
experimental autobiography, The Woman Warrior ; and David McCullough's John
Adams. You also spend time exploring the latest stage in the evolution of American
bestsellers, in which blockbuster authors work within well-established genres.

A Microcosm of American Cultural History

An established and respected author, lecturer, and literary consultant, Professor

Conn is well versed in placing American literature within its larger social context.
Among his many books are The Divided Mind: Ideology and Imagination in
America; Literature in America ; and Pearl S. Buck: A Cultural Biography , which was
a New York Times Notable Book and a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle
Award in biography.

Throughout the course, Professor Conn exhibits a thorough and detailed knowledge
of the American literary scene that is nothing short of captivating. His placement of a
variety of American greatest writers—including Pearl S. Buck, Edith Wharton, Horatio
Alger Jr., and John Steinbeck—within their larger historical and cultural contexts
gives you new ways to examine their lives, their writing styles, and their best-selling
works.

Professor Conn continually stresses the way in which all of these bestsellers—even
those that aren't magnificent works of literature—have performed a useful role in
telling us much about our nation's history. "Popular literature offers at least a part of
the answer to the perennial question of American identity," he notes. "All of it has
much to teach us."

From The Last of the Mohicans , The Adventures of Huckleb erry Finn , and The
Good Earth to The Jungle, Gone with the Wind , and the latest blockbuster by John
Grisham, Great American Bestsellers is 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.
They are, in fact, stunning microcosms of American cultural history.

Should I Buy Audio or Video?

While this course works well in all formats, the DVD version features a wealth of
visuals to enhance your learning experience, including biographical portraits,
historical images and pictures, and on-screen text of key names, terms, and
quotations.

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Customer Ratings & Reviews Summary

Average Custom er Rating: 4.5 out of 5

14 of 16 (88%) customers w ould recommend the course to a friend.
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Product Reviews Review This Product Choose a sort order

Overall Rating
Course Content Wonderful Course!! Date: August 2, 2010
Professor
Presentation "When it comes to the TTC literature courses this is one of the best! If you
Course Value want a course that touches on several books and teaches what is to be
learned from them, leave Fears behind!
Q5Go This course was great. The professor is very clear and has a slight sense of
(read all my reviews)
humor that is a lot of fun. This (along with Vandiver's courses) is one of my all
Location: Arlington, VA
time favorites!!"

3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

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Overall Rating
Course Content Solid Date: April 28, 2010
Professor
Presentation "Professor Conn's presentation moves along smoothly, integrating social
Course Value historical context with major book themes and plots. The material is solid and
relevant, easy to follow though not dumbed down. His style is fluent and to the
CMV1 point. Overall an interesting and useful summary of key periods and books in
(read all my reviews) American history."
Location: New York, NY

1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

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Overall Rating
Course Content Date: March 16, 2010
Professor
Presentation "On the plus side, the course introduces you to some interesting books. But
the lectures were too preachy for my taste."
Mickey
(read all my reviews)
1 of 7 people found this review helpful.
Location: Connecticut
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report Inappropriate Review)

Overall Rating
Course Content For all booklovers Date: November 27, 2009
Professor
Presentation "For anyone with a passing interest in American bestsellers would be well
Course Value served by this course. I listened to the audio version, which was enough to
satisfy me. He puts each book into a historical context, which you can't get by
museumlover just reading the book. You can use the course to decide which ones to tackle,
(read all my reviews) although he does such a good job you might feel as if you have already read
Location: Orange, CA it. He sticks with the bestsellers, but I wish he had included the Great Gatsby.
He even brings the course up to modern bestsellers such as Grisham and
Crichton."
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

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