# American Writers: A Journey Through History

American Writers: A Journey Through History is a series produced and broadcast by C-SPAN in 2001 and 2002 that profiled selected American writers and their times. Each program was a two- to three-hour look at the life and times of one or more significant American writer. Episodes were broadcast from locations of importance to the profiled writer(s) and featured interviews with historians and other experts. The series had an overall budget of $4,500,000. The first program aired on March 19, 2001, and focused on William Bradford and the Mayflower Compact.

## Style

As is the case with many C-SPAN programs, it aired live and heavily incorporated calls from viewers:
   "It's not perfectly packaged and beautifully produced," said Susan Swain, executive vice president of C-Span. "There isn't a narrator who weaves it together. It's a bit unpredictable. I don't know what my guests are going to say."

## History of the show

Originally, the series was scheduled to air entirely in 2001, and it followed that schedule up to a profile of Will Rogers that aired on September 10, 2001. However, following the 9/11 attacks, C-SPAN management determined that the network needed to focus on events related to the attacks, and the subsequent programs were put on hold until March 2002. When originally planned, the profile of H. L. Mencken of Baltimore was scheduled to follow that of Will Rogers. Instead, C-SPAN producers opted to postpone the Mencken show, and return with one about the Harlem Renaissance, to honor the role of New York City in the 9/11 attacks. The series returned on March 31, 2002, opening with shots of 135th Street in Harlem, and continued through the final profile on July 7, 2002, which was a discussion with Neil Sheehan and David Halberstam at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. The group of programs aired in 2002 were sometimes referred to as American Writers II: The 20th Century.
As a companion volume to the series, Merriam-Webster published the Dictionary of American Writers in 2001, which contained brief entries on a wide variety of writers, many of whom were not profiled in the series.

## Selection criteria

The choice of which writers to profile was (by its very nature) subjective, unlike C-SPAN's similar 1999 series American Presidents: Life Portraits, because there were a fixed number of U.S. presidents but not a fixed number of American writers. For instance, Herman Melville was not profiled. There were also criticisms of the manner in which certain authors were presented, such as Ayn Rand.
The stated criteria for selection were the following:
* "Writers whose works-–whether fiction or non-fiction, document or book–-chronicled, reflected upon, or influenced the course of our nation's history."
* "Works which represent four centuries of American history, from the nation's founding to Vietnam."
* "Writers who are essentially American."
* "Writers whose works continue to be studied."
* "An overall list which offers some demographic, cultural, and political diversity."
* "Works which are generally available to the public."

## Episodes

Programs were organized into eight chronological groups, shown below.
Note: In addition to the interviewees listed, each program featured a variety of other experts, many of whom were employed by or volunteered for the historical sites from which the programs were being broadcast.

### I: Founding to Revolution, 1600–1800

| Program # | Original air date with link to video | Featured writer(s) | Featured work(s) | Featured place(s) | Featured interviewees |
| 1 | March 19, 2001 | William Bradford | Mayflower Compact | Plimoth Plantation, Plymouth, Massachusetts | Peter Gomes |
| 2 | March 26, 2001 | Benjamin Franklin | Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin | American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | H.W. Brands |
| 3 | April 2, 2001 | Thomas Paine | Common Sense | Thomas Paine Memorial Cottage, New Rochelle, New York | Eric Foner |
| 4 | April 9, 2001 | Thomas Jefferson | Declaration of Independence | Montpelier, Montpelier Station, Virginia | Pauline Maier, Roger Wilkins |
| 4 | April 9, 2001 | James Madison | U.S. Constitution | Montpelier, Montpelier Station, Virginia | Pauline Maier, Roger Wilkins |

### II: The Young Nation, 1800–1850

| Program # | Original air date with link to video | Featured writer(s) | Featured work(s) | Featured place(s) | Featured interviewees |
| 5 | April 16, 2001 | Meriwether Lewis and William Clark | Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition | Fort Clatsop National Memorial, Astoria, Oregon | James P. Ronda, Rex Ziak |
| 6 | April 23, 2001 | James Fenimore Cooper | The Last of the Mohicans | Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, New York | Alan S. Taylor |
| 7 | April 30, 2001 | Sojourner Truth | Narrative of Sojourner Truth | The Merritt House, Battle Creek, Michigan | Nell Irvin Painter |
| 8 | May 7, 2001 | Ralph Waldo Emerson | Nature | Walden Pond, Concord, Massachusetts | Robert D. Richardson |
| 8 | May 7, 2001 | Henry David Thoreau | Walden | Walden Pond, Concord, Massachusetts | Robert D. Richardson |
| 9 | May 14, 2001 | Elizabeth Cady Stanton and the Women's rights movement | Declaration of Sentiments | Declaration Park, Seneca Falls, New York | Elisabeth Griffith |
| 10 | May 21, 2001 | Nathaniel Hawthorne | The Scarlet Letter | Nathaniel Hawthorne Birthplace, Salem, Massachusetts | Brenda Wineapple |

### III: Slavery & the Civil War, 1850–1865

| Program # | Original air date with link to video | Featured writer(s) | Featured work(s) | Featured place(s) | Featured interviewees |
| 11 | May 28, 2001 | Frederick Douglass and the abolitionist Writers | Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass | Frederick Douglass National Historic Site, Washington, D.C. | Edna Greene Medford |
| 12 | June 4, 2001 | Harriet Beecher Stowe | Uncle Tom's Cabin | The Harriet Beecher Stowe House, Cincinnati, Ohio | Joan Hedrick |
| 13 | June 11, 2001 | Mary Chesnut | A Diary From Dixie | Mulberry Plantation, Camden, South Carolina | Elisabeth Muhlenfeld |
| 14 | June 18, 2001 | Abraham Lincoln | Gettysburg Address | Gettysburg Battlefield National Park, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania | Harold Holzer |

### IV: Rebuilding America & the Gilded Age, 1865–1901

| Program # | Original air date with link to video | Featured writer(s) | Featured work(s) | Featured place(s) | Featured interviewees |
| 15 | June 25, 2001 | Mark Twain | The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn | Mark Twain Boyhood Home and Museum, Hannibal, Missouri | Roy Blount, Jr.; Shelley Fisher Fishkin |
| 16 | July 2, 2001 | Willa Cather | O Pioneers! | Willa Cather House, Red Cloud, Nebraska | Richard Norton Smith |
| 17 | July 10, 2001 | Black Elk | Black Elk Speaks | Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, Crow Agency, Montana | Charlotte Black Elk, Paul Andrew Hutton |
| 18 | July 16, 2001 | Booker T. Washington | Up From Slavery | Tuskegee Institute, Tuskegee, Alabama | David Levering Lewis, Edna Greene Medford |
| 18 | July 16, 2001 | W.E.B. Du Bois | The Souls of Black Folk | W. E. B. Du Bois Library, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, Massachusetts | David Levering Lewis, Edna Greene Medford |
| 19 | July 23, 2001 | Henry Adams | The Education of Henry Adams | Adams National Historical Park, Quincy, Massachusetts | Brooks D. Simpson |
| 20 | July 30, 2001 | Edith Wharton and the Gilded Age Writers | The Age of Innocence | The Mount, Lenox, Massachusetts | Shari Benstock |

### V: Progressive Era & Reaction, 1901–1929

| Program # | Original air date with link to video | Featured writer(s) | Featured work(s) | Featured place(s) | Featured interviewees |
| 21 | August 6, 2001 | Upton Sinclair and the Muckrakers | The Jungle | Ed Miniat Inc. (near Union Stock Yards), Chicago, Illinois | Dominic Pacyga, Richard Reeves |
| 22 | August 13, 2001 | Theodore Roosevelt | Winning of the West | Theodore Roosevelt National Park, Medora, North Dakota | H.W. Brands, Tweed Roosevelt |
| 23 | August 20, 2001 | Theodore Dreiser | Sister Carrie | Chicago Historical Society, Chicago, Illinois | Thomas Riggio |
| 24 | September 10, 2001 | Will Rogers | The Cowboy Philosopher on Prohibition | Will Rogers Memorial Museum, Claremore, Oklahoma | Steve Granger |
| 25 | March 31, 2002 | Langston Hughes | Montage of a Dream Deferred | Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Harlem, New York | Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Howard Dodson, Jr., Arnold Rampersad, Cheryl Wall |
| 25 | March 31, 2002 | Zora Neale Huston | Their Eyes Were Watching God | Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Harlem, New York | Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Howard Dodson, Jr., Arnold Rampersad, Cheryl Wall |
| 26 | April 7, 2002 | H. L. Mencken | The American Language | H. L. Mencken House, Baltimore, Maryland | P.J. O'Rourke, Marion Elizabeth Rodgers |
| 27 | April 14, 2002 | F. Scott Fitzgerald | The Great Gatsby | Summit Avenue, St. Paul, Minnesota | Matthew Bruccoli |
| 28 | April 21, 2002 | Ernest Hemingway | The Sun Also Rises | Ernest Hemingway Home & Museum, Key West, Florida | Susan Beegel, Linda Patterson Miller |

### VI: Depression & War, 1929–1945

| Program # | Original air date with link to video | Featured writer(s) | Featured work(s) | Featured place(s) | Featured interviewees |
| 29 | April 28, 2002 | John Steinbeck | The Grapes of Wrath | National Steinbeck Center, Salinas, California | Thom Steinbeck, Louis Owens |
| 30 | May 5, 2002 | William Faulkner and the Southern Writers | The Sound and the Fury | Rowan Oak, Oxford, Mississippi | Shelby Foote, Thadious M. Davis, Donald Kartiganer |
| 31 | May 12, 2002 | Ayn Rand | The Fountainhead | Harmony Gold Theater Sunset Boulevard, Hollywood, California | Jeff Britting, Leonard Peikoff |
| 32 | May 19, 2002 | Ernie Pyle | Here Is Your War | Dana, Indiana | James E. Tobin |

### VII: Early Cold War, 1945–1961

| Program # | Original air date with link to video | Featured writer(s) | Featured work(s) | Featured place(s) | Featured interviewees |
| 33 | May 26, 2002 | Whittaker Chambers | Witness | Cannon House Office Building, Washington, D.C. | Sam Tanenhaus |
| 33 | May 26, 2002 | Whittaker Chambers | Witness | Whittaker Chambers Farm, Westminster, Maryland | Sam Tanenhaus |
| 34 | June 2, 2002 | Walter Lippmann | Public Opinion | The Metropolitan Club, Washington, D.C. | Ben Bradlee, Ronald Steel |
| 35 | June 9, 2002 | Jack Kerouac and the Beat Writers | On the Road | Jack Kerouac Commemorative Park, Lowell, Massachusetts | Douglas Brinkley, David Amram |

### VIII: Social Transformation to Vietnam, 1961–1975

| Program # | Original air date with link to video | Featured writer(s) | Featured work(s) | Featured place(s) | Featured interviewees |
| 36 | June 16, 2002 | James Baldwin | The Fire Next Time | DeWitt Clinton High School, Bronx, New York | Robin D. G. Kelley |
| 37 | June 23, 2002 | Betty Friedan | The Feminine Mystique | Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts | Susan Ware |
| 38 | June 13, 2002 | Russell Kirk | The Conservative Mind | Russell Kirk Center, Mecosta, Michigan | William F. Buckley, Jr., Wilfred M. McClay |
| 38 | June 13, 2002 | William F. Buckley, Jr. | God and Man at Yale | Russell Kirk Center, Mecosta, Michigan | William F. Buckley, Jr., Wilfred M. McClay |
| 39 | July 7, 2002 | David Halberstam | The Best and the Brightest | Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Washington, D.C. | David Halberstam, Neil Sheehan |
| 39 | July 7, 2002 | Neil Sheehan | A Bright Shining Lie | Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Washington, D.C. | David Halberstam, Neil Sheehan |