A Literary Tour of the United States

Across the nation’s history, American writers have produced a compelling and diverse body of literary expression, which joins the great literatures of other cultures to create unique perspectives on human life flowing from America’s trailblazing political system, innovative spirit, and history of immigration.

In A Literary Tour of the United States, you’ll take an epic excursion across America, from the wide expanse of the continental states to Alaska, Hawaii, and beyond, delving into the jewels of writing that distinguish our nation’s literature across three centuries. Your guide in this thrilling inquiry is Professor Arielle Zibrak of the University of Wyoming, an award-winning scholar of American literature, whose inspired teaching shows an astonishingly wide and deep knowledge of this tradition, and who has traveled extensively across the United States on the trail of its greatest writers.

Across the lectures, you’ll discover the literature of numerous regions of the United States, from New England to Appalachia, the South, Florida, and the Midwest, and from the open spaces of the West to the Hawaiian islands. In the process, you’ll encounter writing that reflects a wide spectrum of the American experience, from the European settlers, immigrants, and urban elites to the lives of African Americans, Native Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans, and more, all from the 18th century to the present. The result is a stunning and revealing portrait of a nation and a people, through the words of its most brilliant writers.