Great American Bestsellers: The Books That Shaped America
Overview
Course No. 2527
Get a unique literary perspective on our nation in this course that covers best-selling American books from colonial times to today.
Best-selling books have played a critical role in influencing American culture for more than 100 years. In these 24 lectures, you’ll explore key best-selling works and their places within the greater fabric of American cultural history. Guided by an award-winning teacher, you’ll examine representative bestsellers at various stages of American history, from colonial times to modern blockbusters.
Video Lectures
- Why Do Bestsellers Matter? (31 min)
Explore what makes a book a “bestseller” and how these works reflect American cultural history. - “The Bay Psalm Book” (32 min)
Investigate the English-speaking New World’s first bestseller and its Puritan context. - “Common Sense” (30 min)
Examine Thomas Paine’s revolutionary pamphlet that sold over 500,000 copies. - “The Last of the Mohicans” (31 min)
Discover James Fenimore Cooper’s formula for adventure stories and themes of settlers vs. nature. - “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” (32 min)
Analyze Harriet Beecher Stowe’s antislavery narrative that sold 300,000 copies in its first year. - “Ragged Dick” (30 min)
Study Horatio Alger Jr.’s “rags to riches” tale of self-improvement. - “Little Women” (30 min)
Explore Louisa May Alcott’s quintessential girls’ book of the 19th century. - “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” (30 min)
Examine Mark Twain’s controversial novel that changed American literature. - “The Virginian” (30 min)
Discover Owen Wister’s novel that ushered in the Western genre. - “The House of Mirth” (31 min)
Investigate Edith Wharton’s critique of early 20th-century high society. - “The Jungle” (31 min)
Explore Upton Sinclair’s exposé that led to meatpacking reforms. - “Main Street” (31 min)
Analyze Sinclair Lewis’s satire of small-town America. - “The Maltese Falcon” (31 min)
Delve into Dashiell Hammett’s detective fiction classic. - “The Good Earth” (32 min)
Examine Pearl S. Buck’s groundbreaking portrait of China. - “Gone with the Wind” (30 min)
Study Margaret Mitchell’s controversial Civil War epic. - “How to Win Friends and Influence People” (31 min)
Consider Dale Carnegie’s enduring success manual. - “The Grapes of Wrath” (31 min)
Explore John Steinbeck’s Dust Bowl chronicle. - “Native Son” (31 min)
Analyze Richard Wright’s groundbreaking African American novel. - “The Catcher in the Rye” (30 min)
Examine J.D. Salinger’s teenage manifesto against conformity. - “To Kill a Mockingbird” (31 min)
Study Harper Lee’s beloved novel of Southern life and civil rights. - “Catch-22” (31 min)
Consider Joseph Heller’s absurdist war novel. - “The Woman Warrior” (30 min)
Explore Maxine Hong Kingston’s experimental Asian American memoir. - “John Adams” (32 min)
Examine David McCullough’s best-selling biography. - Recent Bestsellers (32 min)
Analyze modern bestsellers by authors like John Grisham and their cultural impact.

