The Library of America (LOA) is a nonprofit publisher of classic

American literature American literature is literature written or produced in the United States of America and in the British colonies that preceded it. The American literary tradition is part of the broader tradition of English-language literature, but also ...

. Founded in 1979 with seed money from the

National Endowment for the Humanities The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency of the U.S. government, established by thNational Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965(), dedicated to supporting research, education, preserv ...

and the

Ford Foundation The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a $25,000 (about $550,000 in 2023) gift from Edsel Ford. ...

, the LOA has published more than 300 volumes by authors ranging from

Nathaniel Hawthorne Nathaniel Hawthorne (né Hathorne; July 4, 1804 – May 19, 1864) was an American novelist and short story writer. His works often focus on history, morality, and religion. He was born in 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts, from a family long associat ...

Saul Bellow Saul Bellow (born Solomon Bellows; June 10, 1915April 5, 2005) was a Canadian-American writer. For his literary work, Bellow was awarded the Pulitzer Prize, the 1976 Nobel Prize in Literature, and the National Medal of Arts. He is the only write ...

Frederick Douglass Frederick Douglass (born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, February 14, 1818 – February 20, 1895) was an American social reformer, Abolitionism in the United States, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. He was the most impor ...

Ursula K. Le Guin Ursula Kroeber Le Guin ( ; Kroeber; October 21, 1929 – January 22, 2018) was an American author. She is best known for her works of speculative fiction, including science fiction works set in her Hainish universe, and the ''Earthsea'' fantas ...

, including selected writing of several U.S. presidents. Anthologies and works containing historical documents, criticism, and journalism are also published. Library of America volumes seek to print authoritative versions of works; include extensive notes, chronologies, and other back matter; and are known for their distinctive physical appearance and characteristics.

Overview and history

The '' Bibliothèque de la Pléiade'' ("La Pléiade") series published in France provided the model for the LOA, which was long a dream of critic and author

Edmund Wilson Edmund Wilson Jr. (May 8, 1895 – June 12, 1972) was an American writer, literary critic, and journalist. He is widely regarded as one of the most important literary critics of the 20th century. Wilson began his career as a journalist, writing ...

. During the 1960s and 1970s, there was a long saga of rival literary outfits attempting to assemble and finding funding for much the same thing. The founding of the Library of America took place in 1979, with the creation of an entity known as Literary Classics of the United States, Inc. (This remains the entity under which LOA notes, chronologies, and other auxiliary materials are copyrighted; and, officially, employees work for Literary Classics of the United States, Inc.) Publishers associated in some way with the creation include Lawrence Hughes, Helen Honig Meyer, and Roger W. Straus Jr. The initial board of advisers included

Robert Penn Warren Robert Penn Warren (April 24, 1905 – September 15, 1989) was an American poet, novelist, literary critic and professor at Yale University. He was one of the founders of New Criticism. He was also a charter member of the Fellowship of Southern ...

, C. Vann Woodward, R. W. B. Lewis, Robert Coles, Irving Howe, and

Eudora Welty Eudora Alice Welty (April 13, 1909 – July 23, 2001) was an American short-story writer, novelist and photographer who wrote about the American South. Her novel '' The Optimist's Daughter'' won the Pulitzer Prize in 1973. Welty received numerou ...

. Funding at the start came from two sources, the

and the

, in the total amount of $1.8 million. The initial president of the new entity was the American academic Daniel Aaron, who had been a friend of Wilson's since the 1950s. The executive director was Cheryl Hurley, who had worked at the

Modern Language Association The Modern Language Association of America, often referred to as the Modern Language Association (MLA), is widely considered the principal professional association in the United States for scholars of language and literature. The MLA aims to "str ...

. Other founding officers included the literary critic Richard Poirier, as vice president, and the publisher Jason Epstein, as treasurer. Epstein, and later Aaron and Poirier, had all been involved in the long series of proposals and discussions that led up to the creation of the Library of America. Another founder was the textual scholar

G. Thomas Tanselle George Thomas Tanselle (born January 29, 1934) is an American textual critic, bibliographer, and book collector, especially known for his work on Herman Melville. He was Vice President of the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation from 1978 to 2006. Bi ...

; he too had been involved in the discussions prior to creation, and after that he chaired the committee that was the arbiter of LOA textual policy. Aaron remained in his position until 1985, and was responsible for navigating the shoals between the orthodoxies of

literary criticism A genre of arts criticism, literary criticism or literary studies is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical analysis of literature's ...

and a wider view of what the Library of America could publish. He was followed as president by executive director Hurley. In 2017, she retired as president and was replaced by Max Rudin, who was already the entity's publisher. Hanna M. "Gila" Bercovitch served as founding editor, senior editor, and then editor-in-chief until her death in 1997. Upon her passing, Henry Louis Gates said that "It is hard to find anyone who has been more central to institutionalizing the canon of American literature." She was followed as editor-in-chief by the poet and critic Geoffrey O'Brien. He retired in 2017, and was followed in 2018 by John Kulka, who was given the title of editorial director. The first volumes were published in 1982, ten years after Wilson's death. They were priced moderately. The launch was accompanied by considerable amounts of publicity. Public response was in terms of sales positive from the beginning; by 1986, the non-profit was breaking even, although it accepted special grants for specific projects, such as one from the Bradley Foundation to enable the two-volume ''The Debate on the Constitution'' set. The response to the series continued to grow over time; between 1993 and 1996, the publisher's frontlist sales doubled. By 1996, the Library of America was getting two-thirds of its sales via subscription programs and one-third through bookstores. While for a long time the series only published the works of authors who had passed on, this changed in the late 1990s when

was published, soon to be followed by

Philip Roth Philip Milton Roth (; March 19, 1933 – May 22, 2018) was an American novelist and short-story writer. Roth's fiction—often set in his birthplace of Newark, New Jersey—is known for its intensely autobiographical character, for philosophical ...

. Similarly, the rule that authors had to be American-born was later relaxed when

Vladimir Nabokov Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov ( ; 2 July 1977), also known by the pen name Vladimir Sirin (), was a Russian and American novelist, poet, translator, and entomologist. Born in Imperial Russia in 1899, Nabokov wrote his first nine novels in Rus ...

was added to the list. While a nonprofit entity, the Library has not been immune to commercial considerations, often going further into genre works such as

detective fiction Detective fiction is a subgenre of crime fiction and mystery fiction in which an criminal investigation, investigator or a detective—whether professional, amateur or retired—investigates a crime, often murder. The detective genre began around ...

and

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

than some of its founders would have imagined. LOA booth

Besides the works of many individual writers, the series includes anthologies such as (in a different format from the above illustration) ''Writing Los Angeles''. The Library of America introduced coverage of American journalism with the 1995 two-volume set ''Reporting World War II'', which not only garnered positive reviews, but soon became one of the publisher's five best-selling offerings to that point, the others being volumes about

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War ...

Ulysses S. Grant Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was the 18th president of the United States, serving from 1869 to 1877. In 1865, as Commanding General of the United States Army, commanding general, Grant led the Uni ...

William Tecumseh Sherman William Tecumseh Sherman ( ; February 8, 1820February 14, 1891) was an American soldier, businessman, educator, and author. He served as a General officer, general in the Union Army during the American Civil War (1861–1865), earning recognit ...

, and

Walt Whitman Walter Whitman Jr. (; May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist, and journalist; he also wrote two novels. He is considered one of the most influential poets in American literature and world literature. Whitman incor ...

. That those others all concerned the Civil War era was did not go unnoticed; one of the publisher's most ambitious later efforts, a multi-volume collection of first-person narratives, revolved around the same topic, as did such volumes as a collection of letters that Grant wrote to his wife Julia. The publisher aims to keep classics and notable historical and genre works in print permanently to preserve America's literary and cultural heritage. Previously, often only the best-known works of an author remained in print, as exemplified by

Stephen Crane Stephen Crane (November 1, 1871 – June 5, 1900) was an American poet, novelist, and short story writer. Prolific throughout his short life, he wrote notable works in the Realist tradition as well as early examples of American Naturalism an ...

, whose novels and short stories were but whose poetry and journalism were not. As LOA chief executive Cheryl Hurley stated in 2001, "We're not only a publisher, we're a cultural institution." Although the LOA sells more than a quarter-million volumes annually, with the original seed money having run out, the publisher depends on individual contributions to help meet the costs of preparing, marketing, manufacturing, and maintaining its books. In one large form of donation, as of 2001 a $50,000 contribution could sponsor a particular book being kept in print. Some books published as additions to the series are not kept in print in perpetuity.

Research and scholarship

Library of America volumes are prepared and edited by recognized scholars on the subject. Notes on the text are normally included and the source texts identified; these notes have been called "fascinating in themselves". This is part of the extensive back matter typically included with each volume, behind which large amounts of research and scholarship are conducted. Efforts are made to correct errors and omissions in previous editions and create a definitive version of the material. For instance, under the guidance of Bercovitch, the LOA text of Richard Wright's '' Native Son'' restored a number of passages that had been previously cut to make the work more palatable to the Book-of-the-Month Club. The LOA also commissioned a new translation of

Alexis de Tocqueville Alexis Charles Henri Clérel, comte de Tocqueville (29 July 180516 April 1859), was a French Aristocracy (class), aristocrat, diplomat, political philosopher, and historian. He is best known for his works ''Democracy in America'' (appearing in t ...

's ''

Democracy in America (; published in two volumes, the first in 1835 via Gallica; via Gallica and the second in 1840) via Gallica; via Gallica is a classic French work by Alexis de Tocqueville. In the book, Tocqueville examines the democratic revolution that he be ...

'' by

Arthur Goldhammer Arthur Goldhammer (born November 17, 1946) is an American academic and translator. Early life Goldhammer studied mathematics at MIT, gaining his PhD in 1973. Career Since 1977 he has worked as a translator. He is based at the Center for Euro ...

for their edition of the text. Library of America volumes of letters tend to be representative rather than exhaustive in terms of inclusion criteria. Unlike some other series such as the Norton Critical Editions, Library of America volumes provide no introductory essays or critical examinations of the work involved. This is per Wilson's original design. At times this omission can lead to frustration based on the inability to know the basis upon which material for a volume was selected. Each volume also includes a chronology of the author's career or significant incidents in the case of the anthology volumes. Indeed, Library of America volumes are noted for their chronologies; ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' has called them "predictably superb". The author and journalist Gloria Emerson's review of the ''Reporting World War II'' volumes notes that they include "an excellent chronology of the war". The poet and literary critic Stephen Yenser, in reviewing of volume about the work of the poet Elizabeth Bishop, noted that the chronology was "so packed with pertinent details it amounts to a mini-biography". The notes and chronologies are often put together by LOA staff members and in some cases have informed the perspective of the guest editors working on the volume in question. LOA staff have also sometimes helped scholars working on related projects.

Critical reception

The Library of America has received considerable praise for its endeavors. After the initial series were published, the critic

Charles Champlin Charles Davenport Champlin (March 23, 1926 – November 16, 2014) was an American film critic and writer. Life and career Champlin was born in Hammondsport, New York. He attended high school in Camden, New York, working as a columnist for the ...

wrote that "The volumes in the series are in fact marvels of scholarship, unobtrusively displayed, and a prime effort has been to work from the text that reflects the author's final word." The aforementioned poet and critic Stephen Yenser has called the Library of America "invaluable"; that same term has been used to describe Library of America by the Cox News Service, by the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'', and by a book prize committee. ''

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly news magazine based in New York City. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely distributed during the 20th century and has had many notable editors-in-chief. It is currently co-owned by Dev P ...

'' magazine said in 2010 that "For three decades, the LOA has done a splendid job of making good on" its initial goals. Writing for the ''

New York Times Book Review ''The New York Times Book Review'' (''NYTBR'') is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times'' in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the most influential and widely rea ...

'', the essayist and teacher William Deresiewicz has referred to the Library of America as "our quasi-official national canon". Indeed, whether an American writer has achieved a level of greatness is sometimes associated with whether they have the

imprimatur An imprimatur (sometimes abbreviated as ''impr.'', from Latin, "let it be printed") is a declaration authorizing publication of a book. The term is also applied loosely to any mark of approval or endorsement. The imprimatur rule in the Catho ...

of the Library of America. Writing for ''

The Sewanee Review ''The Sewanee Review'' is an American literary magazine established in 1892. It is the oldest continuously published quarterly in the United States. It publishes original fiction and poetry, essays, reviews, and literary criticism. History '' ...

'', the academic Michael Gorra has said that "the Library has shaped and indeed expanded our sense of what counts as American literature ... what makes the Library of America so valuable is the risks it takes around the edges of what ''used'' to be American literature". The Library of America has attracted a number of criticisms as well, including accusations of selection biases in favor of literary and political trends and the questionable inclusion of certain writers ostensibly non-canonical. An offshoot series put out in 1989 by

Vintage Books Vintage Books is a trade paperback publishing imprint of Penguin Random House originally established by Alfred A. Knopf in 1954. The company was acquired by Random House in April 1960, and a British division was set up in 1990. After Random Ho ...

that was associated with the Library of America name was faulted as overly commercial and exploitative. Even the marketing for the main series has been reproved as overbearing, in that it exaggerated the degree to which the preservation of American literature was in peril and the degree to which the Library of America was saving it. The LOA has been satirized by the essayist Arthur Krystal as "confer ngvalue on writers by encasing their work in handsome black-jacketed covers with a stripe of red, white, and blue on the spine." The oft-perceived requirement that writers have passed from the scene led to one wry comment that "one sympathizes with the directors of a publishing venture increasingly dependent on the idea that great American writers just can't die fast enough." The series even prompted a mocking poem that began:

It's like heaven: you've got to die
To get there. And you can't be sure.
The publisher might go out of business.

In an

April Fools' Day April Fools' Day or April Fool's Day (rarely called All Fools' Day) is an annual custom on the 1st of April consisting of practical jokes, hoaxes, and pranks. Jokesters often expose their actions by shouting "April Fool " at the recipient. ...

swipe at the Library of America's selection standards, another satirical piece proclaimed that the LOA "would publish volumes of

Paris Hilton Paris Whitney Hilton (born February 17, 1981) is an American media personality, businesswoman, and socialite. Hilton was born in New York City and raised there partially; shuttling between Los Angeles and New York City; she is a great-grandda ...

's and

William Shatner William Shatner (born March 22, 1931) is a Canadian actor. In a career spanning seven decades, he is best known for his portrayal of James T. Kirk in the ''Star Trek'' franchise, from his 1966 debut as the captain of the starship USS Enterpri ...

's memoirs, and possibly those of ''

Jersey Shore The Jersey Shore, commonly called the Shore by locals, is the coast, coastal region of the U.S. state of New Jersey. The term encompasses about of shore, oceanfront bordering the Atlantic Ocean, from Perth Amboy, New Jersey, Perth Amboy in the n ...

''s

Snooki Nicole Elizabeth LaValle (née Polizzi; born November 23, 1987), best known by her nickname Snooki ( ), is an American reality television personality. She is best known for being a cast member of the MTV reality show ''Jersey Shore (TV series ...

." Images of the faux volumes were included. In his 2001 book ''Book Business: Publishing Past, Present, and Future'', LOA co-founder Jason Epstein, who by his own account had lost out in an internal power struggle and departed the venture, sharply criticized the Library of America's finances and what he saw as the publication of unnecessary anthologies and authors whose qualifications for the series were suspect. He concluded:

The Library of America has now published substantially all the work for which it was created and for which rights are available. Its obligation hereafter is to husband its resources so that this work remains in print and accessible to readers, and to ensure that funds are on hand for the publication of twentieth-century writers as rights permit.

What Edmund Wilson would think of the series as it has evolved is unknowable, but writing for '' The Antioch Review '' in 1986, the fellow Paul M. Wright ventures that "We might reasonably infer that he would be pleased but not, I think, entirely pleased." Less reservedly, the editor and commentator Norman Podhoretz, writing for '' Commentary'' in 1992, said that "the Library of America is as close to the kind of thing

ilson Ilson Wilians Rodrigues (born 12 March 1979) is a Brazilian former footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, America ...

envisaged as it could conceivably be."

Build and manufacture

The designer of the appearance of Library of America books is Bruce Campbell. When the first LOA volumes appeared in 1982, the "Book Design & Manufacturing" column of ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...

'' headlined that the series's physical appearance was "a triumph of the bookmaker's art". The LOA uses paper that meets guidelines for permanence originally set out by a committee of the

Council on Library Resources The Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) is an American independent, nonprofit organization. It works with libraries, cultural institutions, and higher learning communities on developing strategies to improve research, teaching, an ...

and subsequently by the

American National Standards Institute The American National Standards Institute (ANSI ) is a private nonprofit organization that oversees the development of voluntary consensus standards for products, services, processes, systems, and personnel in the United States. The organiz ...

. Each volume is printed on thin but opaque acid-free paper, allowing books ranging from 700 to 1,600 pages to remain fairly compact (although not as small as those in La Pléiade). The paper used means the books will last a very long time without crumbling or yellowing. All volumes in the main series have the same trim size, by , dimensions that are based on the

golden section In mathematics, two quantities are in the golden ratio if their ratio is the same as the ratio of their summation, sum to the larger of the two quantities. Expressed algebraically, for quantities and with , is in a golden ratio to if \fr ...

. The weight of each volume is around . For the hardcover editions, the binding cloth is woven

rayon Rayon, also called viscose and commercialised in some countries as sabra silk or cactus silk, is a semi-synthetic fiber made from natural sources of regenerated cellulose fiber, cellulose, such as wood and related agricultural products. It has t ...

, and the books are Smyth-sewn. Each includes a ribbon bookmark. Pages in the books will lie flat when open. The uniform

typeface A typeface (or font family) is a design of Letter (alphabet), letters, Numerical digit, numbers and other symbols, to be used in printing or for electronic display. Most typefaces include variations in size (e.g., 24 point), weight (e.g., light, ...

Galliard The ''galliard'' (; ; ) was a form of Renaissance dance and Renaissance music, music popular all over Europe in the 16th century. It is mentioned in dance manuals from England, Portugal, France, Spain, Germany, and Italy. Dance form The ''gal ...

. The LOA publishes selected titles in paperback, mainly for the college textbook market.

Main series

Special anthologies

* ''Writing

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

'' ( Phillip Lopate, ed. 1998) * ''American Sea Writing'' (Peter Neill, ed. 2000) * ''

Baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

'' ( Nicholas Dawidoff, ed. 2002) * ''Writing

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

'' (David L. Ulin, ed. 2002) * ''Americans in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

'' (

Adam Gopnik Adam Gopnik (born August 24, 1956) is an American writer and essayist, who was raised in Montreal, Canada. He is best known as a staff writer for ''The New Yorker,'' to which he has contributed nonfiction, fiction, memoir, and criticism since 19 ...

, ed. 2004) * ''American Writers at Home'' ( J. D. McClatchy, author, Erica Lennar, photographer 2004) * ''American Movie Critics'' (Phillip Lopate, ed. 2006) * ''American Religious Poems'' (

Harold Bloom Harold Bloom (July 11, 1930 – October 14, 2019) was an American literary critic and the Sterling Professor of humanities at Yale University. In 2017, Bloom was called "probably the most famous literary critic in the English-speaking world". Af ...

and Jesse Zuba, eds., 2006) * ''American Food Writing'' (Molly O'Neill, ed., 2007) * ''True Crime: An American Anthology'' (Harold Schechter, ed., 2008) * ''Becoming Americans: Four Centuries of Immigrant Writing'' ( Ilan Stavans, ed., 2009) * ''At the Fights: American Writers on

Boxing Boxing is a combat sport and martial art. Taking place in a boxing ring, it involves two people – usually wearing protective equipment, such as boxing glove, protective gloves, hand wraps, and mouthguards – throwing Punch (combat), punch ...

'' ( George Kimball and John Schulian, eds., 2011) * ''The 50 Funniest American Writers: An Anthology of Humor from

Mark Twain Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, and essayist. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has produced," with William Fau ...

The Onion ''The Onion'' is an American digital media company and newspaper organization that publishes satirical articles on international, national, and local news. The company is currently based in Chicago, but originated as a weekly print publication ...

'' (Andy Borowitz ed., 2011) * ''Into the Blue: American Writing on Aviation and Spaceflight'' (Joseph J. Corn, ed., 2011) * ''The Cool School: Writing from America's Hip Underground'' (

Glenn O'Brien Glenn O'Brien (March 2, 1947 – April 7, 2017) was an American writer who focused largely on the subjects of art, music, and fashion. He was featured for many years as "The Style Guy" in ''GQ'' magazine and published a book with that title. He ...

, ed., 2013) * ''

Football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

: Great Writing about the National Sport'' (John Schulian, ed., 2014) * ''Shake It Up: Great American Writing on Rock and Pop from Elvis to

Jay Z Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969), known professionally as Jay-Z, is an American rapper, businessman, and record executive. Rooted in East Coast hip-hop, he was named the greatest rapper of all time by ''Billboard'' and '' Vibe'' i ...

'' ( Kevin Dettmar and

Jonathan Lethem Jonathan Allen Lethem (; born February 19, 1964) is an American novelist, essayist, and short story writer. His Debut novel, first novel, ''Gun, with Occasional Music'', a genre work that mixed elements of science fiction and detective fiction, ...

, eds., 2017) * ''

Basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

: Great Writing About America's Game'' ( Alexander Wolff, ed., 2018) * ''Dance in America: A Reader's Anthology'' ( Mindy Aloff, ed., 2018) * ''The Future Is Female! 25 Classic Science Fiction Stories by Women, from Pulp Pioneers to

'' ( Lisa Yaszek, ed., 2018) * ''The Great American Sports Page: A Century of Classic Columns from Ring Lardner to Sally Jenkins'' (John Schulian, ed., 2019) * ''American Birds'' (Andrew Rubenfeld and

Terry Tempest Williams Terry Tempest Williams (born September 8, 1955) is an American writer, educator, conservationist, and activist. Williams' writing is rooted in the American West and has been significantly influenced by the arid landscape of Utah. Her work foc ...

, eds., 2020) * ''American Christmas Stories'' ( Connie Willis, ed., 2021) * ''Women's Liberation! Feminist Writings that Inspired a Revolution and Still Can'' ( Alix Kates Shulman and Honor Moore, eds., 2021) * ''The Future Is Female! More Classic Science Fiction Stories by Women'' ( Lisa Yaszek, ed., 2022) * ''The Black Fantastic: Twenty Afrofuturist Stories'' (André M. Carrington, ed., 2025)

American poets project

* ''American Wits: An Anthology of Light Verse'' ( John Hollander, editor 2003) * ''

Edna St. Vincent Millay Edna St. Vincent Millay (February 22, 1892 – October 19, 1950) was an American lyric poetry, lyrical poet and playwright. Millay was a renowned social figure and noted Feminism, feminist in New York City during the Roaring Twenties and beyond. ...

: Selected Poems'' ( J. D. McClatchy, editor 2003) * ''

Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe (; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic who is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales involving mystery and the macabre. He is widely re ...

: Poems and Poetics'' ( Richard Wilbur, editor 2003) * ''Poets of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

'' (Harvey Shapiro, editor 2003) * '' Karl Shapiro: Selected Poems'' (

John Updike John Hoyer Updike (March 18, 1932 – January 27, 2009) was an American novelist, poet, short-story writer, art critic, and literary critic. One of only four writers to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction more than once (the others being Booth Tar ...

, editor 2003) * ''

: Selected Poems'' (

, editor 2003) * ''

Yvor Winters Arthur Yvor Winters (October 17, 1900 – January 25, 1968) was an American poet and literary critic. Life Winters was born in Chicago, Illinois and lived there until 1919 except for brief stays in Seattle and Pasadena, where his grandparents ...

: Selected Poems'' (

Thom Gunn Thomson William "Thom" Gunn (29 August 1929 – 25 April 2004) was an English poet who was praised for his early verses in England, where he was associated with Movement (literature), The Movement, and his later poetry in America, where he adop ...

, editor 2003) * ''

John Berryman John Allyn McAlpin Berryman (born John Allyn Smith, Jr.; October 25, 1914 – January 7, 1972) was an American poet and scholar. He was a major figure in American poetry in the second half of the 20th century and is considered a key figure in th ...

: Selected Poems'' ( Kevin Young, editor 2004) * '' Kenneth Fearing: Selected Poems'' (Robert Polito, editor 2004) * ''

Amy Lowell Amy Lawrence Lowell (February 9, 1874 – May 12, 1925) was an American poet of the imagist school. She posthumously won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1926. Life Amy Lowell was born on February 9, 1874, in Boston, Massachusetts, the daughte ...

: Selected Poems'' ( Honor Moore, editor 2004) * ''

Muriel Rukeyser Muriel Rukeyser (December 15, 1913 – February 12, 1980) was an American poet, essayist, biographer, novelist, screenwriter and political activist. She wrote across genres and forms, addressing issues related to racial, gender and class justice ...

: Selected Poems'' (

Adrienne Rich Adrienne Cecile Rich ( ; May 16, 1929 – March 27, 2012) was an American poet, essayist and feminist. She was called "one of the most widely read and influential poets of the second half of the 20th century", and was credited with bringing "the ...

, editor 2004) * ''

John Greenleaf Whittier John Greenleaf Whittier (December 17, 1807 – September 7, 1892) was an American Quaker poet and advocate of the abolition of slavery in the United States. Frequently listed as one of the fireside poets, he was influenced by the Scottish poet ...

: Selected Poems'' ( Brenda Wineapple, editor 2004) * ''

William Carlos Williams William Carlos Williams (September 17, 1883 – March 4, 1963) was an American poet and physician closely associated with modernism and imagism. His '' Spring and All'' (1923) was written in the wake of T. S. Eliot's '' The Waste Land'' (1922). ...

: Selected Poems'' (

Robert Pinsky Robert Pinsky (born October 20, 1940) is an American poet, essayist, literary critic, and translator. He was the first United States Poet Laureate to serve three terms. Recognized worldwide, Pinsky's work has earned numerous accolades. Pinsky ...

, editor 2004) * ''The Essential

Gwendolyn Brooks Gwendolyn Elizabeth Brooks (June 7, 1917 – December 3, 2000) was an American poet, author, and teacher. Her work often dealt with the personal celebrations and struggles of ordinary people in her community. She won the Pulitzer Prize for Poet ...

'' (Elizabeth Alexander, editor 2005) * ''

Emma Lazarus Emma Lazarus (July 22, 1849 – November 19, 1887) was an American author of poetry, prose, and translations, as well as an activist for Jewish and Georgism, Georgist causes. She is remembered for writing the sonnet "The New Colossus", which wa ...

: Selected Poems'' ( John Hollander, editor 2005) * '' Samuel Menashe: New and Selected Poems'' (

Christopher Ricks Sir Christopher Bruce Ricks (born 18 September 1933) is a British literary critic and scholar. He is the William M. and Sara B. Warren Professor of the Humanities at Boston University (US), co-director of the Editorial Institute at Boston ...

, editor 2005) * ''Poets of the

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

'' ( J. D. McClatchy, editor 2005) * '' Theodore Roethke: Selected Poems'' (

Edward Hirsch Edward M. Hirsch (born January 20, 1950) is an American poet and critic who wrote a national bestseller about reading poetry. He has published nine books of poems, including ''The Living Fire: New and Selected Poems'' (2010), which brings toget ...

, editor 2005) * ''

Edith Wharton Edith Newbold Wharton (; ; January 24, 1862 – August 11, 1937) was an American writer and designer. Wharton drew upon her insider's knowledge of the upper-class New York "aristocracy" to portray, realistically, the lives and morals of the Gil ...

: Selected Poems'' (

Louis Auchincloss Louis Stanton Auchincloss (; September 27, 1917 – January 26, 2010)Holcomb B. Noble and Charles McGrath''The New York Times''. Retrieved on January 27, 2010. was an American lawyer, novelist, historian, and essayist. He is best known as a novel ...

, editor 2005) * '' A. R. Ammons: Selected Poems'' (

David Lehman David Lehman (born June 11, 1948) is an American poet, non-fiction writer, and literary critic, and the founder and series editor for '' The Best American Poetry''. He was a writer and freelance journalist for fifteen years, writing for such pub ...

, editor 2006) * ''

Cole Porter Cole Albert Porter (June 9, 1891 – October 15, 1964) was an American composer and songwriter. Many of his songs became Standard (music), standards noted for their witty, urbane lyrics, and many of his scores found success on Broadway the ...

: Selected Lyrics'' (Robert Kimball, editor 2006) * ''

Louis Zukofsky Louis Zukofsky (January 23, 1904 – May 12, 1978) was an American poet. He was the primary instigator and theorist of the so-called "Objectivist" poets, a short lived collective of poets who after several decades of obscurity would reemerge a ...

: Selected Poems'' ( Charles Bernstein, editor 2006) * ''American

Sonnet A sonnet is a fixed poetic form with a structure traditionally consisting of fourteen lines adhering to a set Rhyme scheme, rhyming scheme. The term derives from the Italian word ''sonetto'' (, from the Latin word ''sonus'', ). Originating in ...

s'' ( David Bromwich, editor 2007) * ''

Kenneth Koch Kenneth Koch ( ; February 27, 1925 – July 6, 2002) was an American poet, playwright, and professor, active from the 1950s until his death at age 77.) He was a prominent poet of the New York School of poetry. This was a loose group of poets inc ...

: Selected Poems'' (

Ron Padgett Ron Padgett (born June 17, 1942) is an American poet, essayist, fiction writer, translator, and a member of the New York School (art), New York School. ''Great Balls of Fire'', Padgett's first full-length collection of poems, was published in 1969 ...

, editor 2007) * ''

Carl Sandburg Carl August Sandburg (January 6, 1878 – July 22, 1967) was an American poet, biographer, journalist, and editor. He won three Pulitzer Prizes: two for his poetry and one for his biography of Abraham Lincoln. During his lifetime, Sandburg w ...

: Selected Poems'' (

Paul Berman } Paul Lawrence Berman (born 1949) is an American writer on politics and literature. His books include '' Terror and Liberalism'' ( a ''New York Times'' best-seller in 2003), ''The Flight of the Intellectuals'', ''A Tale of Two Utopias'', ''Power ...

, editor 2007) * '' Anne Stevenson: Selected Poems'' ( Andrew Motion, editor 2007) * ''

James Agee James Rufus Agee ( ; November 27, 1909 – May 16, 1955) was an American novelist, journalist, poet, screenwriter and film critic. In the 1940s, writing for ''Time'', he was one of the most influential film critics in the United States. His autob ...

: Selected Poems'' (Andrew Hudgins, editor 2008) * ''

Ira Gershwin Ira Gershwin (born Israel Gershovitz; December 6, 1896 – August 17, 1983) was an American lyricist who collaborated with his younger brother, composer George Gershwin, to create some of the most memorable songs in the English language of the ...

: Selected Lyrics'' (Robert Kimball, editor 2009) * ''Poems from the Women's Movement'' ( Honor Moore, editor 2009) * ''

Stephen Foster Stephen Collins Foster (July 4, 1826January 13, 1864), known as "the father of American music", was an American composer known primarily for his parlour music, parlour and Folk music, folk music during the Romantic music, Romantic period. He wr ...

& Co.: Lyrics of America's First Great Popular Songs'' (Ken Emerson, editor 2010) * ''

: Complete Poems'' ( Christopher Benfey, editor 2011) * '' Countee Cullen: Collected Poems'' (Major Jackson, editor 2013)

Special publications

* ''

Isaac Bashevis Singer Isaac Bashevis Singer (; 1903 – July 24, 1991) was a Poland, Polish-born Jews, Jewish novelist, short-story writer, memoirist, essayist, and translator in the United States. Some of his works were adapted for the theater. He wrote and publish ...

: An Album'' ( Ilan Stavans, editor, 2004) * ''Farber on Film: The Complete Film Writings of

Manny Farber Emanuel Farber (February 20, 1917 – August 18, 2008) was an American painter, film critic and writer. Often described as "iconoclastic",Grimes, William (August 19, 2008) ''New York Times''Kiderra, Inga (August 21, 2008Obituary: Artist and Crit ...

'' ( Robert Polito, editor, 2009) * ''Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu:

Ted Williams Theodore Samuel Williams (August 30, 1918 – July 5, 2002) was an American professional baseball player and manager. He played his entire 19-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career, primarily as a left fielder, for the Boston Red Sox from 193 ...

'' (2010) * ''The Age of Movies: Selected Writings of

Pauline Kael Pauline Kael (; June 19, 1919 – September 3, 2001) was an American film critic who wrote for ''The New Yorker'' from 1968 to 1991. Known for her "witty, biting, highly opinionated and sharply focused" reviews, Kael often defied the conse ...

'' (Sanford Schwartz, editor, 2011) * ''The Collected Writings of Joe Brainard'' (

, editor, 2012) *

Edgar Rice Burroughs Edgar Rice Burroughs (September 1, 1875 – March 19, 1950) was an American writer, best known for his prolific output in the adventure, science fiction, and fantasy genres. Best known for creating the characters Tarzan (who appeared in ...

, '' A Princess of Mars'' (2012) ; ''

Tarzan of the Apes ''Tarzan of the Apes'' is a 1912 novel by American writer Edgar Rice Burroughs, and the first in the Tarzan series. The story was first printed in the pulp magazine '' The All-Story'' in October 1912 before being released as a novel in June 191 ...

'' (2012) * ''American Pastimes: The Very Best of Red Smith'' (

Daniel Okrent Daniel Okrent (born April 2, 1948) is an American writer and editor. He is best known for having served as the first public editor of ''The New York Times'' newspaper, inventing Rotisserie League Baseball, and for writing several books (such as ...

, editor, 2013) * ''The Top of His Game: The Best Sportswriting of W. C. Heinz'' ( Bill Littlefield, editor, 2015) * '' President Lincoln Assassinated!! The Firsthand Story of the Murder, Manhunt, Trial, and Mourning'' (

Harold Holzer Harold Holzer (born February 5, 1949) is a scholar of Abraham Lincoln and the political culture of the American Civil War Era. He serves as director of Hunter College's Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College, Roosevelt House P ...

, editor, 2015) * ''String Theory:

David Foster Wallace David Foster Wallace (February 21, 1962 – September 12, 2008) was an American writer and professor who published novels, short stories, and essays. He is best known for his 1996 novel ''Infinite Jest'', which ''Time (magazine), Time'' magazine ...

Tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

'' (2016) * ''My Dearest Julia: The Wartime Letters of

to His Wife'' (2018) *

, ''The American Canon: Literary Genius from Emerson to Pynchon'' ( David Mikics, editor, 2019) * Kate Bolick, Jenny Zhang, Carmen Maria Machado, and

Jane Smiley Jane Smiley (born September 26, 1949) is an American novelist. She won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1992 for her novel ''A Thousand Acres'' (1991). Biography Born in Los Angeles, California, Smiley grew up in Webster Groves, Missouri, a subu ...

, ''March Sisters: On Life, Death, and

Little Women ''Little Women'' is a coming-of-age novel written by American novelist Louisa May Alcott, originally published in two volumes, in 1868 and 1869. The story follows the lives of the four March sisters— Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy—and details th ...

'' (2019) * ''Where the Light Falls: Selected Stories of

Nancy Hale Nancy Hale (May 6, 1908 – September 24, 1988) was an American novelist and short-story writer. She received the O. Henry Award, a Benjamin Franklin magazine award, and the Henry H. Bellaman Foundation Award for fiction. Early life and educat ...

'' ( Lauren Groff, editor, 2019) * ''The

Peanuts ''Peanuts'' (briefly subtitled ''featuring Good ol' Charlie Brown'') is a print syndication, syndicated daily strip, daily and Sunday strip, Sunday American comic strip written and illustrated by Charles M. Schulz. The strip's original run ext ...

Papers: Writers and Cartoonists on

Charlie Brown Charles "Charlie" Brown is the Protagonist, principal character of the comic strip ''Peanuts'', syndicated in daily newspaper, daily and Sunday newspapers in numerous countries all over the world. Depicted as a "lovable loser", Charlie Brown ...

Snoopy Snoopy is an anthropomorphic beagle in the comic strip ''Peanuts'' by American cartoonist Charles M. Schulz. He also appears in all of the ''Peanuts'' films and television specials. Since his debut on October 4, 1950, Snoopy has become one of ...

and the Gang, and the Meaning of Life'' (Andrew Blauner, editor, 2019) * ''

Speaks: His Final Thoughts on Life, Writing, Spirituality, and the Promise of America, as Told to Horace Traubel'' ( Brenda Wineapple, editor, 2019) * ''American Conservatism: Reclaiming an Intellectual Tradition'' ( Andrew J. Bacevich, editor, 2020) * ''American Democracy: 21 Historic Answers to 5 Urgent Questions'' (

Nicholas Lemann Nicholas Berthelot Lemann is an American writer and academic, and is the Joseph Pulitzer II and Edith Pulitzer Moore Professor of Journalism and Dean Emeritus of the Faculty of Journalism at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. He ...

, editor, 2020) * ''The Collected Breece D'J Pancake: Stories, Fragments, Letters'' (2020) * Dolores Hitchens, ''Sleep with Strangers'' (2021) ; ''Sleep with Slander'' (2021) *

Molière Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (; 15 January 1622 (baptised) – 17 February 1673), known by his stage name Molière (, ; ), was a French playwright, actor, and poet, widely regarded as one of the great writers in the French language and world liter ...

, ''The Complete Richard Wilbur Translations'', volume 1 (2021) ; volume 2 (2021) * Mary Jane Ward, ''The Snake Pit'' (2021) * Richard Wright, ''The Man Who Lived Underground'' (2021) *

Hannah Arendt Hannah Arendt (born Johanna Arendt; 14 October 1906 – 4 December 1975) was a German and American historian and philosopher. She was one of the most influential political theory, political theorists of the twentieth century. Her work ...

, ''On Lying and Politics'' (2022) *

, ''The Heart of American Poetry'' (2022) * Ronald L. Fair, ''Many Thousand Gone: An American Fable'' (2023) *

, ''The Prodigal Women'' (2023) * John A. Williams, ''The Man Who Cried I Am'' (2023) *

and

Henry David Thoreau Henry David Thoreau (born David Henry Thoreau; July 12, 1817May 6, 1862) was an American naturalist, essayist, poet, and philosopher. A leading Transcendentalism, transcendentalist, he is best known for his book ''Walden'', a reflection upon sim ...

, ''On

Civil Disobedience Civil disobedience is the active and professed refusal of a citizenship, citizen to obey certain laws, demands, orders, or commands of a government (or any other authority). By some definitions, civil disobedience has to be nonviolent to be cal ...

'' (2024) * ''The MAD Files: Writers and Cartoonists on the Magazine that Warped America's Brain'' ( David Mikics, editor, 2024) * Jay Parini, ''

Robert Frost Robert Lee Frost (March26, 1874January29, 1963) was an American poet. Known for his realistic depictions of rural life and his command of American Colloquialism, colloquial speech, Frost frequently wrote about settings from rural life in New E ...

: Sixteen Poems to Learn by Heart'' (2024) * S. J. Perelman, ''Cloudland Revisited: A Misspent Youth in Books and Film'' (2024) ; ''Crazy Like a Fox'' (2024) * '' O. Henry for the Holidays: Seven Classic

Thanksgiving Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in October and November in the United States, Canada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Germany. It is also observed in the Australian territory ...

and

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a Religion, religious and Culture, cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by coun ...

Stories'' (2025) * Sarah Ruden, ''I Am the Arrow: The Life and Art of

Sylvia Plath Sylvia Plath (; October 27, 1932 – February 11, 1963) was an American poet and author. She is credited with advancing the genre of confessional poetry and is best known for '' The Colossus and Other Poems'' (1960), '' Ariel'' (1965), a ...

in Six Poems'' (2025) * ''

's Book of Cats'' (2025) *

Helen Vendler Helen Vendler (née Hennessy; April 30, 1933 – April 23, 2024) was an American academic, writer and literary critic. She was a professor of English language and history at Boston University, Cornell, Harvard, and other universities. Her aca ...

, ''Inhabit the Poem: Last Essays'' (2025)

Notes and references

External links

*
List of all main series titles

"Forty Years of the LOA Series: Top Volumes 1982–2022"

Nonprofit Explorer 501(c)(3) listings at ProPublica
{{Authority control 1979 establishments in New York City Book publishing companies based in New York City Book publishing companies of the United States Editorial collections Literary publishing companies Non-profit organizations based in New York City Non-profit publishers Publishing companies established in 1979 Book series

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Main series

Special anthologies

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Special publications

See also

Notes and references

Further reading

External links