W. D. Howells produced many novels, stories, plays, and poems in his long life. He served as the editor of Atlantic Monthly and Harper's magazines, and as the "dean" of late 19th-century American literature introduced realism and naturalism, both by his own writings and by encouraging many others from Henry James to Bret Harte and Frank Norris to Mark Twain. He supported socialism and opposed American imperialism.

Please visit the William Dean Howells Society web page and join the Society and the HOWELLS-L discussion list.

• The Rise of Silas Lapham, 1885

  Howells's best-known novel, of Boston business and society,
  here in illustrated HTML
• Their Wedding Journey, 1871, 1887, 1916

  Howells's first novel, a delightful honeymoon to Niagara, beautifully illustrated
• Some critical responses to Their Wedding Journey
• The Shadow of a Dream, 1890

  Psychological novel uncovers the unconsious
• The Day of Their Wedding, 1895

  A Shaker pair get married in a compact social commentary on the Gilded Age;
  illustrated by T. de Thulstrup
• A Traveller from Altruria, 1892-3

Christian socialist, Utopian fiction, annotated and illustrated [400KB]
• From Literary Friends and Acquaintance, 1900

(highly entertaining early chapters on Hawthorne visit of 1860)
• Editor's Easy Chair, Harper's vol 140, pp 710-12, 1920:

satire of Martian visit spoofs science, politics
• Obituary, by Edward S. Martin, Harper's, vol 141, pp 265-6, 1920
• A Chronology of the Gilded Age
• "Editha", short story of 1905 from Between the Dark and the Daylight, published by Jim Zwick at the Anti-Imperialism site.
• My Mark Twain at Jim Zwick's site at miningco.com.
• Anti-Imperialist writings, from Jim Zwick, Syracuse University
• Opinions on "The White Man's Burden"
• Mark Twain, William Dean Howells, and the Anti-Imperialist League, 1899-1920
• Atlantic Monthly 1876: May review of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
• PAL: Perspectives in American Literature: A Research and Reference Guide, 9th Edition, July 1996, Copyright Paul P. Reuben, Table of Contents

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