In this seventh edition of Anthology of American Literature, Volume II, we have followed the same principles of selection successfully used for all previous editions:

- To select works primarily for their literary significance
- To represent authors by extensive samplings of their works
- To include, where possible, long works in their entirety
- To provide concise, infomative introductions and headnotes
   suited to the student reader
- To explain unfamiliar terms and allusions through liberal use of
   footnotes
- To present author bibliographies that are selective and current

       This new edition continues the presentation of the complete Emily Dickinson selection and the complete Walt Whitman selection in both Volume I and Volume II of the anthology. Because of that repetition of complete selections, instructors may begin a course or end a course with Dickinson or Whitman or both or neither.

- Walt Whitman
- Emily Dickinson
- Mary E. Wilkins Freeman
- Sarah Orne Jewett
- Bret Harte
- George Washington Cable
- Charles Waddell Chesnutt
- Joel Chandler Harris
- Mark Twain
- William Dean Howells
,etc.