The War on Words: Slavery, Race, and Free Speech in American Literature

by Michael T. Gilmore

Book Overview

How did slavery and race impact American literature in the nineteenth century? In this ambitious book, Michael T. Gilmore argues that they were the carriers of linguistic restriction, and writers from Frederick Douglass to Stephen Crane wrestled with the demands for silence and circumspection that accompanied the antebellum fear of disunion and the postwar reconciliation between the North and South.

Proposing a radical new interpretation...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 022610169X
• ISBN13: 9780226101699
• Release Date: December 2013
• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Length: 340 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.0" x 8.9"