After discussing with a friend what works one would include in a course on American history using fiction literature, I decided to make a list of significant literary works by American authors. This list only contains fiction literature, such as novels, short stories, poems, or plays. It does not contain non-fiction works, such as letters, diaries, essays, memoirs, or literary criticism. Some works from the New Journalism era that are technically factual but read like novels are included, however. The list also does not contain (with a few exceptions) children’s books or graphic novels. Books are listed chronologically so that it is easy to determine which works would fit into a history course that treats literature as cultural texts.