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Product Details

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Poet, novelist and literary critic Parini (The Last Station) examines the books he believes represent the soul of the American republic. Some of these books are masterpieces, others icons of a moment in American history. Throughout, Parini makes his case while wearing his learning lightly. All of these works, from William Bradford's Of Plymouth Plantation to Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique, had a profound impact on America's complex identity. The evolving American dynamic is noted in the way the subjects cluster: the American experiment (The Federalist Papers); exploration of a continent (The Journals of Lewis and Clark); a new connection with nature and self (Walden); issues of race and urban ethnicity (Uncle Tom's Cabin and The Souls of Black Folk, among others); business and its opposite, the counterculture (How to Win Friends and Influence People and On the Road). A terrific chapter explores Dr. Spock's The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care (Spock said no to no). A listing of 100 additional books with seismic impact rounds out this engaging discussion, which ought to be on the syllabus of American studies courses. (Nov. 4)
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Review

"As a history major, I have always felt that books reveal the DNA of a nation's culture. This book is a national treasure that proves my theory! Jay Parini has done very thorough research to ascertain which books changed America's course. He has also created a list of 100 other books that have been very influential in our history. Promised Land is a great resource that every American should have!"
—Pat Schroeder, President & CEO of the Association of American Publishers 

“Reading Jay Parini's wonderful new book, Promised Land, I was reminded of Gore Vidal's observation that we live in the United States of Amnesia. Here is the sovereign cure for our amnesia, the story of our enlightenment and transcendentalist roots, told through the texts of our most life-changing books. Read Promised Land and remember that the greatness of America comes from our enlightenment ideals—often more honored in the breach than the observance. A vital text for the renewal of our country.”
—Erica Jong

“Anyone who has ever wondered if books can make a difference will be fascinated and encouraged by Promised Land, Jay Parini's incisive reading of thirteen books that changed our country forever and helped create the nation in which we live today.” —Francine Prose

About the Author

Jay Parini, a poet and novelist, teaches at Middlebury College in Vermont.  His novels include The Apprentice Lover, Benjamin's Crossing, and The Last Station (soon to be a motion picture).  His fifth volume of poetry was The Art of Subtraction:  New and Selected Poems (2005).   He has written biographies of John Steinbeck, Robert Frost, and William Faulkner, in addition to The Art of Teaching (2005) and Why Poetry Matters (2008).   His reviews and essays appear frequently in major periodicals, including The Chronicle of Higher Education and The Guardian.

Customer Reviews

A WONDERFUL EFFORT
The object of a work like Parini's -- in my opinion -- is always to provoke thought, and thankfully, to remind people of our literary heritage. It does not matter whether we agree or not: intelligent debate and civil discourse are, unfortunately, on the Endangered Species list, so Parini's book is a most welcome one. I was thrilled to see Uncle Tom's Cabin, the true opening salvo in a triumviate of events that led to the American Civil War, setting the ground work for John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry, and the election of Abraham Lincoln. Here was a novel that did for America what "Les Miserable" did for France: despite it's fictional characters, it offered an honest and searing portrait of legal brutality, and helped tranform a nation from it's ugliest and bloodiest institution. Some of these were no-brainers: The Federalist Papers and Walden for certain, along with the seminal American novel, Huckleberry Finn, which not only opened America's eyes to its sad and colorful Western character, but freed literature from stuffy convention. I would not have thought of Lewis & Clark's book, nor would I include Carnegie's book on charming your neighbors and co-workers, despite its enormous popularity. What is most glaringly absent is Masters & Johnson's treatise on human sexuality, during a time when medical schools were making breakthrough after breakthrough and none of them had a single course on human sexuality. It triggered, for better or worse, the great sexual revolution and provided millions with the opportunity to understand their own bodies and pleasure. And the absence of a single work of poetry -- Parini stated as much in a CSPAN interview -- is a glaring omission. I would have to believe that Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass, his advocacy of the democratic spirit in American life, his introduction of free verse, his overtly sexual references and celebration of individuality during a horrifically oppressive and regimented era, his bold support of Deism and equanimity among all religions, his eventual vagabond influence on the Beat Generation and even Dram Stroker's Dracula would qualify him for inclusion beyond almost any other author. And for modern influence, is there really a book that has done more to influence individual life than the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, which is now the foundation of a dozen other 12-step groups, the lynch-pin in the centuries old struggle to end personal horror, spousal abuse, familial battery and disintegration caused by the world-wide epidemic in alcohol and drug abuse? That it has saved the lives of millions, and saved tens of millions from the reciprocal horrors of living with a raving addicts world-wide would qualify it as an indispensable influence in modern life. Then there is the absence of anything by the most broadly influential American writer of the 20th Century: Jack London. His book "The People of the Abyss" was the rally point in the abolition of child labor, his "John Barleycorn" was the first comprehensive confessional on the horrors of alcoholism, his "Call of the Wild" celebrated rugged individualism and decried the horrors of humanity stripped to its base instincts, and "War of the Classes," Jack's treatise on the exploitation of workers and working poor. Even Jack London's essay on surfing from "Cruise of the Snark" triggered the international surfing craze: whatever London touched seemed to resonate broadly. Kudos, Mr. Parini: you have people talking, and discussing books, and that is a very good thing. James Dalessandro, author of Bohemian Heart, Citizen Jane, and 1906.

Companion to Promised Land
As a companion to PROMISED LAND, please also consider my new book, TEACHING LIFE: LETTERS FROM A LIFE IN LITERATURE (Iowa, 2008).

In 1978 one of my college students died tragically in an automobile accident on her way to my office to talk over her career plans. It was the suddenness of her death, along with the utter loss of so much potential, which left me wondering whether anything I had said in class had made a difference in her too-short life or, for that matter, in the lives of any of my students.

Her death was not only a great misfortune but also a defining moment for me. For the first time in my life as a teacher, and I had been at it for only five years, I realized in the weeks that followed that I wasn't in the classroom for myself. I was and remain there for the students, all of whom are giving me three hours a week of their most precious possession -- their time. What I say and do should make a difference in their lives. The worst thief is a bad teacher.

The book is a series of l6 letters "to" that student as I imagine what I would have said to her had she completed her degree and gone on into the teaching profession as she dreamed of doing.

Inspired to write my first review...a masterpiece
I originally picked this book up to hear what Mr. Parini had to say about Ben Franklin's autobiography. I teach it in my high school AP classes, so I wanted to see if I could get fresh insight on the book.

Of course, I am writing this review because I found much more than an insightful discussion of Franklin's autobiography.

Like all great books, this one builds on itself chapter by chapter, drawing lines of force between all of the books, painting American Literature as a centuries-long conversation.

By the time Parini writes about Kerouac's On the Road, he is drawing parallels between most of the books that he has discussed before, including Walden, The Promised Land, and Huck Finn, and he is doing so in a strong, formal prose that also invites the casual reader. Parini is, after all, a poet.

Some may quibble with the 13 books he chooses, but these particular books, put in chronological order, allow Parini (to paraphrase a line from Parini himself in the book) to do more than tell a picaresque story; it allows him to deliver a narrative, a plot, with one book necessarily issuing as a new voice in a long conversation.

I have read most of the 13 books included here, and what makes this book so powerful is Parini's ability to capture the tone and the impact of the books he discusses, even the ones that aren't "classics" in a literary sense. In fact, he does not simply choose books he likes; he displays condescension for "How to Win Friends and Influence People," while noting its powerful impact on him as a young man.

I originally planned on having my students read the Franklin chapter, but I'm pretty sure now they'll be reading the whole thing. "The Promised Land" is intelligent, insightful, powerful, and, above all, engaging.