Facing Facts: Realism in American Thought and Culture, 1850-1920

This is a full and penetrating study of realism in America, starting in the mid-19th century and culminating in the early 20th century. The author concentrates on literature and art, and puts the development of realism within a broad cultural and social context. He describes how such events and phenomena as the Civil War, Darwinism, the rise of the city, and the creation of commercial culture and the media helped to establish and develop realism. Among the writers discussed are William Dean Howells, William and Henry James, Stephen Crane, and Theodore Dreiser; among the artists are Winslow Homer, Thomas Eakins, and the "Ashcan School".