Famous American authors are the good teachers for young students who wish to become journalists, copywriters, content managers, authors of books, ghostwriters, and so on. By reading literature masterpieces like novels and poetry, it is possible to master the art of writing. Do you want to leave a step in the history of writing? Take a tour on 10 famous American writers, whose literary works on love and other life values changed the history of humanity.
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Famous American Writers Who Changed the History
F. Scott Fitzgerald
“Let us learn to show our friendship for a man when he is alive and not after he is dead.”
― F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby.
He wrote one of the most popular books about love; he wrote his first novel to marry the greatest love of his love, Zelda, to break up because of the problems with alcohol. Fitzgerald’s life was not a piece of cake. He described the life of contemporary Americans in the most colorful way. Scott Fitzgerald’s favorite topic was love.
When his novel “Tender Is the Night” failed, one of the famous American writers moved to Hollywood to start his scriptwriting career. In 1940, he did not manage to survive a heart attack. His final novel was half completed, forcing his literature fans to reread Fitzgerald’s most known essays and “The Great Gatsby,” which was filmed twice. The events of his personal life inspired the great author to create a masterpiece. It was filled with an intensely romantic imagination. American population has forgotten what a true love & friendship is by the time this man wrote his “Gatsby.”
Fitzgerald loved to compose novels, short stories, and essays, released in the shape of books. The list of his most famous essays includes:
- "The Diamond as Big as the Ritz"
- "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
- "The Camel's Back"
David Sedaris
Would you like to read a good short story full of humorous episodes? Check the works written by David Sedaris. He is one of the famous American authors of comedian essays, funny novels, and great broadcasts. He likes discussing modern family values, culture, and American people through the prism of sober humor. Sedaris has a great paper depicting Australian culture - “Laugh, Kookaburra!” The ordinary life situations each short story composed by Sedaris describes try to teach people what the most important things in this world are. If you want to learn more about the culture of the Aussies, read the mentioned story carefully.
The writer’s example stresses the important role of having a sense of humor in any life situation. The works David Sedaris wrote are full of analogies & examples to make the story funny or more serious and achieve the better result.
Sedaris tells the young authors to be on the side of the reader. It helps to make friends with the target audience and force them to listen to your story from page to page. His content is full of punchy sentences. They help to make the main point more vivid.
David Sedaris has published several collections of the great American essays, but his most famous essays are:
- “Naked”
- “Health-Care Freedom and Why I Want My Country Back”
- “Laugh, Kookaburra!”
Henry David Thoreau
One of the famous American authors involved in political writing, Henry David Thoreau, has released a couple of books and tons of essays during his life. A lot of his works were published after his death. His essays like “Civil Disobedience” have a powerful political background. His literary masterpieces written on philosophical topics (e.g., love, death, life values) include “Wild Apples” and “Cape Cod.” On the whole, he wrote in three main genres:
- Reform paper
- Natural history paper
- Walking essay
“Walden, or Life in the Woods” is a popular book of Thoreau, which allows getting acquainted with his life values, main topics, and writing style. People who have never read this author should find the book to understand some tricks.
Henry David Thoreau’s list of essays is full of great literary pieces:
- “Slavery in Massachusetts”
- “John Brown”
- “Cape Cod”
His books & essays had an impact on other popular writers and political authorities (e.g., Leo Tolstoy, Mahatma Gandhi, and Martin Luther King Jr.) If you want your writing to have an impact on generations, learn how to develop high-quality essays by ordering custom papers online!
Ernest Hemingway
Although every second student knows this one of the most famous American writers of all time, his books and novels are barely studied in the college/university program. Teachers have no idea what to say about Ernest Hemingway. It means his lean style, individual sense of humor, attempts to show the life as experienced instead of the one filtered through literary allusions, and his love to describing moods and behavior under pressure. It is sometimes hard to understand his symbolism. The way he views love, life, death, and other human values is weird.
Many students share they don’t like to read the works of Ernest Hemingway or Mark Twain until their teen years. There are other famous American authors whose books are easier to understand. Papa Hemingway, another way to call the distinguished literature guru, wrote about things men love most of all in the world:
- Bullfighting
- Hunting
- Fishing
A great writer was also obsessed with the ideas of war and death (e.g., his literary works where he talks about the Italian army & World War I), life values, family traditions, and more things people loved to discuss those days. The top famous short story list of Ernest Hemingway looks like this:
- “For Whom the Bell Tolls”
- “The Old Man and the Sea”
- “The Sun Also Rises”
Joan Didion
The modern world has a lot of female writers who wrote the most inspiring, motivational literary masterpieces: Joanne K. Rowling, Suzanne Collins, Stephenie Meyer. Joan Didion is a master of short story, and she is one of the famous American authors who deserve being on the list. The woman was raised in Sacramento, California. It is a faith to become popular living in California: the girl was five years old when she started writing her opening literary line.
Thanks to her Bachelor Degree in Arts & English Language obtained at the University of Berkeley and a baggage of literature knowledge, the woman has built her career of a popular American female essayist and short story author. Didion has read thousands of literary pieces during her life: from short stories to novels. Her first success was winning the top place in an essay writing - famous contest launched by the Vogue magazine. It inspired her to write the initial serious work titled “Run” during her cooperation with the popular magazine covering the life and fashion of the famous American people. She knew how to write powerful argumentative papers. The time has shown her top preferred essays are:
- “Joan Didion” (book of essays)
- “Salvador”
- “After Henry” (she write about the life on our planet from geographical perspective)
David Foster Wallace
The list of famous American writers has David Foster Wallace. The man succeeded thanks to his in-depth knowledge of literature, philosophical judgments on modern American society, and a degree in English language & literature. Many people say it is only possible to start valuing life after handling a severe depression. Nothing prevented him from writing. That is what kept his life in balance: novels, books, the genre of short story, and numerous works on how to cope with bad thoughts and what the life of an average American citizen looks like.
The literary works of Wallace focused on describing love, hate, culture, and a sense of humor in a new light. His writings improved while his health got worse. He wrote his last several great essays before committing suicide being unable to withstand a long-lasting depression in 2008. The list of the most popular & appreciated literary essays written by Wallace includes:
- “Television and US Fiction” (an interesting essay book on the culture of American people)
- “A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again”
- “Consider the Lobster”
- “Both Flesh and Not” (people who like the concept of life & death would love it)
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Many famous American authors from our list were respected political figures, providing public speeches and movements against injustice or inequality. Their essays, novels, and poetry helped them to resist the opposition. A Boston-born writer Ralph Waldo Emerson combined the roles of a philosopher, essayist, poet, and book publisher whose discerning content observed the people’s mind along with the relationship with nature. He was an insightful journalist telling the truth about US people.
Emerson had an original vision of the entire American society and innovative writing style. He mastered the art of writing eye-catching hook sentences. His most known essays contain:
- “Nature”
- “Self-Reliance”
Norman Mailer
This interesting, charismatic male author came from New Jersey, where he raised his love and passion for reading & writing. He was the first kid in the great Jewish family (two more children were born after him a girl and a boy). When Norman Mailer realized how he loved literature & literary analysis, in particular, he decided to join the most known university of his time – Harvard University to study language & literature in-depth. This choice strengthened his feelings by involving the man in the series of literary activities.
Mailer’s opening short story appeared when he was 18. The essay was great enough to obtain an award of appreciation from the Harvard’s University board. The list of his most famous essays is made of the following literary works:
- “The Presidential Papers” (the book of essays)
- “Pieces and Pontifications” (describing people & life in native Boston)
- “Cannibals & Christians” (Mailer’s most provoking writing).
Would you like to cite this or other authors from the list? Please learn how to quote literary or poetry lines from different sources by the link.
Marilynne Robinson
The list of contemporary famous American writers has the name of a female essayist, Marilynne Robinson, whose literary works are focused on the problems of gender discrimination, racism, and inequality American society face even today. She was a modern author of short story genre. The woman challenges the old-fashioned ideas in her brave, outspoken content. People living in the United States represent the most diverse nation in the world; it allows writing about different aspects of culture, religion, and politics.
Marilynne Robinson focused on the following topics in her literary essays, short story pieces, poetry, and other literary works:
- Feminism & post-feminism
- Social issues
- Religious studies
The appearance of computers and internet made it easier to collect the thoughts of various people on the critical issues like death, love, senses, life, war, etc. Famous authors like Robinson reflect these concepts in a new light with the help of their writing skills.
Why is internet a solution? People do not like the idea of spending their time on reading & analyzing huge novels or entire books. They prefer the genre of a short story, which is spread over the web. The greatest literary masterpieces of the woman include the books “Mother Country,” a political/religious novel “Gilead,” and “The Death of Adam” (a gathering of provocative polemical essays & short stories.” Her most popular essays are:
- “When I Was a Child I Read Books”
- “Psalm Eight”
William Faulkner
Best known as the author of “The Sound and the Fury,” William Faulkner was a Nobel Prize laureate from Oxford, who would finish our list of famous American authors. He worked on the novels, plays, poetry, screenplays, and essays. Most of his life, the author lived in Mississippi; his love and passion for this place in the United States made some of his literary pieces similar to Mark Twain’s writings.
In his three “Introductions,” William Faulkner stressed he is in love with Ernest Hemingway’s popular short story “The Old Man and the Sea”. Faulkner released three book reviews by that time, claiming he was influenced by Hemingway.
Many people remember Faulkner as an eccentric gentleman from the South; some say he was an arrogant, snobbish alcoholic. The fact remains: his family influenced William Faulkner’s essays, novels, and poetry books. Many characters remind of his close people. The list of the best works contain:
- “Absalom, Absalom”
- “Go Down, Moses”
How Can I Become the Author of Famous Essays?
The list of the best essays of all time looks this way; we recommend researching other popular American writers who created short stories & essays to learn their tricks. Do you need extra help with your homework essays? If you want your essay to be as convincing as the literary works of the people listed above, place an order with one of the most popular online writing services full of professional authors & editors.