American Studies: Literary Criticism

Virtual presence for attendees and those interested in the 2023 annual meeting of the American Studies Association conference. Books on sale, University of Minnesota Press information, and more.

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA PRESS: 40% OFF BOOKS

All books below are 40% off using code MNAMST23. Code expires December 15, 2023.

BROWSE BOOKS:

CREATIVITY AND REVOLT   //    SOCIAL JUSTICE   //    PUBLIC POLICY AND POLITICAL SCIENCE

HISTORY   //    GENDER AND SEXUALITY   //    RACE   //    NATIVE AMERICAN AND INDIGENOUS STUDIES

PHILOSOPHY AND THEORY   //    ENVIRONMENT   //    ANIMALS

ETHNOGRAPHY   //    LITERATURE   //    LITERARY CRITICISM

MEDIA AND ART   //    SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY   //    DISABILITY STUDIES

BACK TO ALL BOOKS ON SALE

Making Love with the Land: Essays Making Love with the Land Essays Joshua Whitehead 2024 Fall
A moving and deeply personal excavation of Indigenous beauty and passion in a suffering world
Natives against Nativism: Antiracism and Indigenous Critique in Postcolonial France Natives against Nativism Antiracism and Indigenous Critique in Postcolonial France Olivia C. Harrison 2023 Spring
Examining the intersection of Palestine solidarity movements and antiracist activism in France from the 1970s to the present
The Stories Whiteness Tells Itself: Racial Myths and Our American Narratives The Stories Whiteness Tells Itself Racial Myths and Our American Narratives David Mura 2022 Fall
Uncovering the pernicious narratives white people create to justify white supremacy and sustain racist oppression
Angry Planet: Decolonial Fiction and the American Third World Angry Planet Decolonial Fiction and the American Third World Anne Stewart 2022 Fall
Before the idea of the Anthropocene, there was the angry planet
Endless Intervals: Cinema, Psychology, and Semiotechnics around 1900 Endless Intervals Cinema, Psychology, and Semiotechnics around 1900 Jeffrey West Kirkwood 2022 Fall
Revealing cinema’s place in the coevolution of media technology and the human
Isherwood on Writing: The Complete Lectures in California Isherwood on Writing The Complete Lectures in California Christopher Isherwood James J. Berg, Editor 2022 Fall
Isherwood’s lectures on writing and writers, now all available for the first time in this updated edition
The Horror of Police The Horror of Police Travis Linnemann 2022 Spring
Unmasks the horrors of a social order reproduced and maintained by the violence of police
Ahab Unbound: Melville and the Materialist Turn Ahab Unbound Melville and the Materialist Turn Meredith Farmer and Jonathan D. S. Schroeder, Editors 2021 Fall
Why Captain Ahab is worthy of our fear—and our compassion
Does the Earth Care?: Indifference, Providence, and Provisional Ecology Does the Earth Care? Indifference, Providence, and Provisional Ecology Mick Smith and Jason Young 2022 Fall
Rethinking our relationship with Earth in a time of environmental emergency
Cinema Illuminating Reality: Media Philosophy through Buddhism Cinema Illuminating Reality Media Philosophy through Buddhism Victor Fan 2022 Spring
A new critical approach to cinema and media based on Buddhism as a philosophical discourse
Earthworks Rising: Mound Building in Native Literature and Arts Earthworks Rising Mound Building in Native Literature and Arts Chadwick Allen 2022 Spring
A necessary reexamination of Indigenous mounds, demonstrating their sustained vitality and vibrant futurity by centering Native voices
The Poetics of Cruising: Queer Visual Culture from Whitman to Grindr The Poetics of Cruising Queer Visual Culture from Whitman to Grindr 2022 Spring
A groundbreaking new history of urban cruising through the lenses of urban poets
Black Pulp: Genre Fiction in the Shadow of Jim Crow Black Pulp Genre Fiction in the Shadow of Jim Crow Brooks E. Hefner 2021 Fall
A deep dive into mid-century African American newspapers, exploring how Black pulp fiction reassembled genre formulas in the service of racial justice
Language, Madness, and Desire: On Literature Language, Madness, and Desire On Literature Michel Foucault 2021 Fall
Insight into the importance of literature for Michel Foucault—published in English for the first time
Life in Plastic: Artistic Responses to Petromodernity Life in Plastic Artistic Responses to Petromodernity Caren Irr, Editor 2021 Fall
A vital contribution to environmental humanities that explores artistic responses to the plastic age
Written by the Body: Gender Expansiveness and Indigenous Non-Cis Masculinities Written by the Body Gender Expansiveness and Indigenous Non-Cis Masculinities Lisa Tatonetti 2021 Fall
Examining the expansive nature of Indigenous gender representations in history, literature, and film
Le Maya Q’atzij/Our Maya Word: Poetics of Resistance in Guatemala Le Maya Q’atzij/Our Maya Word Poetics of Resistance in Guatemala Emil’ Keme 2021 Spring
Bringing to the fore the voices of Maya authors and what their poetry tells us about resistance, sovereignty, trauma, and regeneration
The Black Reproductive: Unfree Labor and Insurgent Motherhood The Black Reproductive Unfree Labor and Insurgent Motherhood Sara Clarke Kaplan 2021 Spring
How Black women’s reproduction became integral to white supremacy, capitalism, and heteropatriarchy—and remains key to their dismantling
Outward: Adrienne Rich’s Expanding Solitudes Outward Adrienne Rich’s Expanding Solitudes Ed Pavlić 2021 Spring
The first scholarly study of Adrienne Rich’s full career examines the poet through her developing approach to the transformative potential of relationships
Training for Catastrophe: Fictions of National Security after 9/11 Training for Catastrophe Fictions of National Security after 9/11 Lindsay Thomas 2021 Spring
A timely, politically savvy examination of how impossible disasters shape the very real possibilities of our world
Black Queer Flesh: Rejecting Subjectivity in the African American Novel Black Queer Flesh Rejecting Subjectivity in the African American Novel Alvin J. Henry 2020 Fall
A groundbreaking examination of how twentieth-century African American writers use queer characters to challenge and ultimately reject subjectivity
The Death of Things: Ephemera and the American Novel The Death of Things Ephemera and the American Novel Sarah Wasserman 2020 Fall
A comprehensive study of ephemera in twentieth-century literature—and its relevance to the twenty-first century
Infrastructures of Apocalypse: American Literature and the Nuclear Complex Infrastructures of Apocalypse American Literature and the Nuclear Complex Jessica Hurley 2020 Fall
A new approach to the vast nuclear infrastructure and the apocalypses it produces, focusing on Black, queer, Indigenous, and Asian American literatures
Isherwood in Transit Isherwood in Transit James J. Berg and Chris Freeman, Editors 2020 Spring
New perspectives on Christopher Isherwood as a searching and transnational writer
An Archive of Taste: Race and Eating in the Early United States An Archive of Taste Race and Eating in the Early United States Lauren F. Klein 2020 Spring
A groundbreaking synthesis of food studies, archival theory, and early American literature
What a Library Means to a Woman: Edith Wharton and the Will to Collect Books What a Library Means to a Woman Edith Wharton and the Will to Collect Books Sheila Liming 2020 Spring
Examining the personal library and the making of self
Black Bourgeois: Class and Sex in the Flesh Black Bourgeois Class and Sex in the Flesh Candice M. Jenkins 2019 Fall
Exploring the forces that keep black people vulnerable even amid economically privileged lives
The Political Arrays of American Indian Literary History The Political Arrays of American Indian Literary History James H. Cox 2019 Fall
Bringing fresh insight to a century of writing by Native Americans
Translated Nation: Rewriting the Dakhóta Oyáte Translated Nation Rewriting the Dakhóta Oyáte Christopher Pexa 2019 Spring
How authors rendered Dakhóta philosophy by literary means to encode ethical and political connectedness and sovereign life within a settler surveillance state
Reading for Reform: The Social Work of Literature in the Progressive Era Reading for Reform The Social Work of Literature in the Progressive Era Laura R. Fisher 2019 Spring
An unprecedented examination of class-bridging reform and U.S. literary history at the turn of the twentieth century
Bodies of Information: Intersectional Feminism and Digital Humanities Bodies of Information Intersectional Feminism and Digital Humanities Elizabeth Losh and Jacqueline Wernimont, Editors 2018 Fall
A wide-ranging, interconnected anthology presents a diversity of feminist contributions to digital humanities
Bad Environmentalism: Irony and Irreverence in the Ecological Age Bad Environmentalism Irony and Irreverence in the Ecological Age Nicole Seymour 2018 Fall
Traces a tradition of ironic and irreverent environmentalism, asking us to rethink the movement’s reputation for gloom and doom
The Robotic Imaginary: The Human and the Price of Dehumanized Labor The Robotic Imaginary The Human and the Price of Dehumanized Labor Jennifer Rhee 2018 Fall
Tracing the connections between human-like robots and AI at the site of dehumanization and exploited labor
Circulating Queerness: Before the Gay and Lesbian Novel Circulating Queerness Before the Gay and Lesbian Novel Natasha Hurley 2018 Spring
A new history of the queer novel shows its role in constructing gay and lesbian lives
Writing Human Rights: The Political Imaginaries of Writers of Color Writing Human Rights The Political Imaginaries of Writers of Color Crystal Parikh 2017 Fall
Reading works by American writers of color through the lens of human rights
Zombie Theory: A Reader Zombie Theory A Reader Sarah Juliet Lauro, Editor 2017 Fall
An interdisciplinary collection of the best international scholarship on zombies as the embodiment of anxieties, critiques, and desires
The Child to Come: Life after the Human Catastrophe The Child to Come Life after the Human Catastrophe Rebekah Sheldon 2016 Fall
A bold new reading of the child for the twenty-first century, with implications for contemporary environmentalism
Speculative Blackness: The Future of Race in Science Fiction Speculative Blackness The Future of Race in Science Fiction André M. Carrington 2016 Spring
Examines race through fanzines, Star Trek, comic books, and Harry Potter
Life Support: Biocapital and the New History of Outsourced Labor Life Support Biocapital and the New History of Outsourced Labor Kalindi Vora 2015 Spring
How global capitalism has turned human beings into a new form of biocapital
Physics of Blackness: Beyond the Middle Passage Epistemology Physics of Blackness Beyond the Middle Passage Epistemology Michelle M. Wright 2015 Spring
Reveals how assumptions we make about time and space inhibit more inclusive definitions of Blackness
Settler Common Sense: Queerness and Everyday Colonialism in the American Renaissance Settler Common Sense Queerness and Everyday Colonialism in the American Renaissance Mark Rifkin 2014 Spring
Tracing the unacknowledged effects of colonialism in the canon of nineteenth-century American literature
War, Genocide, and Justice: Cambodian American Memory Work War, Genocide, and Justice Cambodian American Memory Work Cathy J. Schlund-Vials 2012 Fall
Examining Cambodian American cultural production as memory work
The Erotics of Sovereignty: Queer Native Writing in the Era of Self-Determination The Erotics of Sovereignty Queer Native Writing in the Era of Self-Determination Mark Rifkin 2012 Spring
How queer Native writers use the erotics of lived experience to challenge both federal and tribal notions of “Indianness”