LibGuides: American Literature: Articles, Book Reviews and Journals

Critical / Interpretive Articles

Literature Indexes and Databases

The FAU Libraries provides access to many critical and interpretative articles on works of literature. Go the sources and enter keywords that describe a literary work and themes you wish to explore (e.g., "Mark Twain" and "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" and "Slavery"); the search results will give a list of articles that may give you useful information!

Academic OneFile (Gale) Academic OneFile is a source for peer-reviewed, full-text articles from the world's leading journals and reference sources with extensive coverage of the physical sciences, technology, medicine, social sciences, the arts, theology, literature and other subjects. Includes full-text coverage of the New York Times back to 1985.
Academic Search Complete The world's largest scholarly, multi-disciplinary full-text database. This scholarly collection offers information in nearly every area of academic study including computer sciences, engineering, physics, chemistry, language and linguistics, arts & literature, medical sciences, and ethnic studies.
Gale Literary Sources Gale Literary Sources combines Gale Virtual Reference Library, Literature Resource Center, LitFinder, Scribner Writers, and Twayne's Authors, allowing users to search all databases simultaneously.
Humanities Source Includes Humanities Full Text, Humanities Index Retrospective and additional content. Subject areas include archaeology, area studies, art, classical studies, communications, dance, film, folklore, gender studies, history, journalism, linguistics, literary and social criticism literature, music, performing arts, philosophy, religion and theology. Funded by Florida Virtual Campus. 
JSTOR More than 2000 scholarly journals in education, humanities, mathematics, science, and social science disciplines. Most full-text access is archival; some current full text. Also includes a collection of over 500 Spanish-language e-books, which are student tech fee funded.
MLA International Bibliography Provides a detailed bibliography of journal articles, books and dissertations . The indexed materials coverage is international. Subjects consist of literature, language and linguistics, folklore, literary theory & criticism, dramatic arts, as well as the historical aspects of printing and publishing. Listings on rhetoric and composition and the history, theory and practice of teaching language and literature are also included. Funded by statewide allocation.

Humanities Indexes and Databases

A search for a theme or topic in a Humanities index or database can provide valuable information that can assist with understanding the context and other aspects in a work of literature. Many students and scholars may review aspects such as historical context, gender, political events, and other societal issues that occurred when a work was written or published.

America: History and Life Access is limited to six (6) simultaneous users. Covers United States and Canadian history from prehistory to the present providing indexing and bibliographic references for the contents of 1,700 journals. Funded by Florida Virtual Campus. 
Black Studies Center Black Studies Center brings together essential historical and current material for researching the past, present and future of African-Americans, the wider African Diaspora, and Africa itself. This resource includes scholarly essays, recent periodicals, historical newspaper articles, and much more. It combines several resources for research and teaching in Black Studies: Schomburg Studies on the Black Experience, International Index to Black Periodicals (IIBP), historical black newspapers, and the Black Literature Index.
Biography (Gale In Context) Biography (Gale In Context) merges Gale's reference content with periodicals and multimedia. Users can search based on name, occupation, role, historical period, dates and places, and other aspects. These entries cover international figures from all time periods and areas of study. Funded by Florida Virtual Library. 
GenderWatch A full-text database of unique and diverse publications that focus on how gender impacts a broad spectrum of subject areas. With its archival material, dating back to 1970 in some cases, GenderWatch is a repository of important historical perspective on the evolution of the women's movement and the changes in gender roles. Publications include scholarly journals, magazines, newspapers, newsletters, regional publications, books, and NGO, government and special reports. Funded by Florida Virtual Campus. 
Twentieth Century Advice Literature: North American Guides on Race, Gender, Sex, and the Family Brings together the instructional, prescriptive, behavioral, and etiquette literature that defined standards of personal conduct for millions of Americans and reflected the prevailing social mores across the twentieth century. When complete, the collection will contain 150,000 pages of fully searchable handbooks, manuals, textbooks, etiquette guides, self-help books, instructional pamphlets, and how-to books that illustrate both how Americans actually behaved and how they felt they ought to behave.
Women and Social Movements in the United States Scholar's Edition The resource, which examines perspectives on women's social movements from Colonial times to the present, brings together books, images, documents, scholarly essays, commentaries, and bibliographies, documenting the multiplicity of women's reform activities. This edition includes the Women's Commission Reports.

Primary Sources

Identify letters, correspondence, diaries, interviews, and other sources of primary sources that may provide information on what occurred when a literary work was created.

Manuscript Women's Letters and Diaries This collection from the holdings of the American Antiquarian Society brings together 100,000 pages of the personal writings of women of the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries, displayed as high-quality images of the original manuscripts.
Sixties: Primary Documents and Personal Narratives 1960-1974 Brings the 1960s alive through diaries, letters, autobiographies and other memoirs, written and oral histories, manifestos, government documents, memorabilia, and scholarly commentary.
Sources in U.S. History Online: The Civil War The Civil War digital collection contains nearly 500 significant documents of the time--personal narratives, monographs, regimental histories, collected essays, sermons, songs, legal tracts, and political speeches.

Book Reviews

New York Times Book Review

Film & Television Literature Index Contains approximately 700,000 citations to articles, film reviews, and book reviews.
MLA Directory of Periodicals Provides all information available on the journals and series on the bibliography's Master List of Periodicals. Also provides statistics on the number of articles and book reviews the periodicals publish each year, as well as the number submitted.
Library Literature & Information Science Full Text This source provides many book reviews.
Humanities & Social Sciences Index Retrospective: 1907-1984 Offers a broad range of subject coverage in the humanities and social sciences with high-quality indexing of more than 1,300,000 articles in nearly 1,100 periodicals, dating as far back as 1907, as well as citations of over 240,000 book reviews.
Times Literary Supplement Historical Archive Search with the Times Digital Archive on Gale NewsVault. Includes the complete run of The Times Literary Supplement from 1902 to 2008, including reviews, letters, poems, articles and literary criticism. The TLS has attracted the contributions of the worlds most influential writers and critics, from T.S. Eliot and Virginia Woolf in the 1920s and 30s to A.N. Wilson and Christopher Hitchens in the 1990s and 2000s.
Art Index Retrospective Includes citations of over 25,000 book reviews.
ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials An index to journal articles, book reviews, and collections of essays in all scholarly fields of religion.
Books & Authors Books & Authors offers new ways to explore the endless possibilities and combinations of books, authors, genres and topics. Combining over 140,000 titles, 50,000 authors, and thousands of read-alike, award winner and librarian's favorites lists, Books & Authors helps bring readers and literature together.

Journals

American Literature
Go to the links in "View Online" to search articles in volumes and issues.
Early American Literature
Project MUSE has the most current volume and issue of this journal, while the links to various sources in the Library Catalog record will have past issues.
Journal of Ethnic American Literature

Last updated on Jul 8, 2025 12:41 PM