As a literary critic, Canby examines the works of his contemporaries, supplying nuanced viewpoints on the converting nature of literature and its feature in reflecting and growing society.

The American mind.--Conservative America.--Radical America.--American idealism.--Religion in America.--Literature in America.--The bourgeois American.

Series "edited by Stephen Vincent Benet and Carl Carmer, as planned by Constance Lindsay Skinner."