First Person Past,: American Autobiographies

The novelist William Dean Howells described autobiography as themost democratic of American literary genres. Autobiography hasoffered a voice to women, African Americans, Native Americans, andothers whose writings have often been excluded from the literarycanon.The men and women presented here observed, shaped, orparticipated in many of the most exciting and important events ofAmerican history. First Person Past lets them speak forthemselves.

From the hundreds of American autobiographies, the editors havechosen twelve for each of Volumes I and II of First Person Pastbecause they are interesting history and good literature. Theirliterary and historical virtues have been preserved as edited forinclusion in each volume.