This student-friendly handbook provides an engaging overview of American fiction over the twentieth century, with entries on the important historical contexts and central issues, as well as the major texts and writers. * Provides extensive coverage of short stories and short story writers as well as novels and novelists * Discusses the cultural contexts and issues that shape the texts and their reputations * Wide-ranging in scope, including science fiction and recent Native American writing * Featured writers range from Henry James and Theodore Dresier to Toni Morrison, Don DeLillo, and Sherman Alexie * Ideal student accompaniment to courses in Twentieth-Century American Literature or Fiction