Nerd Alert! You Have Been Sufficiently Warned

I have recently been introduced to a great collection of 19th Century American fiction called The Wright American Fiction 1851-1875 Database... it is like I have died and gone to heaven. American fiction was still in its infancy in the years 1851-1875, but this period saw publication of works by Harriet Beecher Stowe, Mark Twain, Bret Harte, Nathaniel Hawthorne, William Dean Howells, and Herman Melville. Many of these authors, especially Twain, Harte and Howells, had just begun their writing careers during this period and went on to write their best known work later. However, most of the authors contained in the bibliography are little known. This period, a momentous one in American history, provides the foundation of later American literature, and this searchable electronic collection gives insight into American literature, culture, and history otherwise unattainable.