A glorious affirmation of the power of books to shape our American intellectual character and change the course of history.

“Read Promised Land and remember that the greatness of America comes from our enlightenment ideals—often more honored in the breach than the observance. A vital text for the renewal of our country.”—PBC Editorial Board member Erica Jong

Key to Progressive Book Club’s mission is the conviction that significant books elevate the public discourse and can change history. Here, one of our most admired critics and novelists gives us a wondrous reading of how a selection of thirteen touchstone books have shaped the contours of American thought—and action:

Of Plymouth Plantation * The Federalist Papers * The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin * The Journals of Lewis and Clark * Walden * Uncle Tom’s Cabin * Adventures of Huckleberry Finn * The Souls of Black Folk * The Promised Land * How to Win Friends and Influence People * The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care * On the Road * The Feminine Mystique

Jay Parini begins with a brilliant exploration of William Bradford’s journal Of Plymouth Plantation, which was penned between 1620 and 1647 but took more than two hundred years to reach the American public. In what Parini calls “one of the great literary finds,” Bradford’s journal was discovered in a London library in 1855 and published the following year. Bradford’s story of the Pilgrims’ settlement, so much a part of America’s founding mythology, is now regarded as a fundamental work that has shaped our sense of who we are.

On The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (1793) Parini concludes: “Among the many things that Benjamin Franklin invented was autobiography itself.” Yes, there were precedents of memoir and spiritual or intellectual autobiography, but never before had a book so tracked “the creation of an individual self.”

Parini includes W. E. B. Du Bois’ The Souls of Black Folk (1903) for the reason that more than a hundred years after it was first published “this book—a medley of essays and meditations on the meaning of race in America—has become a touchstone, offering a road map for those who wish to travel to freedom.” Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique (1963) is here because few books delivered such shock effect, Parini argues, and “prompted a wave of new thinking about sexual politics that led, ultimately to the advances of feminism that have become so much a part of modern lives.”

An appendix, “One Hundred More Books That Changed America,” rounds out this major achievement with a valuable reading list—and brief descriptions—that every book aficionado will appreciate.

Parini illuminates how these watershed texts, their authors, and the times they inform have exerted great influence on our cultural and political landscape—and remain relevant today. 

Praise for Promised Land

"As a history major, I have always felt that books reveal the DNA of a nation's culture. This book is a national treasure that proves my theory! Jay Parini has done very thorough research to ascertain which books changed America's course. He has also created a list of one hundred other books that have been very influential in our history. Promised Land is a great resource that every American should have!"
—Pat Schroeder, President & CEO of the Association of American Publishers

“Reading Jay Parini's wonderful new book, Promised Land, I was reminded of Gore Vidal's observation that we live in the United States of Amnesia. Here is the sovereign cure for our amnesia, the story of our enlightenment and transcendentalist roots, told through the texts of our most life-changing books.”
—Erica Jong

“Anyone who has ever wondered if books can make a difference will be fascinated and encouraged by Promised Land, Jay Parini's incisive reading of thirteen books that changed our country forever and helped create the nation in which we live today.”
—Francine Prose

Jay Parini teaches at Middlebury College in Vermont. His books include the critical works Promised Land, The Art of Teaching, and Why Poetry Matters; biographies of John Steinbeck, Robert Frost, and William Faulkner; and the novels The Apprentice Lover, Benjamin's Crossing, and The Last Station (soon to be a motion picture). His reviews and essays appear frequently in major periodicals, including the Chronicle of Higher Education and the Guardian.