Drawing from the wealth of Greek literary, epigraphic, and monumental traditions, the author constructs a detailed and historically rich picture of the lives of 5th century B.C. Athenians. Combining the virtues of a historical narrative and a work of historical fiction which imagines episodes in the lives of famous and anonymous Athenians of every social class, The Goat Song is an accessible and entertaining recreation of a world-historical epoch that continues to shape contemporary Western culture. Albert Camus in our own era describes human being as meaning demanding creatures. Suffering without purpose, struggle without heroism, dying without the hope of some connection to a transcendent order or value makes life seem empty and pointless. Dr. Young's story-telling helps the curious reader to sympathetically understand the inner lives of ancient Athenians in terms of their own culture. The reader is led to see their world and the trajectory of their lives through the poetic stories of gods and heroes, political ideals, and philosophical theories which for ancient Athenians defined the possible meanings of their human aspirations and struggles.

Praise for the print edition:" ... no other reference work on American fiction brings together such an array of authors and texts as this.

This concise version contains brief biographies of important authors, plot summaries of individual works, descriptions of important literary movements, and a wealth of information on other aspects of American literary life and history from the Colonial period to the modern era.

Writers of the Black Chicago Renaissance comprehensively explores the contours and content of the Black Chicago Renaissance, a creative movement that emerged from the crucible of rigid segregation in Chicago's "Black Belt" from the 1930s through the 1960s. Heavily influenced by the Harlem Renaissance and the Chicago Renaissance of white writers, its participants were invested in political activism and social change as much as literature, art, and aesthetics. The revolutionary writing of this era produced some of the first great accolades for African American literature and set up much of the important writing that came to fruition in the Black Arts Movement. The volume covers a vast collection of subjects, including many important writers such as Richard Wright, Gwendolyn Brooks, and Lorraine Hansberry as well as cultural products such as black newspapers, music, and theater. The book includes individual entries by experts on each subject; a discography and filmography that highlight important writers, musicians, films, and cultural presentations; and an introduction that relates the Harlem Renaissance, the White Chicago Renaissance, the Black Chicago Renaissance, and the Black Arts Movement. Contributors are Robert Butler, Robert H. Cataliotti, Maryemma Graham, James C. Hall, James L. Hill, Michael Hill, Lovalerie King, Lawrence Jackson, Angelene Jamison-Hall, Keith Leonard, Lisbeth Lipari, Bill V. Mullen, Patrick Naick, William R. Nash, Charlene Regester, Kimberly Ruffin, Elizabeth Schultz, Joyce Hope Scott, James Smethurst, Kimberly M. Stanley, Kathryn Waddell Takara, Steven C. Tracy, Zoe Trodd, Alan Wald, Jamal Eric Watson, Donyel Hobbs Williams, Stephen Caldwell Wright, and Richard Yarborough.