Edith Wharton

An item at American Writers Museum

Raised in elite New York society, Edith Wharton summered in Newport and Europe. After publishing a best seller on interior design, she turned to writing novels about her world of privilege. With a keen eye for detail and a sharp use of satire, irony, and wit, Wharton crafted complex, realistic characters who struggle to navigate unhappy marriages, divorces, and double standards for women.

In The Age of Innocence (1920), Wharton explores the social barriers and unrealistic expectations that restrain women. She became the first woman to win a Pulitzer Prize for a novel,

AMERICAN VOICES

An exhibit at American Writers Museum

American writing is distinctive, diverse, and comes in many forms from across the nation. The 100 authors featured here represent the evolution of American writing. Learn more about each writer on the timeline by turning the panels below their portraits. Explore centuries of writing by pulling, turning, and touching the interactive elements on the counter.

This is not meant to be a list of the greatest or most influential writers. Instead, we present authors and works as part of the American story as it grows and changes. Taken together, this rich literary heritage reflects America in all of its complexity: its energy, hope, conflict, disillusionment, and creativity.

American Writers Museum