Vernon Parrington

Vernon Parrington (1871-1929), American educator and literary critic, born in Aurora, Illinois, and educated at Harvard University. He taught at the universities of Oklahoma (1897-1908) and Washington (1908-1929). Parrington's most important work was Main Currents in American Thought (3 volumes, 1927-1930). This searching study explores the relations between American writing and the social, economic, and political developments of the country from colonial times to 1920; the first two volumes received the 1928Pulitzer Prize in history. Parrington also wrote The Connecticut Wits (1926).