Bercovitch, Sacvan, ed.Cambridge History of American Literature. Cambridge University Press, 1994- . Projected eight-volume history combines the talents of numerous scholars.
Bryer, Jackson R., ed.Sixteen Modern American Authors: A Survey of Research and Criticism. Duke University Press, 1973-1990. A different contributor covers each writer, providing a biography, works, criticism, and a bibliography. Volume 2 covers criticism between 1972 and 1989.
Kazin, Alfred.An American Procession. Knopf, Reprint, Harvard University Press, 1984. 1996. An American critic examines famous American writers from 1830 to 1930.