"In the 1800s a migrant farmer named Maria Ann Smith worked as an apple orchardist. Her discovery of a new type of apple that never turned red, but was always green, tart, sweet, and perfect for a pie, was due part to a fluke of nature, and part to Maria's insight and determination. The beloved Granny Smith apple that we know today was named in her honor. This is her story"--

America is a nation making itself up as it goes along--a story of discovery and invention unfolding in speeches and images, letters and poetry, unprecedented feats of scholarship and imagination. In these myriad, multiform, endlessly changing expressions of the American experience, the authors and editors of this volume find a new American history. In more than two hundred original essays, this book brings together the nation's many voices. From the...

A collection of plots and evaluations for literary works and drama.