We think that there is a unifying identity in our cultural and intellectual production that is a deliberate dramatization of our total history. It is from this necessary and sensible orientation, as it seems to us, that we see the iconoclasm of the American writer as a major feature in our literature. What he expresses is a whole-voiced rejection of trammeling orthodoxies, conformities, hypocrisies, and delusions, wherever and whenever they are seen on the national landscape. Keeping that spirit in mind, we offer selections from American literature as a record of the continuing exploration that develops into and still speaks to our moment in time. - From the General Introduction by the Editors, on back cover.