1. Historical Background Before 1860 the United States had begun to change into an industrial and urban society. In the years preceding the Civil War relatively few volumes of imaginative literature were published in the Us. But as the century progressed American writers won increasing national and international fame Literature ceased to be didactic, a servant of politics and religion. American nationalism stimulated a greater literary interest in American subjects. At mid-century a cultural reawakening brought"flowering of New England, the first literary renaissance in American literary history 22 1. Historical Background: ◼ Before 1860 the United States had begun to change into an industrial and urban society. In the years preceding the Civil War relatively few volumes of imaginative literature were published in the US. But as the century progressed, American writers won increasing national and international fame. ◼ Literature ceased to be didactic, a servant of politics and religion. American nationalism stimulated a greater literary interest in American subjects. At mid-century a cultural reawakening brought “flowering of New England” , the first literary renaissance in American literary history