American History Through Literature

The U.S. Constitution, and Washington's first term, began in the late 1780s, making the 1790s the first truly American decade. Here is one work of literature for each decade of America:

1790s "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" by Washington Irving
1800s "The Fall of the House of Usher" by Edgar Alan Poe*

1810s "The Devil and Daniel Webster" by Stephen Vincent Benet

1820s Moby Dick by Herman Melville

1830s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

1840s Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy

1850s Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman

1860s The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane

1870s Beloved by Toni Morrison

1880s Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather

1890s The Awakening by Kate Chopin

1900s Ragtime by E.L. Doctorow

1910s Main Street by Sinclair Lewis

1920s The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

1930s All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren

1940s Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut

1950s A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O'Connor

1960s Play It as It Lays by Joan Didion

1970s The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien

1980s White Noise by Don DeLillo†

1990s The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen

2000s Averno by Louise Gluck

2010s Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine

*The original story is seemingly set in England, but is often associated with New York. Also this is a really tough decade to find anything, so...

†This is the only one I've not read, and am going on trust. Weirdly I've not really read any good American books set in the 1980s.

100 Movie Songs

Here’s a list: The best movie songs. To make it I put in two caveats: 1) It had to originate with a movie - I wanted to remove songs from Broadway musicals, but ended up removing far more than I imagined, because of it. (Did you know “Singin’ in the Rain” and “As Time Goes By” were originally from stage musicals?) 2) I only picked the best song per movie. Otherwise there’d be a whole slew from Disney movies, etc. Lastly, lyrical songs only, otherwise the lines get blurred with soundtracks. Without further ado:

1. Over the Rainbow - The Wizard of Oz
2. Moon River - Breakfast at Tiffany’s
3. White Christmas - Holiday Inn
4. Pure Imagination - Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
5. When You Wish Upon a Star - Pinocchio
6. My Heart Will Go On - Titanic
7. Mrs. Robinson - The Graduate
8. When Doves Cry - Purple Rain
9. You’re the One That I Want - Grease
10. Let It Go - Frozen
11. Stayin’ Alive - Saturday Night Fever
12. The Circle of Life - The Lion King
13. Superfly - Superfly
14. Theme from New York, New York - New York, New York
15. Jailhouse Rock - Jailhouse Rock
16. See You Again - Furious 7
17. Rainbow Connection - The Muppet Movie
18. The Way You Look Tonight - Swing Time
19. Up Where We Belong - An Officer and a Gentleman
20. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas - Meet Me in St. Louis
21. Lose Yourself - 8 Mile
22. Eye of the Tiger - Rocky III
23. I’ve Got You Under My Skin - Born to Dance
24. 9 to 5 - 9 to 5
25. Make ‘Em Laugh - Singin’ in the Rain
26. Someday My Prince Will Come - Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
27. Happy - Despicable Me 2
28. Remember Me - Coco
29. Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head - Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
30. Fame - Fame
31. Theme from Shaft - Shaft
32. Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious - Mary Poppins
33. Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off - Shall We Dance
34. Gonna Fly Now (Theme from Rocky) - Rocky
35. Footloose - Footloose
36. That’s Amore - The Caddy
37. The Way We Were - The Way We Were
38. (I’ve Had) The Time of My Life - Dirty Dancing
39. Que Sera, Sera - The Man Who Knew Too Much
40. Swinging on a Star - Going My Way
41. On the Road Again - Honeysuckle Rose
42. This Is Me - The Greatest Showman
43. Call Me - American Gigolo
44. Can’t Stop the Feeling! - Trolls
45. You’ve Got a Friend in Me - Toy Story
46. Gangsta’s Paradise - Dangerous Minds
47. Suicide Is Painless - M*A*S*H
48. Beauty and the Beast - Beauty and the Beast
49. Don’t Worry, Be Happy - Cocktail
50. Fight the Power - Do the Right Thing
51. Shining Star - That’s the Way of the World
52. The Harder They Come - The Harder They Come
53. Sunflower - Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
54. A Whole New World - Aladdin
55. On the Good Ship Lollipop - Bright Eyes
56. High Hopes - A Hole in the Head
57. I Believe I Can Fly - Space Jam
58. Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy  - Buck Privates
59. Skyfall - Skyfall
60. The Ballad of High Noon - High Noon
61. Flashdance… What a Feeling - Flashdance
62. I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing - Armageddon
63. Windmills of Your Mind - The Thomas Crown Affair
64. Part of Your World - The Little Mermaid
65. Live and Let Die - Live and Let Die
66. Blues in the Night - Blues in the Night
67. Don’t You (Forget About Me) - The Breakfast Club
68. Hooray for Hollywood - Hollywood Hotel
69. Springtime for Hitler - The Producers
70. Come What May - Moulin Rouge!
71. I’m Easy - Nashville
72. Cheek to Cheek - Top Hat
73. Ghostbusters - Ghostbusters
74. Viva Las Vegas - Viva Las Vegas
75. We Don’t Talk About Bruno - Encanto
76. Take My Breath Away - Top Gun
77. Golden - KPop Demon Hunters
78. That Thing You Do! - That Thing You Do!
79. If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out - Harold and Maude
80. Born Free - Born Free
81. Days of Wine and Roses - Days of Wine and Roses
82. Everything is Awesome! - The Lego Movie
83. The Gold Diggers’ Song (We’re in the Money) - Gold Diggers of 1933
84. Thanks for the Memory - The Big Broadcast of 1938
85. The Man Who Got Away - A Star is Born (1954)
86. Goldfinger - Goldfinger
87. I’m Just Ken - Barbie
88. Evergreen - A Star is Born (1976)
89. Chattanooga Choo Choo - Sun Valley Serenade
90. (We’re Off on the) Road to Morocco - Road to Morocco
91. Once Upon a December - Anastasia
92. Another Day of Sun - La La Land
93. Buttons and Bows - The Paleface
94. Streets of Philadelphia - Philadelphia
95. Be a Man - Mulan 
96. Shallow - A Star is Born (2018)
97. (Everything I Do) I Do It For You - Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
98. The Power of Love - Back to the Future
99. (I’m Gonna) Love Me Again - Rocketman
100. 42nd Street - 42nd Street