WARNING!
When conducting research on the open web (for example, through Google and not restricted to library databases), be sure to pay attention to who is providing the information. The organization behind a website may have an agenda that isn't immediately clear to you, the reader. This can be particularly true when looking into certain topics, like religion and politics. Is the organization providing the information biased? What incentives might the organization have for skewing the information on the site or only presenting one side of an issue? Sites that have the ending .com may be more likely to be biased than others when researching medical topics, for example. Sites that end in .edu may be more likely to present both sides of an issue because they are managed by educational organizations. Keep in mind what agenda may be behind an given website or the organization providing the information.
The websites listed here may serve as a very brief introduction to your topic. It may be best to start your research by searching the library's databases, books, and other resources. Those resources have gone through a more thorough screening process to make sure that the information is accurate and of good quality.
If you have difficulty determining whether you can trust the information on a site, please ask a librarian or your instructor for guidance.
There are many American Literature websites--from .edus, for example--that are no longer updated, but which are readily discovered via Google or DuckDuckGo. The links below are to websites that have been selected for their usefulness and their currency.
The PEN America Digital Archive is a database of multimedia recordings "at the intersection of literature and freedom of expression advocacy." U.S. authors, directors, actors, cultural critics and others are covered.
Navigate the database by searching on keywords; use filters to select genre, participant's role or location; or browse by subject heading or author/participant name.
The PEN America Digital Archive dates back to 1966, resonating with the voices of literary luminaries; Nobel Prize winners in literature, economics, science, and peace; social reformers; philosophers; and political and artistic revolutionaries whose work, ideas, and actions explored and helped frame the most pressing issues of our time. Comprised of more than 1500 hours of audio and video recordings, the collection provides a unique historical perspective on the way Americans and American culture engaged, and at times disengaged, with the outside world during pivotal moments in history: the Cold War, the Civil Rights era, the Vietnam War, the Iranian Cultural Revolution and hostage crisis, the AIDS epidemic, the post-Communist decade, and September 11. Arthur Miller, Susan Sontag, Toni Morrison, James Baldwin, and Allen Ginsberg are just a few of the icons and iconoclasts captured in the PEN America Digital Archive.