Great American authors since 1650 / [produced by Centre Communications, Inc. for Ambrose Video Publishing ; producer, Ronald C. Meyer ; director, Scott Gordon ; written by Mark Reeder.

Presents the lives and literary output of more than 60 of America's most read authors in concise, stand-alone segments presented in chronological order.

Program 1. The awe-inspiring saga of America's greatest authors comes alive in Great American Authors since 1650. As the American colonies moved toward becoming an independent nation, a unique and distinctive voice poured forth from the pens of its authors. Once the nation was founded, America's first literary giants -- Washington Irving, James Fenimore Cooper, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Edgar Allan Poe -- told stories and wrote poems that could have only come from the heart and soul of this fledgling country.

Program 2. Between the War of 1812 and the Mexican American War that ended in 1848, America experienced an exuberant economic period of growth. And, it was during this time that American authors produced the nation's first great wave of classic literature. In this program, such literary giants as Herman Melville, Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow make their mark on the American psyche.

Program 3. After the Civil War the modern American novel took shape ... It was led by Louisa May Alcott, Mark Twain and Henry James. It was also the time that the American literary voice came from everyone and from everywhere.

Program 4. During this time frame America lost its innocence. Its writers now began to struggle with the problems that accompanied modernization and industrialization. It was also the beginning of the lost generation of American authors.

Program 5. This was the most turbulent period in American history, a time of extremes: the Roaring Twenties and the Great Depression. As the 20's came to a dreadful close and the country struggled through the 30's, America's greatest collection of writers, known collectively as "the lost generation," set a new standard for American literature.

Program 6. Through the dark years of WWII and in its aftermath, America entered the technological age. The most popular American authors were becoming legends in their own time with the growth of mass media and popular culture. Their response was as diverse as the nation's response to living in the nuclear age.

Program 7. If the lost generation authors were searching for identity and meaning, the group of authors in the middle of the last century rejected everything that mainstream America embraced. Ultimately they would speak to the baby boomer generation, first as children, then as proactive teens, and ultimately as adults in the later part of the century.

Program 8. This half century spanned generations of writers who witnessed or participated in WWII, Korea, The Cold War, The Civil Rights Movement, Vietnam and multiple wars in the Middle East. Their diverse experiences influenced them intellectually, spiritually and emotionally which contributed to the eclectic collection of thought-provoking literature of the period.

Host, Jane Kaczmarek ; narrators, Alphonse Keasley, Jane Simms Roche.