1891. Initial Studies in American Letters is a companion piece to Beers's historical sketch of English literature entitled From Chaucer to Tennyson. Though meant to be mainly a history of American belles-lettres, it does make some mention of historical and political writings, but hardly any of philosophical, scientific and technical works and is laid out in chronological order. Contents: The Colonial Period, 1607-1765; The Revolutionary Period, 1765-1815; The Era of National Expansion, 1815-1837; The Concord Writers, 1837-1861; The Cambridge Scholars, 1837-1861; Literature in the Cities, 1837-1861; and Literature Since 1861. See other titles by this author available from Kessinger Publishing.