The 1920s offered a veritable explosion of distinctively American fiction for the first time, from many of the nation's most widely heralded writers, including Ernest Hemingway, Willa Cather, John Dos Passos, F. Scott Fitzgerald, William Faulkner, and others. Beyond Gatsby demonstrates how the presence of the novels by these authors contributed to shaping the national imagination. The source material ranges from the minutes of reading circles and critical comment in periodicals to the archives of writers' works and the diaries, journals, and letters of common readers.