This textbook provides beginning undergraduate students with a basic introduction to British and American literature by weaving it into a context of contemporary historical events. The authors have created learning material that includes a carefully chosen selection of literary texts, followed by thought-provoking ‘in-text’ questions designed to contribute to a better understanding of the relationship between literature and history.

Texts and Events attempts to be open-ended in its version of the past, encouraging readers to seek knowledge outside the text by analysing other narratives, both fictional and historical, to which they are referred at the end of each chapter. These ‘Suggestions for Further Study’ expand upon and present alternatives to the narratives offered here. In this way, students are challenged to begin to question the exclusive nature of literary canons, to fill in the gaps of historical narratives, and to realise that neither can ever be complete.

This second edition of Texts and Events includes a new final chapter spanning the period 2001–2012. Here, cultural narratives from Britain and the United States have been woven together with a particular focus on responses to the events of September 11, 2001 and July 7, 2005.