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Prize in Literature and the Pulitzer Prize, Buck wrote more than 100 titles, as well as short stories, plays, a book of verse, children’s books, biographies, and a cookbook—much while sitting in her office at her Bucks County, Pennsylvania farmhouse watching her eight children play outside her window. Brought to China from Virginia as a young girl, Buck lived among the missionaries and based much of her work on her travels to Asia. In addition to the best-selling The Good Earth, a few other works by Buck include Dragon Seed, East Wind: West Wind, and the House of Earth trilogy. She also founded the charitable organization Pearl S. Buck International, which helps children around the world who have been marginalized due to mixed heredity, disease, hunger, poverty, or other tragic circumstances.

☞ STEPHEN CRANE (1871-1900)

Writer and journalist, Crane died at 28 years old and will forever be remembered for the required-reading novel, the Red Badge of Courage, which details the horrors of war experienced by a young soldier. This classic is based on memoirs and interviews with Civil War veterans.

☞ RALPH WALDO EMERSON (1803-82)

Essayist, philosopher, abolitionist, and poet, Emerson greatly influenced the transcendentalist movement of the mid-1800s. His associations include Henry David Thoreau (Walden Pond was on his property) and Nathaniel Hawthorne and his neighbor Louisa May Alcott. His collected essays included “Self-Reliance,” which warned people to avoid conformity and to follow their own ideas and instincts. “Nature,” “Circles,” and “The Poet” are a few of his other most successful pieces.

☞ WILLIAM FAULKNER (1897-1962)

Known for his stream of consciousness, Faulkner’s literary technique depicts what is going on in the speaker’s head rather than simply relating the person’s dialogue with others. In his novel As I Lay Dying, Faulkner presents 15 different points of view. Other well-known novels include The Sound and the Fury; Light in August; Absalom, Absalom; and The Unvanquished.

☞ F. SCOTT FITZGERALD (1896-1940)

Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was the namesake and second cousin three times removed of the author of the United States’ National Anthem. His six finished novels, including Tender Is the Night and This Side of Paradise and many short stories evoke the Jazz Age and his tumultuous relationship with his wife, Zelda Sayre. Like a fine wine, his masterpiece The Great Gatsby is about the futility and moral decay of the wealthy that gets even better with age. Fitzgerald died at 44, considering himself a failed writer. However, Gatsby continues as a best seller and is often required reading for many high school and college students.

☞ NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE (1804-1864)

Who could forget the Scarlet Letter’s all-too-human Hester Prynne, who—after being separated from her cool-hearted husband (Chillingworth)—has a passionate affair with her charismatic minister. The Puritans chide her and force her to wear a scarlet “A” upon her breast, advertising her sin. Hester dutifully (and wisely) protects Pastor Dimmesdale from public scorn, but his conscience catches up to him. The story warns of the scourge of sin and that people can be downright self-righteous. A few other examples from his published works include The House of the Seven Gables; a short-story collection, Twice-Told Tales, and the short stories “The Birthmark” and “Young Goodman Brown.”

☞ JOSEPH HELLER (1923-1999)

Although he is often regarded as one of the best post-World War II satirists, Heller’s career included stints as a blacksmith’s apprentice, a B-25 bombardier, and an advertising copywriter. However, his novel Catch-22 is one of the few whose title has created an idiom rather than employing an existing quotation. The plot centers on a group of American fighter pilots in Italy during World War II and their efforts to avoid flying suicidal missions. The problem is that the only way they can get out of flying missions is if they are crazy—but the moment they ask to be grounded because flying the missions is crazy, they are deemed