American · b. 1942
Ann Douglas is an American cultural historian and literary critic. She taught English and American studies at Princeton and later became a professor of English and comparative literature at Columbia University. Her first major book, The Feminization of American Culture (1977), argued that middle-class women and liberal Protestant ministers in the nineteenth century shaped a sentimental culture that weakened Calvinism and anticipated modern consumerism. The book became a central text in American studies and set off long debate among historians and literary scholars. Her second book, Terrible Honesty: Mongrel Manhattan in the 1920s (1995), examined the mixed black and white culture of jazz, theater and writing in New York and won wide praise. She also wrote The Feminization of American Culture's later sequel-style essays and edited editions of nineteenth-century fiction, including Uncle Tom's Cabin. Her work is known for sharp judgments, wit and close attention to popular texts.