His first novels, Their Wedding Journey (1872), The Lady of the Aroostook (1879), and others, were moralistic comedies of manners that aroused only mild interest. However, when he turned to realism with A Modern Instance (1882) and The Rise of Silas Lapham (1885), he became a leading novelist. In these two books, which are regarded as his major achievements, Howells portrayed with minute detail characters attempting to solve lifelike problems, often arising from social distinctions. His unromantic love story, Indian Summer (1886), was also highly popular. Howells' critical essays on the works of such realistic European writers as Tolstoy, Zola, and Ibsen helped to mold American taste, and he was a literary mentor to Mark Twain, Hamlin Garland, Thorstein Veblen, and Stephen Crane.

From the late 1880s on Howells spent much of his time New York City. During these years he became more and more concerned with social conflict and the problems of industrialization. Socialist thought is apparent in his novels A Hazard of New Fortunes (1890), The Quality of Mercy (1892), and An Imperative Duty (1893), and even more forthright in his utopian works, A Traveler from Altruria (1894) and Through the Eye of the Needle (1907). He was an amazingly prolific author; besides his many novels he wrote plays ranging from blank verse tragedy to farce; critical works; several volumes of reminiscence; and short stories. The most notable of his critical volumes is Criticism and Fiction (1891). His books of reminiscences include A Boy's Town (1890), My Year in a Log Cabin (1893), Impressions and Experiences (1896), Literary Friends and Acquaintances (1900), My Mark Twain (1910), and Years of My Youth (1916).

Acheson's attempts to dissociate the United States from the Nationalist Chinese regime in Taiwan drew relentless attacks from congressmen of his own party as well as Republicans; his support of U.S. military commitments to South Korea also aroused much criticism. Moreover, his unwillingness to condemn Alger Hiss brought personal abuse as well as attacks on his handling of loyalty and security policy at the Dept. of State. Returning to private practice in 1953, Acheson remained a Democratic spokesman on foreign policy and exerted considerable influence on the Kennedy administration. He wrote A Democrat Looks at His Party (1955), A Citizen Looks at Congress (1957), Power and Diplomacy (1958), Fragments of My Fleece (1971), and three autobiographical works, Morning and Noon (1965), Present at the Creation (1969), and Grapes from Thorns (1972).

(born Feb. 9, 1909, Cherokee county, Ga., U.S.—died Dec. 20, 1994, Athens, Ga.) U.S. secretary of state (1961–69) and educator. He earned a master's degree as a Rhodes scholar at St. John's College, Oxford, and then taught (1934–40) at Mills College in Oakland, Calif. He served in World War II on Gen. Joseph Stilwell's staff. He later held positions in the U.S. State Department and War Department, helping prosecute the Korean War as an assistant secretary of state (1950). After serving as president of the Rockefeller Foundation (1952–60), he became U.S. secretary of state under John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. A consistent defender of U.S. participation in the Vietnam War, he became a target of antiwar protests. He also opposed diplomatic recognition of China. After retiring from public life, he taught at the University of Georgia until 1984.

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(born March 1, 1837, Martins Ferry, Ohio, U.S.—died May 11, 1920, New York, N.Y.) U.S. novelist and critic. He wrote a campaign biography of Abraham Lincoln (1860) and served as consul in Venice during Lincoln's administration. As editor of the Atlantic Monthly (1871–81), he became a preeminent figure in late 19th-century American letters. A champion of literary realism, he was one of the first to recognize the genius of Mark Twain and Henry James. His own novels (from 1872) depict America as it changed from a simple, egalitarian society where luck and pluck were rewarded to one in which social and economic gulfs were becoming unbridgeable. His best-known work, The Rise of Silas Lapham (1885), is about a self-made man's efforts to fit into Boston society. Howells risked his livelihood with his plea for clemency for the anarchists involved in the Haymarket Riot, and his deepening disillusionment with American society is reflected in the late novels Annie Kilburn (1888) and A Hazard of New Fortunes (1890).

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(born April 11, 1893, Middletown, Conn., U.S.—died Oct. 12, 1971, Sandy Spring, Md.) U.S. secretary of state (1949–53). After graduating from Yale University and Harvard Law School, he practiced law in Washington, D.C. In 1941 he joined the State Department, where he later served as undersecretary (1945–47). In 1947 he helped design the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan. As secretary of state under Harry S. Truman, he promoted the formation of NATO and was a principal creator of U.S. foreign policy in the early years of the Cold War. During congressional hearings held by Sen. Joseph McCarthy, Acheson refused to fire any alleged subversives in the State Department, including Alger Hiss. He established the policies of nonrecognition of China and aid to the regime of Chiang Kai-shek in Taiwan, and he supported U.S. aid to the French colonial regime in Indochina. After leaving office, he continued to advise successive presidents. His memoir Present at the Creation won a 1970 Pulitzer Prize.

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