What was the 'first American novel'? On this Independence Day, a look at what it started

Critics have long debated which books qualify as a ‘Great American Novel.’ The discussion over the ‘First American Novel’ is relatively settled. Honors go to William Hill Brown's ‘The Power of Sympathy,’ a 1789 publication centered on a doomed New England love affair. Hill’s book is in many ways characteristic of the era, whether its epistolary format, its Anglicized prose, its unidentified author, or its pious message. But “The Power of Sympathy” also includes themes that reflected the aspirations and anxieties of a young country and still resonate now.