In 1898, Frederick Jackson Turner declared the frontier as the defining feature of American culture, but American authors had uncovered its significance much earlier. This program turns to three key writers of the early national period — James Fenimore Cooper, John Rollin Ridge, and Walt Whitman — and examines the influential visions of American manhood offered by each author. About the series: A video course on American literature for college-level instruction and teacher professional development; 16 half-hour video programs, instructor's guide, study guide, and Web site. American Passages: A Literary Survey is a 16-part American literature course. The video programs, print guides, and Web site place literary movements and authors within the context of history and culture. The course takes an expanded view of American literary movements, bringing in a diversity of voices and tracing the continuity among them. The materials, which are coordinated with the Norton Anthology of American Literature, can be used as the basis of a one or two-semester college-level course or for teacher professional development. Produced by Oregon Public Broadcasting. 2003.