Early American Literature (17th-19th Century):
* Poetry: Anne Bradstreet, Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Edgar Allan Poe
* Prose: Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, Mark Twain, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Beecher Stowe
Modern American Literature (19th-20th Century):
* Poetry: Robert Frost, T.S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, Langston Hughes, Maya Angelou
* Prose: F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, Toni Morrison, Harper Lee, John Steinbeck
Contemporary American Literature (20th-21st Century):
* Poetry: Sylvia Plath, Allen Ginsberg, Adrienne Rich, Gary Snyder, Billy Collins
* Prose: J.D. Salinger, Kurt Vonnegut, Philip Roth, Toni Cade Bambara, Alice Walker, Stephen King, Margaret Atwood
Other Notable Authors:
* Non-fiction: Susan Sontag, James Baldwin, Gore Vidal, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr.
* Science Fiction: Ray Bradbury, Ursula K. Le Guin, Philip K. Dick, Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke
* Fantasy: J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett
* Horror: H.P. Lovecraft, Shirley Jackson, Stephen King
This list barely scratches the surface. It's a good starting point, but remember to explore beyond these names and find writers that resonate with your own interests!