The works of Mark Twain, Ambrose Bierce, Frederick Douglass, and Stephen Crane all exemplify an important period in American Lit
erature during which authors confronted the human condition without attempting to use art to beautify it. This approach is called A) progressivism
B) realism
C) symbolism.
D) transcendentalism
The movement known as realism took a hard look at life in America during the latter half of the 19th Century, which included the Civil War and Reconstruction.
