The fifth volume of “US Literary History” traces the features of the development of realism in American literature of the early 20th century (1901–1920) and examines the early stage of the formation of modernist movements. The focus is on the work of such major writers as G. James, J. London , T. Dreiser, G. Adams, E. Wharton, E. Glasgow, W. Kaeser, E. Sinclair, O. Henry. Special sections are devoted to socially oriented journalism, short stories, the “Poetic Revival”, represented by the names of E. A. Robinson , E. Lee Masters, V. Lindsay, as well as the new avant-garde movement of imagism, drama, African-American literature, ethnic literature, criticism and literary criticism and the influence of Russian literature on the literary life of the USA.