Review: \u3ci\u3eThe Difficult Art of Giving: Patronage, Philanthropy, and the American Literary Market\u3c/i\u3e and \u3ci\u3eCaptains of Charity: The Writing and Wages of Postrevolutionary Atlantic Benevolence\u3c/i\u3e

(excerpt) Francesca Sawaya’s The Difficult Art of Giving and Mary Kathleen Eyring’s Captains of Charity, two recent additions to the ongoing analysis of American attitudes toward charitable giving, offer compelling readings of both prominent and lesser-known authors. While each addresses different periods of American history, they share some key insights regarding the intersection of philanthropy, literature, and a rapidly changing economic landscape, even as they differ rather dramatically in their interpretations. More importantly, they are a welcome reminder that recent critiques of the nonprofit sector, including of corporate and family foundations, are not new; writers have been exploring, exposing, and taking advantage of the fraught intersection between the marketplace and charitable organizations since the days when they began gaining prominence in the United States