If she happens to be a poster here, then I would (respectfully) disagree with her characterization of Capote and non-mention of Harper Lee, both of whom are important American writers. Lee, for the record, is still alive.
Sorry. I've never found Capote to be an important writer. "In Cold Blood" was a horrifying tale, in which he previewed the liberal obsession with identifying with the murderer instead of the innocent family which the two bums butchered. Look at Norman Mailer's defence of Gary ? who was released and then committed more murders.
Harper Lee's work was a little more refined, but I must plead ignorance, having only read "To Kill a Mockingbird".