American Novels was a summer series presenting abridged and serialized dramatizations of famous American novels. It was part of the series The World's Great Novels. Also part of NBC's University of the Air, the show premiered July 4, 1947 and appeared again in 1948.

As the show title says, the novels dramatized are all written by American authors and included such titles as Little Women, Moby Dick, Tom Sawyer, and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. The show aired on the the network on Fridays.

NBC's University of the Air presented serialized adaptions of classic novels. Listeners could enroll with participating colleges to receive credit toward a college degree. American Novels was considered more of a summer survey and was not used by many colleges as part of the summer curriculum. See also: NBC University of the Air's World's Great Novels and Indiana School of the Sky.

For more dramatized broadway plays, see also: Showtime. For other literature-based see also: American Novels, Authors Collection, Author's Playhouse, Best Plays, Favorite Story, Great Plays, NBC University Theater, New Theater, Theater Guild on the Air, Tell It Again, Theater Royal, World's Greatest Novels, and Your Playhouse of Favorites.