The 8th edition of the Norton Anthology of English Literature is edited by Greenblatt and contains "the major authors" only. This thorough overview of the genre ranges from 15 c. Anglo Saxon literature (including Seamus Heaney's translation of "Beowulf") to some contemporary British literature (including work by JM Coetzee and Salman Rushdie). The selections are good ones and do not seem to suffer from a single editorial point of view or tone (unlike the Penguin survey edition of modern literature that is, frankly, a complete downer). This Norton edition includes classics such as John Donne's "Meditation 17", Swift's "A Modest Proposal", Stevenson's "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde", an excerpt from Mary Wollstonecraft's "A Vindication on the Rights of Women", "Virginia Woolf's "A Room of One's Own" and so on (it might be a bit thin on the ladies but what is included is the good stuff). As an English teacher and probable reference freak, I am pleased with it.