American Beauty is a 1931 novel by American author Edna Ferber first published by Doubleday Doran. Set in the Housatonic region of Connecticut, the story, spanning the years 1700 to 1930, relates the steady decline of the Oakes family and their property, as well as their tense relations with Polish immigrants. The title comes from a line within the book. According to the story, Christopher Wren, who helped design the Oakes family mansion, said Connecticut has "a kind of American beauty," resembling Kent but possessing larger and higher landscapes.