Much of the literary product of the period had a distinctly regional character. This too could be traced to economic changes. The Industrial Revolution called for standardization, the mass production of goods, and streamlined channels of distribution. The lifestyle changes this rationalization of production entailed were profound and people began to fear that local traditions would fall by the wayside trampled in reckless pursuit of economic efficiency. Responding to these sentiments, Realist writers sought to capture and preserve the "local color" before it was lost. They drew upon the grim realities of everyday life in depicting the breakdown of traditional values and the deepening plight of the new urban underclass. This focus on the ordinary lives of ordinary people was characteristic of American Realism. Readers were attracted to the stories because they were something with which they could identify. American life was changing, the pace was quickening, and readers needed writers who dealt directly with the problems they were facing. In the great literary struggle the Romantic writers had been rendered irrelevant, vanquished by changing circumstances.
