A Historical Guide to Nathaniel Hawthorne

Nathaniel Hawthorne remains one of the most widely read and taught of American authors. This Historical Guide collects a number of original essays by Hawthorne scholars that place the author in historical context. Like other volumes in the series, A Historical Guide to Nathaniel Hawthorne includes an introduction, a brief biography, a bibliographical essay, and an illustrated chronology of the author's life and times. Combining cultural criticism with historical scholarship, this volume addresses a wide range of topics relevant to Hawthorne's work, including his relationship to slavery, children, mesmerism, and the visual arts.

Larry J. Reynolds is Professor of English and Thomas Franklin Mayon Professor of Liberal Arts at Texas A&M University. He is a former President of the Nathaniel Hawthorne Society and is currently the Executive Secretary of the Margaret Fuller Society.