Authors

Bartolome de las Casas

Protector of the Indians

Bartolome de las Casas

Memorial de Remedios Para las Indias

Bartolome de las Casas

History of the Indies

Bartolome de las Casas

A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies

Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca

Spanish explorer of the New World

Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca

La Relacion (The Account/Narrative) later called 'Shipwrecks'

Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca

The Relation of Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca

Bernal Diaz de Castillo

A conquistador and governor of Santiago de los Caballeros (Guatemala)

Bernal Diaz de Castillo

The True History of the Conquest of New Spain

Bernal Diaz de Castillo

True History

Thomas Morton

Early American colonist from England; lawyer, writer, reformer

Thomas Morton

New English Cannan

John Smith

Born in England; Virginia Company leader; president of Jamestown

John Smith

The General History of Virginia, New England, and The Summer Isles

John Winthrop

Cambridge-educated lawyer; governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony

John Winthrop

A Model of Christian Charity

William Bradford

English Separatist leader at Plymouth Colony

William Bradford

Of Plymouth Plantation

William Bradford

Dialogues

Roger Williams

Protestant theologian; advocate of religious freedom; founded first Baptist church in America

Roger Williams

A Key into the Language of America

Roger Williams

The Bloody Tenant of Persecution, For Cause of Conscience

Anne Bradstreet

Passenger on Arbella; mother of 8; first American poet of note

Anne Bradstreet

The Tenth Muse

Anne Bradstreet

Several Poems Compiled with Great Variety of Wit and Learning

Mary Rowlandson

Minister’s wife; captured during King Philip’s War

Mary Rowlandson

Narrative (The Sovereignty and Goodness of God)

Edward Taylor

Major colonial poet; Puritan minister; Harvard educated

Edward Taylor

Preparatory Meditations

Samuel Sewall

Judge and businessman; known for Puritan journal

Samuel Sewall

The Selling of Joseph

Samuel Sewall

Journal (life as a Puritan)

Samuel Sewall

Talitha Cumi

Samuel Sewall

The Revolution in New England Justified

Cotton Mather

Minister involved in Salem Witch Trials; wrote religious histories

Cotton Mather

Magnalia Christi Americana (History of Christianity in New England)

Cotton Mather

The Wonders of the Invisible World

Cotton Mather

Magnalia

Jonathan Edwards

Leading colonial preacher; major figure of the Enlightenment

Jonathan Edwards

Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God

Benjamin Franklin

Scientific observer, statesman, writer; sought 'moral perfection'

Benjamin Franklin

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

John Woolman

Quaker writer devoted to uniting spiritual values with daily life

John Woolman

The Journal of John Woolman

Samson Occum

Mohegan minister; Presbyterian; early Native American writer

Samson Occum

A Short Narrative of My Life

J. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur

French-American writer; asked 'What is an American?'

J. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur

Letters from an American Farmer

Olaudah Equiano

African-born enslaved man; purchased freedom; abolitionist writer

Olaudah Equiano

The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano

Philip Freneau

'Poet of the American Revolution'; journalist and satirist

Philip Freneau

The American Village

Philip Freneau

Poems

Phillis Wheatley

Former enslaved woman; first African American poet published

Phillis Wheatley

Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral

Susanna Rowson

Novelist, playwright, educator; early bestselling author

Susanna Rowson

Charlotte Temple

Susanna Rowson

Victoria

Susanna Rowson

The Inquisitor

Washington Irving

First American international literary celebrity

Washington Irving

The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon

Washington Irving

Salmagundi

Catherine Maria Sedgwick

Domestic fiction novelist; promoted Republican motherhood

Catherine Maria Sedgwick

A New-England Tale

Catherine Maria Sedgwick

Redwood

Catherine Maria Sedgwick

Live and Let Live

James Fenimore Cooper

Popular early novelist; wrote over 40 books

James Fenimore Cooper

The Last of the Mohicans

James Fenimore Cooper

Leatherstocking Series

James Fenimore Cooper

The Pioneers

James Fenimore Cooper

The Spy

William Cullen Bryant

Fireside Poet; early American literary figure

William Cullen Bryant

Poetry

William Apess

Native Methodist minister; activist; writer

William Apess

Bibliography

Caroline Kirkland

Writer and educator; wrote frontier domestic fiction

Caroline Kirkland

A New Home; Who'll Follow

Caroline Kirkland

Forest Life

Caroline Kirkland

Western Clearings

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Transcendentalist leader; essayist; lecturer

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Nature ('Self-Reliance' and 'The American Scholar')

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Essays

Nathaniel Hawthorne

Dark romantic; used allegory and symbolism

Nathaniel Hawthorne

The Token

Nathaniel Hawthorne

Twice-Told Tales

Nathaniel Hawthorne

The Scarlet Letter

William Gilmore Simms

Southern novelist; slavery supporter; acclaimed by Poe

William Gilmore Simms

Monody, on the Death of Gen. Charles Cotesworth Pinckley

William Gilmore Simms

The Wigwam and the Cabin

William Gilmore Simms

Atlantis, A Tale of the Sea

John Greenleaf Whittier

Quaker poet; anti-slavery writer; Fireside Poet

John Greenleaf Whittier

Voices of Freedom

John Greenleaf Whittier

Songs of Labor

John Greenleaf Whittier

In War Time

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Most popular poet of his generation; Fireside Poet

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Voices of the Night

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Poems on Slavery

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The Poets and Poetry of Europe

Oliver Wendell Holmes

Physician and writer; Fireside Poet