C. Edwards (Charles Edwards) Lester

Born in Griswold, Connecticut, Charles Edwards Lester was a descendant of Jonathan Edwards and came of age during a period of fierce political and moral debate in the United States. He studied for the ministry for a time, but poor health and a wide range of interests pulled him toward public life, lecturing, and writing instead.

Lester became known in the 1840s as an antislavery speaker and writer, associated with leading abolitionists and chosen as a delegate to the World Anti-Slavery Convention in London. He later served as United States consul at Genoa, in what is now Italy, and his travels fed a literary career that ranged across biography, history, diplomacy, and current affairs.

Over the years he published books on major political and cultural figures and on events in Europe and America. That mix of reformer, traveler, and commentator gives his work a restless energy, and it helps explain why his writing often feels closely tied to the big movements and personalities of his century.