author
Elizabeth A. (Elizabeth Armstrong) Reed
1842–1915
A self-taught American scholar of Eastern religions and literature, she wrote ambitious studies of Hindu, Persian, and Buddhist traditions that reached readers far beyond her own era. Her work stood out in the late 19th century for bringing subjects rarely taught by women into mainstream literary and academic discussion.
1 Audiobook
Persian Literature, Ancient and Modern
by Elizabeth A. (Elizabeth Armstrong) Reed
About the author
Born in Winthrop, Maine, in 1842, Elizabeth A. Reed — also known as Elizabeth Armstrong Reed and born Sophia Elizabeth Armstrong — became an American Oriental scholar and author. She wrote on Hindu, Persian, and Buddhist literature, and several of her books were used as college texts in Oriental studies.
Her best-known works include Hindu Literature: Or, The Ancient Books of India and Persian Literature, Ancient and Modern. Contemporary accounts note that her books were accepted by the Philosophical Society of Great Britain, a rare distinction for a woman writer in her field at the time.
Reed was married to Hiram V. Reed and was the mother of novelist Myrtle Reed. She died in 1915, leaving behind a body of work that reflects both wide reading and a strong desire to introduce English-language readers to major literary and religious traditions from Asia.