author
J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur
1735–1813
Best known for Letters from an American Farmer, this French-born writer turned everyday colonial life into vivid, influential prose. His work helped shape one of the earliest and most quoted ideas of what it meant to be “an American.”
1 Audiobook
Letters from an American Farmer
by J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur
About the author
Born in Caen, France, in 1735 as Michel-Guillaume-Jean de Crèvecœur, he later settled in British North America, became a naturalized New Yorker under the name John Hector St. John, and worked as a farmer as well as a writer and diplomat.
He is most closely associated with Letters from an American Farmer (1782), a book that presented scenes of colonial life through the voice of a fictional farmer named James. The work became widely known for its clear, observant style and for the famous question, “What is an American?”, which made him an important early interpreter of American identity.
His life was marked by the disruptions of the American Revolution, and those experiences deepened the tension in his writing between hope, hardship, and moral unease. He died in 1813, leaving behind a body of work that still matters for readers interested in early America, travel writing, and the beginnings of American literature.