author
Lucius M. (Lucius Manlius) Sargent
1786–1867
A sharp-tongued Boston writer and reformer, he turned his energy toward books, history, and the growing temperance movement. His work mixes literary ambition with the moral urgency that shaped much of 19th-century American public life.
3 Audiobooks
My Mother's Gold Ring: Founded on Fact Eighth Edition
by Lucius M. (Lucius Manlius) Sargent
Dealings with the Dead, Volume 2 (of 2)
by Lucius M. (Lucius Manlius) Sargent
Dealings with the Dead, Volume 1 (of 2)
by Lucius M. (Lucius Manlius) Sargent
About the author
Born in Boston in 1786, Lucius Manlius Sargent became known as an author, antiquarian, and outspoken advocate of temperance. He came from the prominent Sargent family, attended Phillips Exeter Academy, and entered Harvard before leaving early; later accounts note that he studied law and was admitted to the bar.
Sargent wrote across several genres, including poetry, translations, essays, and fiction, but he is especially remembered for his reform writing. In the 1840s and 1850s he was deeply involved in the temperance cause, and his Temperance Tales helped carry that message to a wide readership. His career shows the blend of literary culture and social activism that marked many New England writers of his era.
He also had a lasting interest in the past, earning notice as an antiquarian as well as a man of letters. Sargent died in 1867, leaving behind a body of work tied closely to the moral debates and intellectual life of 19th-century Boston.