author
Moses Coit Tyler
1835–1900
A pioneering literary historian, he helped turn early American writing into a serious field of study. His work connects books, ideas, and public life in colonial and revolutionary America.
1 Audiobook
Patrick Henry
by Moses Coit Tyler
About the author
Born in Griswold, Connecticut, in 1835, Moses Coit Tyler became an American historian, critic, and professor known for treating literature as an important part of the nation's history. He studied at Yale and went on to teach at the University of Michigan before later joining Cornell, where he became the first full university professor of American history.
Tyler is especially remembered for books such as A History of American Literature and The Literary History of the American Revolution. Rather than separating politics from culture, he looked at sermons, pamphlets, essays, and other writing as evidence of how Americans thought and argued in the colonial and revolutionary periods.
That approach helped shape the study of American intellectual and literary history. Though he died in 1900, his work still stands out for its wide curiosity and for taking early American writing seriously at a time when the field was still being defined.