author
Moses Coit Tyler
1835–1900
A pioneering American historian and literary critic, he helped shape how early American writing and ideas were studied in universities. His books brought colonial and Revolutionary-era voices to life with unusual range and energy.
1 Audiobook
Patrick Henry
by Moses Coit Tyler
About the author
Born in Griswold, Connecticut, in 1835, Moses Coit Tyler grew up partly in the Midwest and built a career that moved across ministry, journalism, literature, and history. He studied at the University of Michigan, later taught there, and went on to become the first full university professor of American history at Cornell University.
Tyler is best remembered for treating American literature and history as deeply connected. His major works include A History of American Literature and The Literary History of the American Revolution, books that helped readers see colonial and Revolutionary writing not as side notes to British literature but as central to the American story.
He died in Ithaca, New York, in 1900. Today he is still remembered as an early scholar who gave serious attention to American writing, public thought, and the intellectual life of the nation's beginnings.