Introduction

The Oxford Handbook of Charles Brockden Brown provides an up-to-date survey of the life of and full range of writings by Charles Brockden Brown (1771–1810), a key writer of the Atlantic revolutionary age and the early American republic. Through the late twentieth century, Brown was best known as an important author of political romances in the Gothic mode that were widely influential in the Romantic era and has generated large amounts of scholarship as a crucial figure in the history of the American novel. More recent work recognizes him likewise as an influential editor, historian, and writer in other genres such as poetry, short fiction, and essays and as a figure whose work resonated throughout the Atlantic world of the revolutionary age. The Oxford Handbook’s thirty-five chapters build on the research of the most recent scholarly generation to introduce readers to Brown and explore his wide-ranging work.