Home to the so-called big five publishers as well as hundreds of smaller presses, renowned literary agents, a vigorous arts scene, and an uncountable number of aspiring and established writers alike, New York City is widely perceived as the publishing capital of the United States and the world. This book traces the origins and early evolution of the city’s rise to literary preeminence. Through five case studies, Steven Carl Smith examines publishing in New York from the post–Revolutionary War period through the Jacksonian era. He discusses the gradual development of local, regional, and national distribution networks, assesses the economic relationships and shared social and cultural practices that connected printers, booksellers, and their customers, and explores the uncharacteristically modern approaches taken by the city’s preindustrial printers and distributors. If the cultural matrix of printed texts served as the primary legitimating vehicle for political debate and literary expression, Smith argues, then deeper understanding of the economic interests and political affiliations of the people who produced these texts gives necessary insight into the emergence of a major American industry. Those involved in New York’s book trade imagined for themselves, like their counterparts in other major seaport cities, a robust business that could satisfy the new nation’s desire for print, and many fulfilled their ambition by cultivating networks that crossed regional boundaries, delivering books to the masses. A fresh interpretation of the market economy in early America, An Empire of Print reveals how New York started on the road to becoming the publishing powerhouse it is today.

Military history’s hidden figures are given their due in this revealing and moving exploration of the pivotal role of African Americans who risked their lives for their country—even as they fought courageously to become full citizens. A retired Lieutenant Colonel, Michael Lee Lanning covers Black soldiers’ involvement in conflicts from the colonial days through more recent struggles of the 21st century. From Bunker Hill to San Juan Heights, from France’s muddy trenches to the Persian Gulf’s scorched sands, African Americans have fought fiercely and bravely. They have battled to overthrow British rule, to preserve the union, to safeguard their allies, and to protect democracy. Many have fought for freedom they would never see for themselves, risking their lives for their country and for the right to become full citizens. In this enlightening account, Michael Lee Lanning explores African Americans’ crucial part in military history over two centuries, beginning in the Revolutionary War and stretching to recent conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. Exploring both notable individual contributions and the role of Black regiments, The African American Soldier pays tribute to the hidden sacrifices and unrelenting valor of those too long overlooked by history.

As the title of his new book suggests, Richard Poirier believes that the United States has been uncommonly hospitable to literary and artistic experimentation, to innovation and daring. Just as the nation likes to imagine itself as always in a state of becoming and renewal, some of its greatest writers have seemed willing to accept a measure of neglect during their lifetimes in return for the promise of posthumous triumph.