Atlantic Citizens

Atlantic Citizens is Volume 1 of the Edinburgh Studies In Transatlantic Literatures series. This work of history and criticism examines the professional lives and cosmopolitan activism of six influential antebellum writers. Leslie Eckel analyzes how figures such as Walt Whitman, Frederick Douglass, and Margaret Fuller utilized careers in journalism, education, and public lecturing to enhance their literary output. By exploring these diverse professional roles, the text demonstrates how these authors shaped transatlantic culture through active engagement beyond the written page.

This study of regional and cultural movements focuses on the intersection of literature and professional creativity. It details the experiences of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and Grace Greenwood as they navigated the Atlantic sphere. By practicing Atlantic citizenship, these writers gained a critical perspective on the United States that fueled their imaginative growth. This volume provides a detailed analysis of nineteenth-century American literature and its relationship with global intellectual exchange.