Mary Edwards Bryan
Product details
- ISBN 9780813081670
- Dimensions: 155 x 235mm
- Publication Date: 26 May 2026
- Publisher: University Press of Florida
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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The overlooked story of one of nineteenth-century America's popular writers of mass market fiction
The publication of Manch in 1880 marked the beginning of Mary Edwards Bryan's rise to prominence as one of nineteenth-century America's best-known writers of mass-market fiction. At a time when women were discouraged from having jobs of their own, she made a name for herself as a thoughtful—and well-paid—editor. Despite her cultivated image as editor of Fashion Bazar and Sunny South, Bryan's early life was fraught with obstacles.
In this finely crafted literary biography, Canter Brown, Jr. and Larry Eugene Rivers examine Bryan's formative years in Florida, Georgia, and Louisiana, pairing historical insights with selections of her best writing to illustrate how the obstacles she overcame shaped what she wrote. She grew up on a frontier plantation and later lived through the upheavals of secession and war, disruptive affairs with authors and politicians, the tensions of emancipation, and pervading post-war economic disorder.
Despite the oppressive men in her life—her abusive father and husband—as well as unabashed limitations regarding the role of women, Bryan ultimately achieved extraordinary literary accomplishments in New York and Atlanta. A story of celebrity amid scandal, success amid disaster, ambition amid despair, this book reintroduces to the world a courageous and creative talent who yearned to express herself while navigating the restrictive morals and conventions of Victorian society.
Canter Brown Jr., retired professor of history and political science at Fort Valley State University, is the author of Florida's Peace River Frontier.
Larry Eugene Rivers, Distinguished Professor of History at Florida A&M University, is the author of numerous works, and the recipient of the Arthur W. Thompson Award from the Florida Historical Society and the Carter G. Woodson Award from the Association for the Study of African American Life and History.
