Description: Analyses the pervasive use of early American themes in contemporary culture, including literature, television series, film, theatre, graphic novels and video games.
Brief description: Patrick M. Erben is Professor of English at the University of West Georgia, USA. He is the author of A Harmony of the Spirits: Translation and the Language of Community in Early Pennsylvania (2013) and co-edited The Francis Daniel Pastorius Reader (2019). Erben is a past president of the Society of Early Americanists and currently serves on the editorial board for Early American Literature.
Review Quotes: This book is both brilliant and necessary. Each chapter links a deep knowledge of the past to its modern redeployments in contemporary media. In doing so, the book makes a powerful case for the humanities, explaining public memory and showing how important it is for literary scholars to study it. A vital project, and a terrific book.--Abram Van Engen, Washington University in St. Louis