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Adam Gordon is a Professor of English, specializing in early and nineteenth-century American literature, print culture, and the history of the book. He received his B.A. in English from the University of Pennsylvania and his Ph.D. from UCLA. He is the recipient of numerous awards and fellowships, including the John B. Hench Post-Dissertation Fellowship at the American Antiquarian Society, the Greenfield Dissertation Fellowship at the Library Company of Philadelphia, and William K. Peck and Mellon Foundation Fellowships at the Huntington Library. His first book, Prophets, Publicists, and Parasites: Antebellum Print Culture and the Rise of the Critic (University of Massachusetts Press, 2020), a Choice Outstanding Academic Title, traces the growth of literary criticism in mid-nineteenth century America and the variety of cultural roles it served. His articles have appeared in journals such as American Literature, Arizona Quarterly, Studies in American Fiction, The Nathaniel Hawthorne Review, and Early American Literature. His current research examines the pathways of discarded books, the role of secondhand books within modern print culture, and the complexities of book destruction. At Whitman, his regular courses include surveys of early American literature, seminars on Poe, Melville, the literature of slavery, and American Horror, as well as introductory courses on poetry and fiction.

You can purchase his book directly from the or from . 

Books

Prophets, Publicists, and Parasites: Antebellum Print Culture and the Rise of the Critic, 
University of Massachusetts Press (2020)

Articles/Chapters

“Douglass in the Public Domain: Reprinting Douglass in the Age of Amazon,” The 
Oxford Handbook to Frederick Douglass, edited Philip Gould and Ivy Wilson. New York: Oxford University Press, 2026. (Forthcoming) 

“Critical Fictions: Fanny Fern, Critical Satire, and the Gender Inequities of Antebellum 
Criticism,” Studies in American Fiction 49, 1 (Spring 2022), 21-49.

“Graham’s Magazine, Professional Authorship, and the Valuation of Literature,” The 
Routledge Companion to the British and North American Literary Magazine, 
edited by Tim Lanzendörfer, 263-275. New York: Routledge, 2022.

“Beyond the ‘Proper Notice’: Frederick Douglass, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, and the Politics of 
Critical Reprinting,” American Literature 91, no. 1 (March 2019), 1-29.

“The Critic on Main Street: Hawthorne and Critical Allegory.” In A Passion for Getting It 
Right: Essays and Appreciations in Honor of Michael J. Colacurcio’s 50 Years of 
Teaching, edited by Carol M. Bensick, 223-240. New York: Peter Lang, 2016.

“Blithedale Revised: Nathaniel Hawthorne, E. P. Whipple, and the Author-Critic 
Feedback Loop.” Nathaniel Hawthorne Review 41, no. 2 (Fall 2015), 26-47.

“The Rise of the Print Culture Canon” [Review Essay]. Early American Literature 49, 2 
(2014): 533-51.

“‘A Condition to Be Criticized’: Edgar Allan Poe and the Vocation of Antebellum 
Criticism.” Arizona Quarterly 68, 2 (Summer 2012): 1-31.