University Press of Florida Mary Edwards Bryan: Her Early Life and Works

About the Author Canter Brown Jr, retired professor of history and political science at Fort Valley State University, USA is the author of Florida's Peace River Frontier.Larry Eugene Rivers, professor of history at Valdosta State University, USA and former president of Fort Valley State University, is the author of Slavery in Florida: Territorial Days to Emancipation. They are the coeditors of The Varieties of Women's Experiences: Portraits of Southern Women in the Post–Civil War Century. Product Description Mary Edwards Bryan became one of America's best-known writers of popular fiction in the nineteenth century. She reached literary success despite a tough frontier life, the upheavals of secession and war, disruptive affairs with authors and politicians, the tensions of emancipation, and pervading post-war economic disorder. Pairing historical insights with selections of Bryan's best writing, this book illustrates how the obstacles she overcame shaped what she wrote.Bryan's life in Florida, Georgia, and Louisiana shows how men often oppressed women-in her case, as fathers and husbands-but also sometimes allowed aspiring women writers key opportunities as publishers and editors of literary journals. 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.