Adulthood and Other Fictions examines how nineteenth-century American writers responded to the rise of chronological age in social and political life, arguing that age norms shaped — and were shaped by — race, gender, and other markers of identity. Drawing on writers like Louisa May Alcott, Frederick Douglass, and Henry James, the book makes a case for an intersectional understanding of age that challenges core American ideals of independence and adulthood.

Between the Novel and the News offers a comprehensive reassessment of American women writers from the early republic through the turn of the twentieth century, examining how advances in journalism — from the penny press to eyewitness reportage — shaped both a female literary tradition and gender conventions themselves. The book reveals how women writers—including Catharine Maria Sedgwick, Harriet Jacobs, and Charlotte Perkins Gilman—deftly navigated the press to influence public opinion and intervene in political debates.