Reuben and Rachel: Or, Tales of Old Times

Wrongly neglected for decades in favor of Rowson's better-known Charlotte Temple, Reuben and Rachel is a fascinating story of ten generations of Christopher Columbus's descendants, who experience colonization and captivity, seduction and sedition, and reframe American history as a richly complicated series of exchanges with unpredictable and unsettling results for national mythology. All readers interested in the transnational and interracial constructions of U.S. nationhood, in the expansion and shrinking of female agency, or in the various genres that comprise Reuben and Rachel will recognize the significant contribution Joseph F. Bartolomeo has made by bringing this captivating novel back into print and by highlighting its historical and literary importance with lucid notes, rich topical appendices, and a smart, well-crafted introduction that brings the novel into contemporary critical discussions with admirable clarity and insight. -- Christopher Castiglia, Pennsylvania State University

This edition of Rowson's Reuben and Rachel is a most welcome resource for anyone seeking to understand how an eighteenth-century feminist conceived of gender roles and women's rights in the context of Enlightenment discourse about individual liberty. It will be of equal interest to those interested in understanding how a transatlantic writer fashioned a Columbus myth suited to the particular cultural needs of an early American republic in search of a national identity. Joseph F. Bartolomeo's introduction, notes, and appendices help the reader to more fully appreciate the significance of Rowson's work in both transatlantic and early American contexts. -- Michael Householder, Southern Methodist University

Joseph F. Bartolomeo is Professor of English and Chair of the English Department at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.