The gleaner

Printed in 1798, this assembly of work by an early American champion of women's rights gathers essays, verse and other pieces, and it also contains one of the earliest novels written in the United States. Judith Sargent Murray, who often wrote under the pen name Constantia, argued for women's education and intellectual equality at a time when such views were rare. Nina Baym's introduction places her among the era's bold voices, showing a writer who looked well past the expectations of her own day.