The Man of the Crowd

Edgar Allan Poe and the City

By: Scott Peeples

Narrated by: Daniel Henning

How four American cities shaped Poe's life and writings.

Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) changed residences about once a year throughout his life. Driven by a desire for literary success and the pressures of supporting his family, Poe sought work in American magazines, living in the cities that produced them. Scott Peeples chronicles Poe's rootless life in the cities, neighborhoods, and rooms where he lived and worked, exploring how each new place left its enduring mark on the writer and his craft.

Poe wrote short stories, poems, journalism, and editorials with urban readers in mind. He witnessed urban slavery up close, living and working within a few blocks of slave jails and auction houses in Richmond and among enslaved workers in Baltimore. In Philadelphia, he saw an expanding city struggling to contain its own violent propensities. At a time when suburbs were just beginning to offer an alternative to crowded city dwellings, he tried living cheaply on the then-rural Upper West Side of Manhattan and later in what is now the Bronx.

Poe's urban mysteries and claustrophobic tales of troubled minds and abused bodies reflect his experiences living among the soldiers, slaves, and immigrants of the American city.

©2020 Princeton University Press (P)2020 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

A lot of detail about Poe’s personality

Loved listening to this. Great narrator that didn’t distract from the story. Learned about a lot of memorable moments in his life that I had no idea about. Now when I read his work, I read it from a new perspective.

Incredible biography

This is an absolutely stunning biography of Poe; meticulously researched and a fascinating critical analysis of how the places he lived affected his work. A must read for any Poe fan.