This Companion covers American literary history from European colonization to the early republic. It provides a succinct introduction to the major themes and concepts in the field of early American literature, including new world migration, indigenous encounters, religious and secular histories, and the emergence of American literary genres. This book guides readers through important conceptual and theoretical issues, while also grounding these issues in close readings of key literary texts from early America. ‘This volume will broaden the horizons of even experienced scholars while orienting others to a field recently and radically transformed … Essential.’ A. T. Hale, Choice This book introduces readers to early American literary studies through original readings of key literary texts. Bryce Traister is a Canadian based academic who reads and writes mainly about early American literature, religion, and culture. He has published one monograph, Female Piety and the Invention of American Puritanism (Ohio, 2016), and edited a collection of essays, American Literature and the New Puritan Studies (Cambridge, 2017).