" . . . Luedtke has made a seminal contribution to Hawthorne studies." --American Literature
"Luedtke's account of Hawthorne's reading is particularly interesting, briskly and ably summarizing the diverse materials which helped shape educated American and English perceptions of the Orient in the early nineteenth century. . . . Luedtke has written an able guide to the potential range of such references." --Times Literary Supplement
"This is an important piece of scholarship. It opens the study of a previously ignored area of interest by a major American author." --Thomas Woodson
"The first genuinely original scholarship on Hawthorne's life and work that has appeared in almost a decade." --Terence Martin
' . . . extensive cataloging of Hawthorne's reading habits, as documented by records from Salem lending libraries. Luedtke's revelation of these works acts as an important corrective to the notion that the brunt of Hawthorne's influences were from English authors." --Daily Yomiuri, Japan
"Luedtke's study is an important reorientation of Hawthorne studies." --Rocky Mountain Review
" . . . meticulously documented, convincingly articulated book that unequivocally establishes the significance of the Orient in Hawthorne's writing." --Exxes Institute Historical Collections
"Luedtke . . . succeeds in building the portrait of Hawthorne . . . The book is a work of painstaking research, patience, and, above all, love. It is rich and illuminating, has a formidable range of reference, and establishes convincingly that Hawthorne's imagination and world was 'larger, richer, and more chromatic than we have known'." --The Hindustan Times
"Luedtke's study valuably surveys Hawthorne's reading in works of travel, history, religion, and literature related to the Orient. . . . will be of great interest to scholars of the American Renaissance and will open up new avenues for research on this period's fascination with the East." --Journal of American History
