19th-Century Book Sleuthing: Uncovering Reader History

Leah Price serves as the Henry Rutgers Distinguished Professor at Rutgers University, following her tenure as Francis Lee Higginson Professor of English at Harvard University. Born in 1970, she completed her A.B. at Harvard (1991) and Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from Yale (1998), establishing herself as a leading authority on British literature and book history. Her scholarly work spans eighteenth and nineteenth-century literature, media studies, and the cultural history of reading, with acclaimed publications including "How to Do Things with Books in Victorian Britain" (2012), "The Anthology and the Rise of the Novel" (2000), and "What We Talk About When We Talk About Books" (2019). As founding director of the Rutgers Initiative for the Book, she continues to bridge historical book studies with contemporary media analysis. Price's influence extends beyond academia through her writing for major publications like The New York Times, London Review of Books, and The Boston Globe. Her innovative teaching methods, including experiential learning with historical writing technologies, have garnered attention from The New York Times. A member of Giving What We Can since 2012, Price demonstrates commitment to both scholarly excellence and social responsibility while continuing to shape our understanding of reading practices across different media forms.