Examines the troubled life of the nineteenth-century writer whose poetry and short stories broke new ground in American literature.

Theater in the blood -- A quick and clever boy -- The teenager -- Soldier--and poet -- In West Point, and out -- Satire and science fiction -- Editor, novelist, husband -- Hoaxes and horrors -- The first-ever detective story -- A popular lecturer -- New York : the rich and the poor -- "The raven"--and fame -- Death of the beloved -- The last years -- Chronology of Edgar Allan Poe.