Edgar Allan Poe, the father of American horror fiction, first published his macabre short story The Black Cat in the August 19, 1843 edition of The Saturday Evening Post. The frightening tale of a murderer tormented by guilt over his terrible deeds is a classic. The narrator s admission that much of his bad behavior and deranged thinking is the result of demon alcohol is possibly autobiographical, as Poe himself struggled with alcoholism throughout his life. This short work is part of Applewood s American Roots, series, tactile mementos of American passions by some of America s most famous...

Edgar Allan Poe ( born Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 - October 7, 1849) was an American writer, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is widely regarded as a central figure of Romanticism in the United States and American literature as a whole, and he was one of the country's earliest practitioners of the short story. Poe is generally considered the inventor of the detective fiction genre and is further credited with contributing to the emerging genre of science fiction.He was the first well-known...