#  Mattie Kahn 

Class of 2015, America

Writer

 

 

 



   ![Mattie Kahn](/sites/g/files/omnuum4926/files/styles/hwp_4_5__480x600/public/histlit/files/screenshot_2023-05-26_at_11.06.41_am.png?itok=xnt5od8l) 

 



 





 

**Thesis Title:** "A Magazine of High Character": Failure, Foresight, and the Literary Project of Edgar Allan Poe

**What Now:** Writer

**Follow Me:** [@mattiekahn](https://twitter.com/mattiekahn) (Twitter)

I knew from the beginning that I wanted to concentrate in History & Literature. I wanted to be able to read and write with abandon and to have permission to parse the relationship between people and their work.

So, I settled on America as an area of focus and became increasingly obsessed with the Supreme Court, obscenity trials, the vagaries of the publishing industry, and women's history. I wanted to investigate how literature—and thus, ideas about the world—traveled and ended up writing a thesis about Edgar Allan Poe's failed literary journal and his ultimately unrealized vision for American letters.

After graduation, I took a job at *ELLE*, where I wrote for the website about politics and pop-culture and contributed to the magazine. Then I moved to *Glamour*, where I ran the news and culture section and helped develop podcasts, events, and features. Now I write for *The New York Times, Town & Country, Vogue,* and lots of other places. My first book *Young and Restless: The Girls Who Sparked America's Revolutions* was published in June 2023.



 

 

 





 

 

- ## Career Paths
    
     [Media and Journalism](/alumni/media-and-journalism)