Millions of students have read, recited, and often memorized the opening line from Edgar Allan Poe's dark poem, The Raven. But Poe is remembered not only for his poetry. He also wrote about seventy short stories and was the creator of two literary forms that readers everywhere enjoy -- the detective story and the horror thriller. Poe's life was short, and painful. He struggled with alcohol, poverty, personal tragedy, and professional failure, yet is remembered as one of America's literary giants. Milton Meltzer explores that conundrum as he examines who Poe was, what he sprang from, why and how he wrote, the troubled life he led as one of the first American writers to try to make a living solely by their pen, and why his appeal is so enduring.