Carl Bode (march 14 1911–january 5 1993) was an author, poet, professor of English and American Studies at the University of Maryland, and officer of several literary and cultural organizations.^[1] He wrote and edited over 30 books, including The American Lyceum, Antebellum Culture, Mencken, the first full biography to be published after H.L. Mencken's death, as well as Maryland, a 350-year history of the state. Bode edited The Collective Poems of Henry Thoreau, The Best of Thoreau's Journals, and The Portable Emerson among others.^[2]

He was the founder of the American Studies Association and the Mencken Society, and was president of the Popular Culture Association and the Thoreau Society of America.^[3] He was awarded fellowships both by the Guggenheim and Ford Foundations and was named a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature while serving as cultural attaché at the American Embassy in London. He also taught at the University of Maryland for 40 years.^[4]

List of published works

Edited works

• Collected Poems of Henry Thoreau (1943)
• The Best of Thoreau’s Journals
• co-edited The Correspondence of Henry David Thoreau
• The Portable Emerson (1981), in collaboration with Malcolm Cowley
• The Editor, the Bluenose, and the Prostitute: H.L. Mencken's History of the "Hatrack" Censorship Case. Niwot, Colorado: Roberts, Rinehart, Inc. 1988.^[5]

Poetry, biographies, and other written works

• The American Lyceum
• Antebellum Culture
• Mencken (1969)
• Maryland: A Bicentennial History (1978)
• The Anatomy of American Popular Culture (1983)
• The Sacred Seasons (1975)
• Practical Magic (1981)
• The Man Behind You