"But the plan of Professor Tyler's book is so vast and its execution so fearless, that no reader can expect or wish to agree with all its personal judgments. It is a book truly admirable, both in design and in general execution; the learning is great, the treatment wise, the style fresh and vigorous. Here and there occurs a phrase which a severer revision would perhaps exclude, but all such criticisms are trivial in view of so signal a success. Like Parkman, Professor Tyler may almost be said to have created, not merely his volumes, but their theme. Like Parkman, at any rate, he has taken a whole department of human history, rescued it from oblivion, and made it henceforward a matter of deep interest to every thinking mind."--T.W. Higginson, in _The Nation_.
"The work betrays acute philosophical insight, a rare power of historical research, and a cultivated literary habit, which was perhaps no less essential than the two former conditions, to its successful accomplishment. The style of the author is marked by vigor, originality, comprehensiveness, and a curious instinct in the selection of words. In this latter respect, though not in the moulding of sentences, the reader may perhaps be reminded of the choice and fragrant vocabulary of Washington Irving, whose words alone often leave an exquisite odor like the perfume of sweet-briar and arbutus."--George Ripley, in the _Tribune_.
"Professor Moses Coit Tyler's 'History of American Literature,' of which the first two volumes have just been issued, will take rank at once as a book of lasting value, even though the author should advance no further than he has already done in the scheme of his work. We are not unmindful of the eminent historians this country has produced, when we express our opinion that his history is the best study of American historic material that has been written by an American. There has been manifestly no limit to the enthusiasm, conscientiousness and industry with which he has possessed himself of the entire body of the literature of which he treats, and at the same time he has displayed the qualities of a true literary artist in giving form, color and perspective to his work."--Daniel Gray, in the _Buffalo Courier_.