Rachael DeWitt teaches the Place and Perspectives theme, as well as English classes on 19th-century U.S. literature and the environmental humanities. Her scholarly research research centers on Thoreau, women’s writing, and the intersection of sex, gender, and ecology in early American literature. DeWitt’s current book project is titled “Fruitless Pleasures” and explores the ecological ideas that early Americans brought to bear on their everyday lives. For the past two years, she has been a postdoctoral fellow at WashU’s Center for the Humanities. Before arriving at WashU, she was a lecturer in Columbia University’s Undergraduate Writing Program. She earned her master’s degree from the University of Utah and her doctoral degree from UC Davis. Her scholarly writing has appeared of is forthcoming in PMLA, The Oxford Handbook of Thoreau, J19, The Dial, ESQ, American Literary History, Early American Literature, American Literary Realism, and Configurations.