Hailed by Henry James as "the finest piece of imaginative writing yet put forth in the country, " Nathaniel Hawthornes "The Scarlet Letter" reaches to our nations historical and moral roots for the material of great tragedy. Set in an early New England colony, the novel shows the terrible impact a single, passionate act has on the lives of three members of the community: the defiant Hester Prynne; the fiery, tortured Reverend Dimmesdale; and the obsessed, vengeful Chillingworth. With "The Scarlet Letter," Hawthorne became the first American novelist to forge from our Puritan heritage a universal classic, a masterful exploration of humanitys unending struggle with sin, guilt and pride.