Copyright as we know it is a surprisingly recent development. It has been with us just a few decades—only as long, roughly, as Hello Kitty and the Star Wars ...

Meredith L. McGill
Meredith L. McGill is professor of English at Rutgers University, where she teaches American literature and culture. She has published widely on 19th-century American literature, poetry and poetics, intellectual property, and book and media history.