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Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804 1864) was one of Americas most famous writers. Best known for the classic book The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne also wrote many other well known books and short stories including The House of the Seven Gables and Young Goodman Brown. Hawthornes writing centers around moral issues and the psychology of humans and is dark in nature. Much of this is due to Hawthornes shame of being related to one of the Salem Witch Trial judges. John Hathorne was Nathaniels great grandfather and the latter added the w to his name in order to hide that relation.