American Lazarus: Religion and the Rise of African-American and Native American Literatures (Oxford, 2003) is a groundbreaking study of how communities of color in eighteenth-century America found in religion a powerful resource that inspired political leadership, community development, everyday survival, and literary creation. Hailed by reviewers as “incisive,” “dazzling,” “learned,” and “fascinating,” American Lazarus received the Modern Language Association’s William Sanders Scarborough Prize.

Brooks has also edited or co-edited several editions of historical American writings including The Collected Writings of Samson Occom: Literature and Leadership in Eighteenth-Century Native America (Oxford, 2006), The Interesting Narrative of Olaudah Equiano (Lakeside Classics, 2004), and Face Zion Forward: First Writers of the Black Atlantic (Northeastern, 2002).

She is presently working on a memoir about growing up Mormon.