Nathaniel Hawthorne dealt with shyness and did not enjoy public speaking. He attended Bowdoin College from 1821-1825 where he was classmates with poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and future U.S. President Franklin Pierce. After college, he added a 'W' to his last name to distance himself from his family's dark past. He worked as a publisher, editor, and author of a newspaper and his most famous novel The Scarlet Letter sold well.