Belle da Costa Greene: The Cleverest Woman in the Country
Though she was Black, Belle da Costa Greene, personal librarian to J.P. Morgan, lived her entire adult life passing as a white woman. Why?
N.J. Mastro
Feb 12, 2023
Dorothea Lange, Photo Documentarian
Dorothea Lange, one of America's most iconic 20th century photo documentarians, used her Graflex camera as an early form of social media.
N.J. Mastro
Jan 8, 2023
Dorothy Kirwan Thomas, Queen of Demerara
One today can never know what it was like to be a Black woman born into slavery in Montserrat in the late 18th century. But author...
N.J. Mastro
Nov 5, 2022
Margaret Maher: Keeper of Poems
Emily’s House by Amy Belding Brown is a novel based on the true story of the relationship between the Emily Dickinson and Margaret...
N.J. Mastro
Oct 7, 2022
Forged in Revolution: Adrienne Lafayette
“There are places in this world where the past still echoes in the stones.” So begins The Women of Chateau Lafayette by Stephanie Dray, a...
N.J. Mastro
Sep 7, 2022
Sylvia Beach, Booklegger
Certain people stick with you, whether you meet them in person, or, as with historical fiction, you meet them on the page. Such is the...
N.J. Mastro
Feb 20, 2022
A Historical Fiction Reader's Booklist
Let's talk books! Find recommendations for historical fiction and other genres here.
N.J. Mastro
Dec 30, 2021
A River Trip With Margaret Mead
When was the last time you paddled up a river in a remote area on an island in the Pacific while hungry, cold, bleeding from insect...
N.J. Mastro
Nov 14, 2021