Hidden Lives, Hidden Wives Karen Christensen Published in The Author, Autumn 2019 It began with a Twitter hashtag: #thanksfortyping. For most of the twentieth century, even authors who composed on the typewriter needed a typist to prepare a clean final manuscript. Wives often did this work. A US historian at the University of Virginia, Bruce Holsinger, noticed that these wives were often not even given names when they were mentioned in a book’s acknowledgements. He began posting examples on Twitter, and people responded with examples of their own, of wives who [...]

From October 2019: This is E Jean Carroll, who has this week accused Donald Trump of assault and rape. I've admired her column for years, and went on her The Most Hideous Men in New York Walking Tour last month. The photo below left was taken on 19 May 2019 in front of the former Studio 54 before the group broke up and E Jean and I went to a bar to talk about publishing. She'd taken us to Trump Tower, but didn't breathe a word about what was coming [...]

It was startling when Bill (William H.) McNeill said he wanted to write my life story, interviewing me with surgical precision. This was a dramatic experience for both of us because of a strange intersection in our lives that took place years before we met. Having a famous historian (and biographer) examine my life was alarming, but ultimately transformative. The conversations brought us closer, and it was a relief to talk about my long-ago affair with Kirkpatrick Sale, since Bill had had his own encounter with the man. And seeing [...]