Yesterday was the birthday of someone who has, sadly, been mostly forgotten in the annals of American literature. Isabel Paterson (1886-1961), a Canadian-born and naturalized American journalist, cultural critic, and author was a philosophical firecracker. She was one of the most independent-minded writers of her era, or any other, and contributed to the twentieth century in a way few female authors were able to.
If you're unfamiliar with her work, try out a few of her books this month. I recommend The Golden Vanity (a novel that will appeal to those who fancy Fitzgerald and the Jazz Age), The God of the Machine (a non-fiction work that covers history, economics, and politics in America), and The Woman and Dynamo: Isabel Paterson and the Idea of America (a biography by a supersmart English professor I know). These will offer a good introduction to an author that deserves more attention.
If you're unfamiliar with her work, try out a few of her books this month. I recommend The Golden Vanity (a novel that will appeal to those who fancy Fitzgerald and the Jazz Age), The God of the Machine (a non-fiction work that covers history, economics, and politics in America), and The Woman and Dynamo: Isabel Paterson and the Idea of America (a biography by a supersmart English professor I know). These will offer a good introduction to an author that deserves more attention.