Jill suggested that I write an intro, and I figured it was the least I could do after having spent the first day of class scaring the heck out of everyone. So…

I was born and grew up in a small town in Northern California, about twenty miles away from where the Gold Rush started in 1849.  However, I haven’t lived in the West since starting college more than twenty years ago (eek!). After I graduated, I lived and worked in China and Hong Kong for a while and then got my Ph.D. from Northwestern. My first book was published in 2009, and I’m working on a second one right now.

Aside from history, I love dogs, travel (twenty countries and counting), cooking, modern architecture, taking long walks in New York, and, apparently, frightening students.

 (In keeping with the Great Depression theme, this is the statue of FDR’s dog Fala at the FDR monument in Washington, D.C.)