Cathryn J. Prince's new book is Queen of the Mountaineers: The Trailblazing Life of Fanny Bullock Workman.From her Q&A with Deborah Kalb:
Q: How did you first learn about Fanny Bullock Workman, and why did you decide to write her biography?Learn more about the book and author at Cathryn J. Prince's website.
A: For this one, it was different. I usually find out about someone through casual conversations. With this book, I did want to write about a strong woman. So many of my books are focused mostly around men.
This was a more deliberate choice, and I started looking through different histories, to find who hadn’t been written about. I came across her, I can’t remember where. The first thing that drew me to her was that I saw one of her portraits. I thought she looked formidable.
Then, in deciding to write about her, [I found that] she exemplifies debates now over professional women and motherhood. She ran into societies and memberships where people were telling her she’s a woman and she didn’t let it thwart her.
The first thing I learned about her was about her bicycle rides. She rode in woolen outfits on bikes for 14,000-mile trips, for 6,000-mile trips. I thought, this is an interesting lady! And there was the climbing, to the Himalayas. And the...[read on]
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--Marshal Zeringue