KateFieldwasamongthefirstcelebrityjournalists.Aliteraryandculturalsensation,shereportedthenewswhilefrequentlybecomingnewsherselfbecauseofhersharpwitandvibrantpresence.Shewroteforseveralprestigiousnewspapers,suchastheBostonPost,ChicagoTribune,andNewYorkHerald,aswellherownKateField’sWashington.Field’sfriendsandprofessionalacquaintancesincludedCharlesDickens,RobertBrowning,ElizabethBarrettBrowning,AnthonyTrollope,andGeorgeEliot.LegendarynovelistHenryJamespatternedthecharacterofHenriettaStackpoleafterherinThePortraitofaLady.Inthiseloquentandimmenselyreadablebiography,GaryScharnhorstoffersafascinating,oftenpoignantportraitofafiercelyintelligentandenormouslyindependentwomanwhocontributedsignificantlytoAmerica’sintellectualandsociallifeinthelatenineteenthcentury.KateFieldwasanoutspokenadvocatefortherightsofblackAmericansandfounderofthefirstwoman’sclubinAmerica.ShecampaignedtomakeYosemiteanationalparkandsavedJohnBrown’sAdirondackfarmforthenation.TherangeofField’sactivitiesshouldfosterinterestinherbiographyfromstudentsandscholarsofnineteenth-centuryAmericanliterature,women’sstudies,journalism,andbiography,andfrombothpublicandacademiclibraries.
