I am a historian and novelist, as well as a Pulitzer Prize finalist and Edgar Award-winning biographer. After many years in New York City, I now live in Berlin, CT.

For many years, I taught English and art history, and I was the art critic for The Hudson Review and a book reviewer for Woman’s Art Journal and the Washington Post.

I am the author of nine books, editor of three anthologies, and have frequently lectured on modern art, gay history, and religious history in the U.S.

I also serve on the board of the Berlin, CT Land Trust, an organization dedicated to land conservation, environmental education, the protection of woodlands and wetlands, and addressing the effects of overdevelopment. Our current project involves the acquisition of the Civil War-era home of landscape painter Nelson Augustus Moore (1824–1902) and its 27-acre property. The site will become an educational center for nature and environmental studies, with walking trails, planting and garden areas, and other ecologically focused programs.