The Countess and the Nazis: A Q & A with Richard Jay Hutto

Months ago, a mutual friend introduced me to Rick Hutto. He thought we had things in common, including writing “lively, vibrant, deeply researched and highly entertaining historic narratives.” (That’s a compliment worth having!) Rick’s latest book, The Countess and the Nazi: An American Family’s Private War is the story of an American heiress who traded…

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Grace Drayton, Illustrator and Creator of an American Icon

  Grace Drayton (1878-1936)* was a well-known illustrator and cartoonist in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Drayton grew up in Philadelphia’s art world. Her father was a lithographer by training and a well respected publisher of fine arts books and reproductions.**  She was one of seven siblings, most of whom had careers in…

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From the Archives: Champion’s Day: The End of Old Shanghai

Speaking of the Japanese invasion of China as the possible beginning of World War II, as I believe we were, allow me to share a post from 2020 about a book that introduced me to a very specific piece of that story. *** I will admit that I approached historian James Carter’s book Champion’s Day:…

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