About Me
I am a cultural historian, educator, author, and public speaker. I studied history and literature at Northwestern University and earned a Ph.D. in American Studies at Yale, where I concentrated on twentieth-century U.S. history; the history of family life; autobiographical literature; and cultural theory. I taught undergraduates for four years, first at Yale and then as a visiting instructor at Sarah Lawrence College.
I have received research grants and fellowships from the American Historical Society, the Schlesinger Library at Radcliffe College, and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Since 2005, my teaching career has flourished in the realm of continuing education and lifetime learning for adults. I taught at the Barnard Center for Research on Women for ten years; currently, I facilitate book discussions and offer literary programs on a range of subjects at the 92NY in New York City; the Scarsdale Adult School; and in private groups online and throughout NYC, Westchester County, and beyond.
My first book, Love on the Rocks: Men, Women, and Alcohol in Post-World War II America, published by UNC Press in 2002, was named an Outstanding Academic Title by the American Library Association. I co-edited the anthology When We Were Free to Be: Looking Back at a Children’s Classic and the Difference It Made, published by UNC Press in 2012. My writing has been published in the Journal of American Studies, Reviews in American History, the Women’s Review of Books, and the Chicago Tribune, and the Smithsonian Library online.
I live in Larchmont, New York, where my husband and I raised two (now young adult) sons. Currently, I serve on the Board of Directors of LEAP NYC, a non-profit that provides educational arts programs for New York City students in underserved communities; and the Jewish Women’s Archive, which documents stories of women from communities around the globe. I serve on the Advisory Board of La Femme Theatre Productions, a theater production company in NYC; and Impact-100 Westchester, a women’s philanthropic collective in Westchester County, NY.
Photo credit: Sandra Wong Geroux, 2021
A Concise History of French Painting
2009
Acrylic on canvas
36” x 24”
Artist: Stanford Kay
When I discovered this painting online during the summer of 2020, I thought it would be a perfect image to incorporate into my website. The painting itself now hangs proudly in my home, as a beautiful homage to the pleasures of reading, learning, and contemplation.