I am a second career author, columnist, genealogist and blogger writing about historical topics and telling stories of the past. Someone said "truth is stranger than fiction." History is a form of that truth, a well of stories to be rediscovered and shared, poignant and cautionary life lessons, tales of "regular" people living extraordinarily "ordinary" lives and, in retrospect, a prescient vision of the world of the future. Looking back and redisovering our personal and societal ties to the past provides context and continuity that expands our present lives and provokes new ways of thinking about the future. Oh, did I mention that the past is also entertaining? It is.

Books: Past-Forward: A Three-Decade and Three-Thousand-Mile Journey Home; Young & Wicked: The Death of a Wayward Girl

Coming in January 2012: the third book in my trilogy of 19th century true stories about life in Jersey City and Lower Manhattan: Canary in a Cage - a Victorian murder mystery offered as an ebook subscription series; Find out more & subscribe at www.canaryinacage.com

Genealogy and historical research