Winner of the 2006 National Book Critics Circle Award for biography. "riveting in its illumination of the... conflicts and contradictions of modern female authorship." —Elaine Showalter, TLS		Latest news January 26: I've posted my comments on Mansfield's recent appearance in Amsterdam. >> January 23: I've posted two new reviews, both written for the Dutch daily Trouw: Shakespeare's Wife, by Germaine Greer, and Manliness, by Harvey C. Mansfield, in which I argue that gender equality is a pain in the ass. (But it's better than the alternatives.)      I've also posted an interview I did last fall with Michael Chabon and Daniel Mendelsohn. They had brilliant things to say on the search for a home, the yearning for a lost language, and how they both came to write Jewish detective stories. Links to my recent reviews: Manliness >> Germaine Greer rehabilitates Ann Hathaway >> Chabon & Mendelsohn in Amsterdam >> Girls just want to dig things up: The Dangerous Book for Boys and The Daring Book for Girls >> Feminist science fiction (or not): Jeanette Winterson's The Stone Gods and Doris Lessing's The Cleft >> David Michaelis's biography of Charles M. Schulz >> A brief talk about genre with Michael Chabon >> Adventures of a biographer: Shoot the Widow >> Cormac McCarthy and the dream of an empty world >> About Alice Sheldon She was born in Chicago in 1915. As a child, she crossed Africa with her explorer parents. As an adult, she became a painter, a military intelligence officer, a CIA agent, an experimental psychologist. At age 51, Alice Bradley Sheldon made yet another change of career. James Tiptree Jr. began writing science fiction in 1967. His stories were fast-paced and hard-boiled, his letters funny, frank, and sensitive. No one had ever seen him. No one knew his true identity. There were rumors he was a government spy. It wasn't until 1976 that the cover was blown on his alter ego: Alli Sheldon, a complex woman with an unusual past. Alli Sheldon's use of a male voice not only demolishes assumptions about writing and gender, it also speaks to the mystery of the writing persona. Why could she only tell the truth about herself when she became someone else? On the following pages you can find a few excerpts from James Tiptree, Jr., illustrated with images from the book plus new photos. Read more >