Johanna Neuman's latest book, The Concert: A Novel About Musicians Who Defied Hitler's Siege of Leningrad, is about a group of women who were caught between Hitler's fascism and Stalin's communism. They survived by embracing their creativity and their families. An earlier book, Gilded Suffragists, tells the story more than 200 women of enormous wealth who joined the fight to win women the right to vote. With names like Astor, Belmont and Vanderbilt, they were the media darlings of their day, covered for every excess of fashion and decor. And when they risked their social standing to win the vote for women, it was like Oprah Winfrey blessing a cause today. It popularized the movement.
An award-winning journalist with 30 years of experience i
