Dan Frank of Knopf will publish in the US in October 2014. First serial rights have been sold to The Smithsonian Magazine and Jill is also writing a related piece for the New Yorker.

A “truth much much stranger than fiction” heretofore untold story behind the genesis of Wonder Woman.

This startling narrative chronicles the origins of one of popular culture’s most iconic characters, and our only female superhero. Through years of assiduous research, Lepore has discovered previously unseen sources, including the private papers of William Moulton Marston, Wonder Woman's eccentric creator. Lepore’s book tracks the controversial life of Professor Marston through his early years as a failing academic, inventor of the lie detector, pop psychologist, filmmaker, and finally – creator of Wonder Woman.

Of particular interest is Marston’s decades-long love affair with the two women who inspired and co-created Wonder Woman (aka Diana Prince) and her world: Marston’s wife Elizabeth and his mistress Olive Byrne. Olive, who was the niece of famed feminist Margaret Sanger, joined the Marstons’ marriage in the 1920s. Born out of their unconventional love story and nonconformist lifestyle, Wonder Woman is a reflection and an avatar of the battle to define feminism, a battle that flared up in Marston’s time and continues to this day. Marston’s famous comic book character – a characterization of his secret and surprising private life - not only reflects a drive towards gender equality, but highlights his legacy as inventor of the lie detector, and even explores his lifelong fascination with bondage.

This is the story of Wonder Woman’s origins—the stuff of wonders, and of lies.

Jill Lepore is the David Woods Kemper ’41 Professor of American History at Harvard University, where she is also the chair of the History and Literature Program. In 2012, she was named a Harvard College Professor, in recognition of distinction in undergraduate teaching. She is also a staff writer at The New Yorker. She received her Ph.D. in American Studies from Yale in 1995. Her 1998 book, “The Name of War,” won the Bancroft Prize; her 2005 book, “New York Burning,” was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in history. Her other books include “The Whites of Their Eyes,” (2010) and two collections of essays, “The Mansion of Happiness" (2012) and “The Story of America” (2012).

Jill’s most recent title BOOK OF AGES, Lepore’s biography of Benjamin Franklin’s sister Jane (2013), was a finalist for the National Book Award.
BOOK OF AGES was also:
**The New York Times 100 Notable Books of 2013**
**Barnes and Noble Best Books of 2013**
**Kirkus Best Books of 2013**
**Time Magazine #1 Nonfiction Book of 2013**
**The Week Best Nonfiction Books of 2013**
 

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kontakt:

Renata Paczewska 

renata@literatura.com.pl