Biographical NotesTilar J. Mazzeo, is a cultural historian and biographer and a passionate student of wine and food culture. She divides her time between the California wine country in Sonoma county and Maine, where she is an assistant professor of English at Colby College. Her extensive travels include tours of vineyards throughout Europe and the west coast of the United States, as well as cooking school in the Loire Valley. She is president of the International Society for Travel Writing and is the author of nearly two dozen books, articles, essays, and reviews pertaining to women, travel, and history.