About

Historian, filmmaker and blogger, Robin Cutler’s early life was split between Manhattan and a farm in rural Virginia. An only child, she never felt like one because of the menagerie collected by her mother, Jane Hall, a former screenwriter at MGM. Robin’s siblings included a rescued ocelot, German Shepherds, farm cats, snooty cats, and a screech owl (Sidney), who could not fly but travelled on Eastern Airlines in a modified Nantucket basket.
Robin decided she wanted to be a historian in the ninth grade. Highlights of her career include working for the National Endowment for Humanities, co-producing an Emmy-nominated dramatic series for PBS, collaborating with several Native American tribes to chronicle their histories and culture on film and video, and publishing three nonfiction books that are featured on her website.
She discovered the extraordinary story told in A Soul on Trial in family papers. She was astonished that Rosa Sutton’s effort to learn the truth about her oldest son’s death created a national sensation between 1907 and 1910. Although Rosa was convinced Jimmie’s ghost came to her several times, he has never visited Robin. Rosa was Robin’s great grandmother. For much more see https://robinrcutler.com/a-soul-on-trial/ Release date for the second edition May 20, 2026

And for reviews, galleries, movie trailers, and her Journeys through History blog check out
https://robinrcutler.com

Featured Work

Such Mad Fun: Ambition and Glamour in Hollywood's Golden Age

2016

What determines who a woman will become? Jane Hall was an orphan at fifteen and a "literary prodigy" according to the press. How did this spirited young girl from an Arizona mining town become a Depression-era debutante, a successful author of magazine fiction, and a screenwriter at Hollywood's most glamorous studio? At Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Jane wrote the story and the script for the "best social comedy of 1939," These Glamour Girls, and established a lively camaraderie with F. Scott Fitzgerald, who worked in the office next door to hers. But Jane's ambition conflicted with the expectations of her family, her friends, and the era in which she lived. Drawing on her mother's diaries and scores of letters, historian Robin Cutler takes us on an unforgettable journey through 1930s Manhattan and Hollywood as Jane wrestles with who she was meant to be. Such Mad Fun is a coming-of-age story set in a decade that has surprising parallels with American life today. For much more: www.robinrcutler.com.

Other Works

  • A Soul on Trial

    2007

Awards and Recognition

  • See https://robinrcutler.com/press/ A Kirkus Best Book of 2016; Foreword Indies Gold Winner for Biography 2016

Press and Media Mentions