About

Robin Cutler has spent most of her career as a public historian both at the National Endowment for the Humanities and as president of two nonprofit organizations. She was the producer/writer of the award-winning PBS documentary Indian America: A Gift from the Past, and co-producer of ROANOAK, an Emmy-nominated dramatic series for PBS. Her first book, A Soul on Trial, was named a "notable naval book of 2007." She has a PhD in history from Columbia University and taught for eleven years in universities in New York City.

Her latest book, Such Mad Fun:Ambition and Glamour in Hollywood's Golden Age ( 2016) received a starred Kirkus Review. https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/robin-cutler/such-mad-fun/ and a Forward Reviews Indies Gold award for biography.

Robin has recently moved to Oakland, California. In addition to reading, writing, and mentoring students, she supports environmental and educational organizations, loves salted caramel, baseball, the Golden State Warriors, PBS, and Turner Classic Movies.

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