Debby Applegate

Deborah M. Applegate ( * 1968 in Eugene, Oregon) is an American historian and biographer.

Life

Debby Applegate grew up in Clackamas, Oregon. After graduating from high school in 1985 at the Clackamas High School, she studied at Amherst College, where she graduated in 1989 with summa cum laude. Then it was Sterling Fellow at Yale University, where she earned her doctorate in American Studies in 1998. Later she taught American history at Wesleyan University and biography writing at Marymount Manhattan College. She worked for The New Haven Review, the Harriet Beecher Stowe House, the Yale Summer Cabaret, and the Friends of the Amherst College Library. In addition, she was elected the first female president of Biographers International Organization.

With The Most Famous Man in America: The Biography of Henry Ward Beecher published Applegate 2007 her first book, a biography of Henry Ward Beecher. Already her thesis at Amherst College dealt with Beecher. She spent parallel to their work 20 years to gather enough material. Following the publication of the book has been widely reviewed and nominated and awarded several literary prizes. She was nominated among others, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award. Among the most important prices, which she won, was the Pulitzer Prize for the best biography or autobiography. From magazines such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, Seattle Times, Chicago Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle and the American Heritage Magazine, it was designated as one of the best books of the year.

Currently Applegate writes a biography of Polly Adler.

Applegate is married to the non-fiction authors Bruce Tulgan. They met during their studies at Amherst College know.

Works

• The Most Famous Man in America. The Biography of Henry Ward Beecher. Doubleday, New York 2007, ISBN 0-385-51396-8.