Genevieve Foster

Genevieve Foster (1893-1979) was a well-known author and illustrator of history and biography books before her death on August 30, 1979. In 1922, she married Orrington Foster, and they had two children: a boy (named after his father but called Tony) and a girl, Joanna, four years later.

Ms. Foster was fascinated by the idea of looking at history "horizontally" and seeing how events and the lives of people interconnected. "History is drama," she once wrote, "with men and nations as the actors. Why not present it with all the players who belong together on the stage at once rather than only one character on the stage at a time?" Though she had graduated from the University of Wisconsin and then studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Chicago, she felt her knowledge of history was patchy and so as she often pointed out, "it was my own need to understand how things connected that led me to write my first book, George Washington's World."

This was enthusiastically received and was followed by Abraham Lincoln's World, and then four other "world" books: Augustus Caesar's World, The World of Columbus and Sons, The World of Captain John Smith, and The World of William Penn. She also wrote four "Initial Biographies", six "Year of" books, and others. All six "World" books, Teddy Roosevelt, and The Year of the Horseless Carriage have been reprinted in recent years by Beautiful Feet Books.

Ms. Foster ended up writing and illustrating 19 books of her own, and illustrating at least five for others, Boyhood Adventures of Our Presidents and Children of the White House by Frances Cavanaugh, Pioneer Girl and Mary Jane's Friends in Holland (the 19th and last of the Mary Jane series) by Clara Ingram Judson, and The Strange Pettingill Puzzle: Two Mysteries for Boys and Girls by Augusta Huiell Seaman (1936). To see pictures of these, filter the list below by hardcover!