She applied the “Page 99 Test” to her new book, Alexis in America: A Russian Grand Duke's Tour, 1871-1872, and reported the following:On page 99 of my book, I begin the description of Alexis’s visit to Harvard University in the fall of 1871. Over a period of three months in 1871-1872, Grand Duke Alexis, son of Russian Tsar Alexander II, traveled all over the United States, visiting all the major American cities of the time (including Chicago right after the Great Fire) and meeting many famous Americans of the period, including Albert Bierstadt, Oliver Wendell Homes, Samuel Morse, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and Ulysses Grant. He also traveled by train for a buffalo hunt with Buffalo Bill and Custer and was present for the first daytime celebration of Mardi Gras in New Orleans. His visit occurred during the high point of Russian-American relations and the success of his visit was seen as a measure of the reliability of the Russian-American friendship. This is the first book to cover this fascinating story. Because I wanted any history lover to read it, I wrote it with a general audience in mind. In that sense, page 99 does represent the whole of the book. It discusses one of Alexis’s encounters with Americans and American life and, I hope, it is engaging for readers of all kinds.Learn more about Alexis in America at the LSU Press website.
Writers Read: Lee A. Farrow.
My Book, The Movie: Alexis in America.
--Marshal Zeringue
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