Welcome!

I’m the Hargis Professor of American Literature in the English Department at Auburn University.

I’m writing a cultural history of the New York Hippodrome. You can read some of my writing about it on my research blog, at Gotham blog, the New York Public Library blog, and the NY 1920s blog.

My last biography, Imitation Artist: Gertrude Hoffmann’s Life in Vaudeville and Dance is available now at Northwestern University Press, BookShop.Org, and Amazon.

I’m an active member of Biographer’s International Organization, currently serving on the program committee. I also won twice on Jeopardy!.

Please get in touch with me at sls0009@auburn.edu.