Emily Hahn, 1905-1997, was born on 14 January 1905 in St. Louis, Missouri, and lived there until her family moved to Chicago, Illinois, during her high school years. In 1926, she became the first woman to receive a mining engineering degree from the University of Wisconsin. In 1927, Hahn moved to New York City, where she took graduate classes at Columbia University. She then traveled in Florence, London, and the Congo before settling in Shanghai in 1935. The Sino-Japanese conflict eventually caused Hahn to leave Shanghai for Hong Kong, where she was trapped when Japan took control of the area in 1941. She was repatriated in 1943 and married British Major Charles Ralph Boxer, 1904-2000, in 1945; they lived at his family estate in Dorset, England, with their two children: Carola (b. 1941) and Amanda (b. 1948). In 1950, Hahn moved back to New York City. A prolific writer, Hahn published numerous articles and short stories as well as over fifty books of fiction and non-fiction, including biographies of Aphra Behn, James Brooke, Fanny Burney, Chiang Kai-shek, D.H. Lawrence, and Mabel Dodge Luhan; a description of the diamond business; four books on zoos and animals; histories of China, Ireland, and women; and several autobiographical accounts. Hahn died in New York City on 18 February 1997.