Author Bio
• Birth—ca. 1958
• Where—state of Missouri, USA (?)
• Education—B.A., Carlton College; Ph,D, University of Chicago
• Currently—Chicago, Illinois, USA
Pamela D. Toler is an American history writer, the author of Heroines of Mercy Street: The Real Nurses of the Civil War (2016). It is the companion book to PBS's Mercey Street, a dramatic series about the nurses during the Civil War. She is also the author of Mankind: The Story of all of Us (2012) and The Everything Guide to Socialism (2011).
Toler has loved history from the time she was a young girl, quickly swapping our histories and biographies from her school library as soon as a new one would come in. By the time she reached high school, according to Toler, she was the class nerd who "hung out at the local historical society."
From high school, she went on to Carlton College in Minnesota to earn her B.A., and then to the University of Chicago where she attained both her M.A. and Ph.D. in history. In a History News Network interview, Robin Lindley referred to Toler as a "wide-ranging historian and writer." She has tackled subjects ranging from a book on Matt Damon or on socialism to articles on mosquito-borne diseases (Time magazine) and the first European translation of "Arabian Nights."
As she told writing coach Marla Beck, she wants to show the reverse side of history:
I'm committed to telling the historical stories that let my readers see the world from a different perspective. Not just "wow, I didn’t know that," but "wow, I never thought about that."
Before turning to writing full-time, Toler spent 25 years in property management, eventually becoming vice president and part-owner of a firm. It wasn't until she realized how much her corporate work took time away from her writing that she finally decided to devote herself full-time to history and writing.
Her project with PBS began with an email: the network was searching for someone to write the companion book for Mercy Street. The series, about Civil War nurses in Union-held Alexandria, Virginia, was still in development, but Toler said the time frame was tight. She turned to secondary sources, many by the historians who had advised the producers/writers early on. She also used primary sources — letters and diaries to help her flesh out the story. (Adapted from various online sources.)
Read the complete Historian News Network interview with the author.