Natalie Vivian Scott was once described by author Sherwood Anderson as “the best newspaperwoman in America.” She became a vital force in the creative salon of intellectuals who gathered in the French Quarter during the 1920s. This was a time that saw the reawakening of this original section of New Orleans life, thanks to the efforts of Scott and her colleagues.

She was widely recognized as a literary and cultural dynamo of the early twentieth century; however, her accomplishments can hardly be pigeonholed into these two categories. As a Red Cross nurse and translator during World War’s I and II, Scott was awarded the Croix de Guerre, France’s highest medal for bravery. She received this medal after rescuing patients from the continuously bombed and debris-filled upper floors of the medical building she worked in.

Scott was a celebrated writer and journalist in Mexico and the United States. Opening the Kitigawa House, a pension for artists and writers in Mexico, she continued her literary influence. Her indomitable and charitable spirit led her to create a peasant school and medical cooperative in impoverished Taxco, Mexico. A location that she eventually made her home until her death in 1957.

This incredible account of her passions, causes, and adventures is one of a real New Orleans lady—a lady whose comfort in the role of a Southern woman belied the adventurous and varied life she led.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
John W. Scott received his Ph.D. in history from Louisiana State University and later became an assistant professor of history there. He has won the Louisiana Historical Association Presidential Memorial Award and the Martin Hardwick Award for Writing. He became interested in this subject while a student at Tulane University. The university’s extensive archives, files, and artifacts became the catapult for his interest in accurately and thoroughly documenting the robust life of Natalie Scott. Also an attorney, he received a J.D. from LSU and served several terms in the State Legislature.

NATALIE SCOTT
A Magnificent Life
By John W. Scott
448 pp. 6 x 9
57 b/w photos 7 b/w illus. Notes Index
ISBN: 1-58980-580-1
EAN: 978-1-58980-580-4