Martha Sandweiss, author of PASSING STRANGE, featured in Vanity Fair

Martha A. Sandweiss Reads from Passing Strange


By Vanity Fair
February 6, 2009

For decades, Clarence King lived a charming, public life. The notable white geologist and writer, who had helped map the American West, divided his time between White House dinners and social gatherings at Manhattan's most elite clubs. But in this excerpt from the new book Passing Strange: A Gilded Age Tale of Love and Deception Across the Color Line (The Penguin Press), historian Martha A. Sandweiss reveals the riveting secret King kept from his family—and the world—and only disclosed on his deathbed in 1901: Clarence King lived a double life as a black man, James Todd.

To hear Martha Sandweiss read from her book click here.