Debby Applegate

Debby Applegate is an American biographer whose work has focused on 19th century female religious figures and the Church of Latter-day Saints. She won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography for The Most Famous Man in America: The Biography of Henry Ward Beecher.

Born on June 17, 1957 in Detroit, Michigan, Applegate moved frequently as a child due to her father’s work and attended eight different elementary schools. She received her B.A. in English from Vassar College and her M.A and Ph.D. in American Studies from Yale University.

Applegate is an acclaimed biographer and historian who has written extensively on 19th century women and the Church of Latter-day Saints. Her first book, The Most Famous Man in America: The Biography of Henry Ward Beecher, was published in 2006 and received both popular and critical acclaim. She followed with several other works, including Sisters of Fortune: America’s Catons and the Gilded Age (2010), Aunt Arie: A Foxfire Portrait (2012), and Bound for the Promised Land: Harriet Tubman: Portrait of an American Hero (2003). In 2017, Applegate published Prairie Plugger: The Life and Times of Anna Marie Hahn, a biography on the life and times of a mid-20th century botanist.

Applegate is considered an authority on 19th century women and their struggles against the patriarchal religious norms of the time. Her work on Margaret Fox Kane and Foxfire has earned her high recognition and praise. Her Sister of Fortune: America’s Catons and the Gilded Age has been called “brilliantly researched and full of insight,” and her Bound for the Promised Land: Harriet Tubman: Portrait of an American Hero has been recognized as a “vital part of the literature that has provided a much-needed corrective to mainstream histories”.

In addition to her work as a biographer and historian, Applegate also teaches and lectures on biography and history. She has given distinguished lectures at universities such as Stanford, Yale and Columbia, and was the Korenberg scholar in residence at the Chautauqua Institution in 2015. Applegate has also received numerous awards, including the Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography in 2007 and the International Women’s Forum Lifetime Achievement Award in 2009.

Applegate’s works explore her interests in 19th century women and their struggles against the patriarchal religious norms of the time. Through her books, she offers a glimpse into lives of the women she has written about, including those of Henry Ward Beecher, Harriet Tubman, Anna Marie Hahn, Margaret Fox Kane and those of the generations of women from the Caton family. By doing this, Applegate works to restore the voices and stories of women whose voices have gone largely underrepresented in history. Additionally, she brings alive the personal struggles these women endured to achieve the successes they are credited with, as well as the determination they had to prevail against the religious and social conventions of the time.