Christina Vella (March 14, 1942 – March 22, 2017) was an American writer, historian of modern Europe, and adjunct professor at

Tulane University Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private university, private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into ...

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

Biography

Vella received her Ph.D. in European and U.S. history from Tulane University in New Orleans. Her first book, ''Intimate Enemies: The Two Worlds of the Baroness de Pontalba'', was entered for the

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...

and the

National Book Award The National Book Awards are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors. The Nat ...

. It was published by

Louisiana State University Press The Louisiana State University Press (LSU Press) is a university press at Louisiana State University. Founded in 1935, it publishes works of scholarship as well as general interest books. LSU Press is a member of the Association of American Univer ...

in 1997 and was chosen as one of the best books of the year by the ''

New York Times Book Review ''The New York Times Book Review'' (''NYTBR'') is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times'' in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the most influential and widely rea ...

'', ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of B ...

'', and ''

The Times-Picayune ''The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate'' is an American newspaper published in New Orleans, Louisiana, since January 25, 1837. The current publication is the result of the 2019 acquisition of ''The Times-Picayune'' (itself a result of th ...

''. It chronicles the life and career of Micaela Almonester, the woman responsible for building the

Embassy of the United States in Paris The Embassy of the United States in Paris is the diplomatic mission of the United States in the French Republic. The embassy is the oldest diplomatic mission of the United States. Benjamin Franklin and some of the other Founding Fathers were th ...

and the

Pontalba Buildings The Pontalba Buildings form two sides of Jackson Square in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana. They are matching red-brick, one-block-long, four‑story buildings built between 1849–1851 by the Baroness Micaela Almonester Pontalba. ...

in New Orleans. In 2003, ''Intimate Enemies'' was adapted by

Thea Musgrave Thea Musgrave CBE (born 27 May 1928) is a Scottish composer of opera and classical music. She has lived in the United States since 1972. Biography Born in Barnton, Edinburgh, Musgrave was educated at Moreton Hall School, a boarding independent ...

as the opera ''Pontalba'', which premiered in New Orleans in October of that year. Vella's later books include ''The Hitler Kiss: A Memoir of the Czech Resistance'' (2002), co-authored with Radomir Luza, and ''Indecent Secrets - The Infamous Murri Murder Affair'' (2006), a history of the Murri murder trial which took place in Bologna, Italy in 1905. Her biography of

George Washington Carver George Washington Carver ( 1864 – January 5, 1943) was an American agricultural scientist and inventor who promoted alternative crops to cotton and methods to prevent soil depletion. He was one of the most prominent black scientists of the ea ...

, ''George Washington Carver: A Life'', was published in 2015.

Awards and honors

She received the 2010 Preservation Award from the Foundation for Historical Louisiana.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vella, Christina 1942 births 2017 deaths Tulane University alumni Writers from New Orleans Historians of Europe American women historians Tulane University faculty Louisiana State University alumni Historians from Louisiana 21st-century American women