Jan Cigliano Hartman is an award-winning historian of eight books that portray the history of American life. Her book, Showplace of America, has sold over twenty thousand units `and remains in print after thirty years. It was Cleveland, Ohio’s Euclid Avenue—home to such luminaries as the founder of Standard Oil, the chairman of Western Union Telegraph, and the inventor of the electric arc lamp—where Hartman discovered that John Hay was the most intriguing individual among a stunning field. Other books by Cigliano Hartman include Private Washington, Grand American Avenue, and The Women Who Changed Architecture. Hartman is principal of Jan Hartman Books, a book producer, and formerly senior editor with Princeton Architectural Press.

Hartman is a fellow at Massachusetts Historical Society, was a resident scholar at the American Academy in Rome, and a visiting researcher at Brown University’s John Hay Library. Hartman is a graduate of Oberlin College with highest honors in history and George Washington University with a master’s in urban planning.