Edith Wharton was born Edith Jones on January 24, 1862, to a wealthy New York City family. Best known for her novels, Wharton’s illustrious literary career also included poetry, short stories, design books, and travelogues. She gained widespread recognition with the 1905 publication of The House of Mirth, a darkly comic portrait of New York aristocracy. In 1921, she won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for her novel The Age of Innocence (1920), becoming the fi rst woman to claim it. Wharton moved to France in 1913, where she remained until her death. In addition to her many literary accolades, Wharton was awarded a French Legion of Honor medal for her humanitarian efforts during World War I. Edith Wharton died on August 11, 1937. Candance Waid is Associate Professor of English at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where she teaches American literature with a focus on race and regional cultures. She is the author of Edith Wharton’s Letters from the Underworld: Fictions of Women and Writing and is the editor of Wharton’s novels, short stories, and autobiography. She previously taught at Yale University and at the Sorbonne.