Frost-Knappman, Elizabeth 1943- (Elizabeth Frost)

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Frost-Knappman, Elizabeth 1943- (Elizabeth Frost)

Personal

Born October 1, 1943, in Washington, DC; daughter of Edward Laurie Frost and Lorena Ameter; married Edward William Knappman (a publisher and literary agent), November 6, 1965; children: Amanda Lee. Education: George Washington University, B.A., 1965;

graduate study at University of Wisconsin—Madison, and New York University, 1966. Politics: Democrat. Hobbies and other interests: Tennis, knitting, reading, travel.

Addresses

Home—P.O. Box 805, Higganum, CT 06441. Office—New England Publishing Associates, Inc., P.O. Box 361, Chester, CT 06412. E-mail—elizabeth@nepa.com.

Career

Editor, agent, and author. Natural History Press, New York, NY, associate editor, 1967-69; William Collins & Sons, London, England, natural-history editor, 1970-71; Doubleday & Co., New York, NY, editor, then senior nonfiction editor, 1972-80; William Morrow & Co., New York, NY, senior nonfiction editor, 1980-82; New England Publishing Associates, Inc. (literary agency and book packager), Chester, CT, founder and president, 1983-2007. Lecturer at colleges, libraries, and organizations.

Awards, Honors

Choice Outstanding Academic Books designation, 1994, for Clio Companion to Women's Progress in America.

Writings

(Under name Elizabeth Frost) The Quotable Lawyer, Facts on File (New York, NY), 1986, revised edition, with David S. Shrager and Scarlet Riley, Checkmark Books (New York, NY), 1998.

(With Kathryn Cullen-DuPont) Women Suffrage in America: An Eyewitness History, Facts on File (New York, NY), 1992, revised edition, 2005.

The World Almanac of Presidential Quotations, World Almanac, 1993.

The ABC-Clio Companion to Women's Progress in America, American Bibliographical Center-Clio Press (Santa Barbara, CA), 1994.

American Journey: Women in America (CD-ROM), Primary Source Media, 1995.

(With Kathryn Cullen-DuPont) Women's Rights on Trial: 101 Historic Trials from Ann Hutchinson to the Virginia Military Institute Cadets, Thomson Gale (Detroit, MI), 1997.

(Editor, with husband, Edward W. Knappman, and Lisa Paddock) Courtroom Drama: 120 of the World's Most Notable Trials, UXL (Detroit, MI), 1998.

Sidelights

Elizabeth Frost-Knappman told SATA: "The year 1983 was a turning point for me. Recently, I had adopted my daughter, Amanda, and was at home after many years working as an editor. The women's movement was in the news and I became interested in its history. My reading eventually led to the publication of several books on women and law.

"My curiosity about law in general came from my mother, Lorena, a legal secretary, and my uncle Norman, an attorney working in Washington, DC, where I grew up. Uncle Norman's firm, Frost & Towers, had played a role in a case involving the letters of former first lady Mary Todd Lincoln, and I followed his interesting career in the newspapers. Then, in 1964-65, he employed me part time to help me pay for my courses at George Washington University. I collected information for his cases at the Library of Congress. Years later, writing my own books, I felt at home tracking down diaries, legal cases, letters, and speeches, which I relied on heavily in my writing.

"In 1983 I also started New England Publishing Associates, Inc., a literary agency. I worked out of an office in my home in Brooklyn, New York, until 1990, when my family and I moved to Haddam, Connecticut. My husband, Ed, and I expanded NEPA to include editorial services, such as writing, editing, indexing, and other aspects of book production.

"Looking back, I think that taking time out to raise my daughter gave me the time to broaden my interests from corporate publishing to writing and entrepreneurship, two very educational and enjoyable enterprises."

Biographical and Critical Sources

PERIODICALS

Choice, December, 1994, B.K. Lacks, review of The ABC-Clio Companion to Women's Progress in America, p. 573; June, 1997, review of Women's Rights on Trial:101 Historic Trials from Ann Hutchinson to the Virginia Military Institute Cadets, p. 1734; April, 1999, review of The Quotable Lawyer, p. 1440.

Feminist Collections, summer, 2005, Martin Garnar, review of Women's Suffrage in America, p. 31.

School Library Journal, May, 1997, John Peters, review of Women's Rights on Trial, p. 158; August, 1998, Priscilla Bennett, review of Courtroom Drama: 120 of the World's Most Notable Trials, p. 188; October, 2005, Herman Sutter, review of Women's Suffrage in America, p. 88.