The first woman journalist in America

While reading this book, I came across the story of Anne Royall.

Royall is acclaimed as the first woman journalist in America. Which is a kind way of putting it. She would travel from town to town, basically mooching off the hospitality of the inhabitants there, and would write up her experiences in her several books. If you were gracious and hospitable to her -- or at least feigned it well -- you got a good write-up. If not, you didn't.

Which might mean that Anne Royall wouldn't be the one you'd pick for a house guest. (I think she did the choosing). But she's one of those interesting characters who never seem to come up in conventional history books. And that's our loss.