Sally of Monticello: Founding Mother
N.M. (Norm) Ledgin mixes romance and adventure in his historical fiction, reinforcing recorded events and real people with the logical interaction of their times. He is called upon frequently to speak of the human side of our Third President and, for the University of Kansas's Continuing Education Department, often teaches a course titled "Explaining the Perplexing Thomas Jefferson." He authored the controversial scholarly nonfiction work, Diagnosing Jefferson, in 2000 and a follow-up study--Asperger's and Self-Esteem (2002)--of idiosyncrasies that characterized such geniuses as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Albert Einstein. As a result, these latter two with Jefferson have been mentioned in literature (House Rules, by Jodi Picoult) and drama (the movie, Adam) in association with Asperger's Syndrome, a neurological condition on the high end of the autism continuum. With the autistic animal scientist Dr. Temple Grandin he has addressed audiences nationally on his findings and has seen his work republished abroad. Ledgin's venture into fiction has included a work covering the critical Kansas Border War of the 1850s, The Jayhawker, selected as one of Kansas's "best books" during the state's sesquicentennial in 2011. He has also penned a mystery, Sour Notes, featuring an amateur sleuth--a piano teacher--who leans on her knowledge of operatic intrigues for crime-solving.