Jan Morris, who died on November 20th, 2020 shortly after her 94th birthday, was known as an historian and a travel writer. As James Morris, she accompanied Edmund Hillary on the first expedition to the summit of Mount Everest. Before and after her transition in 1964, Jan Morris wrote 18 travel books, six history books including a noteworthy three volume history of the British Empire, eight memoirs including the best-selling Conundrum, two novels, and twelve collections of essays.
This interview, conducted by Richard A. Lupoff and Richard Wolinsky, was recorded in San Francisco on August 20, 1999 while Jan Morris was appearing at a conference in the San Francisco Bay Area. There were would be a second interview in 2001, which will be digitized and posted in the future.
Jan Morris’s book, Lincoln: A foreigner’s quest, discussed in the interview, was published in 2001.