Jean Zimmerman
Jean Zimmerman (born 1957 in New York) is an American author, poet, and historian. She studied at Barnard College and earned an MFA in poetry from Columbia University. She received a New York State Fine Arts grant in 1983 and is married to Gil Reavill.
Zimmerman has written both non-fiction and historical fiction. Her coauthored works include Breaking With Tradition: Women and Work, the New Facts of Life (1992). Her solo book Tailspin: Women at War in the Wake of Tailhook (1995) examined the Tailhook scandal and its link to sexual harassment. With her husband she also wrote Raising Our Athletic Daughters: How Sports Can Build Self-Esteem and Save Girls’ Lives (1998). Other books include Made from Scratch (2003), The Women of the House (2006), and Love, Fiercely: A Gilded Age Romance. Her historical novels include The Orphanmaster, set in 17th-century New Amsterdam and optioned for a film, and Savage Girl, about the Gilded Age in the Comstock Lode and Manhattan.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 12:24 (CET).