Professor Joan Mellen: prolific and distinguished author, historian, and educator; an authority on Jim Garrison and his investigation of President Kennedy’s assassination which caused ripples and reverberations within the federal government’s halls of power; she was the bestselling author of twenty-five books, including A Farewell to Justice, her biographical study of Jim Garrison’s New Orleans investigation. She has written for a variety of publications, including the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Philadelphia Inquirer, and Baltimore Sun. Professor Mellen was a professor of English and creative writing at Temple University in Philadelphia. In 2004, she was awarded one of Temple University’s coveted “Great Teacher” awards for outstanding achievement.

Genres: Film, Biography, American History, Novels. Career: Professor, Temple University, Philadelphia. Publications: A Film Guide to the Battle of Algiers, 1973; Marilyn Monroe, 1973; Women and Their Sexuality in the New Film, 1973; Voices from the Japanese Cinema, 1975; The Waves at Genji’s Door: Japan Through Its Cinema, 1976; Big Bad Wolves: Masculinity in the American Film, 1978; (ed.) The World of Luis Buñuel, 1978; Natural Tendencies, 1981; Privilege: The Enigma of Sasha Bruce, 1983; Bob Knight: His Own Man, 1988; Kay Boyle: Author of Herself, 1994; Hellman and Hammett, 1996.

Visit Professor Mellen’s Author Page at Amazon.

Her most recent works include Faustian Bargains: Lyndon Johnson and Mac Wallace in the Robber Baron Culture of Texas, and Blood in the Water: How the US and Israel Conspired to Ambush the USS Liberty.

Personal Appreciation

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From our most esteemed colleague, Malcolm Blunt:

“She was a force of nature and a force to be reckoned with. No two people are the same, but in a way, I am reminded of Harry Livingstone: a person who wrestled with his ‘demons.’ Both of them suffering a difficult past…..sometimes the ‘demons’ won and sometimes the ‘demons’ lost…..Joan could be at the extreme end of anything, but was also the kindest soul. She was a very dear friend and colleague who contributed a great deal and whose legacy to the JFK research community will be increasingly recognized and appreciated over the years to come. Joan Mellen, a lady our French friends would describe as, ‘une grande dame.’”