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Julia Flynn Siler
Julia Flynn Siler is an American journalist and author known for her narrative nonfiction books about American history and business. Her works include The House of Mondavi (2007), about the Mondavi wine dynasty; Lost Kingdom (2011), about the overthrow of Hawaii's last queen; and The White Devil's Daughters (2019), which chronicles the fight against human trafficking in San Francisco's Chinatown. A graduate of Brown University, Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, and Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management, Siler worked as a staff correspondent for BusinessWeek magazine and The Wall Street Journal. She continues to contribute to various publications including The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. Her books have received multiple accolades, including being named finalists for the Gerald Loeb Award and James Beard Foundation Awards, and appearing on The New York Times bestseller list. In 2025, she will serve as a visiting scholar at Oxford University through the Next Horizons program at Harris Manchester College and the Rhodes House. Early life and careerBorn in Palo Alto, California, in 1960, Siler grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and received a bachelor's degree in American Studies from Brown University in 1982, a master's from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism in 1985, and an M.B.A. from Northwestern University's Kellogg Graduate School of Management in 1991.[1] While on assignment in London for BusinessWeek magazine, she did additional postgraduate work at the London School of Economics.[1] She was a staff correspondent for BusinessWeek magazine in Los Angeles, Chicago, and London, and a staff writer for The Wall Street Journal in London. She has been a longtime contributor to The Wall Street Journal from the San Francisco Bay Area. The House of MondaviIn 2004, Siler wrote a front-page article for The Wall Street Journal titled, "Inside a Napa Valley Empire, a Family Struggles With Itself,[2]" about how brothers Robert and Peter Mondavi's past battles imperiled the Robert Mondavi wine empire in California. In 2007, Siler published The House of Mondavi: The Rise and Fall of an American Wine Dynasty, a nonfiction account of four generations of the Mondavi family. The House of Mondavi concerns a repeating pattern of sibling conflict in a family wine business. The book details the 2004 board coup that led to the breakup and the forced sale of the publicly-traded Robert Mondavi company. The House of Mondavi revealed that patriarch Robert Mondavi's philanthropic gifts to the University of California at Davis and elsewhere had led to a personal financial crisis for the company, which was one of the factors leading to its $1 billion takeover.[3] The book was a finalist for a Gerald Loeb Award for distinguished business and financial journalism in the category of business books in 2008.[4] It was also a James Beard Foundation finalist that year in the category of books on wine and spirits.[5] BusinessWeek picked it as one of the top ten business books of the year for 2007.[6] New York Times wine writer Eric Asimov wrote about it: “Call it Greek tragedy or Shakespearean drama, Biblical strife, Freudian acting out or even soap opera. You wouldn’t be exaggerating, and you wouldn’t be wrong."[7] It also received criticism for focusing on the salacious.[8] Lost KingdomIn 2011, Siler published Lost Kingdom: Hawaii's Last Queen, the Sugar Kings, and America's First Imperial Adventure, a narrative history of the overthrow of Hawaii's Queen Liliuokalani. Lost Kingdom was a 2011 Northern California bestseller.[9] It was also a New York Times bestseller.[10] In Fortune magazine, Nin-Hai Tseng wrote “The story of an island grappling to hold onto traditions in the face of burgeoning capitalist powers…Siler gives us a riveting and intimate look at the rise and tragic fall of Hawaii’s royal family."[11] Siler was an expert on Hawaii’s Queen Liliuokalani interviewed for the PBS American Masters series, Unladylike, in 2020.[12] The White Devil's DaughtersIn May 2019, Alfred A. Knopf, a Penguin Random House imprint, published The White Devil’s Daughters: The Women Who Fought Slavery in San Francisco’s Chinatown, a narrative history of the trafficking of Asian girls and women that flourished in the West during the first hundred years of Chinese immigration. The book focuses on San Francisco’s Occidental Mission Home, a “safe house” that opened in 1874 for enslaved and vulnerable Chinese women and girls. The book also shines a light on Donaldina (Dolly) Cameron, who rescued more than 60 mostly Chinese girls, women and babies to a shelter in San Anselmo.[13] Siler “vividly recounts a shocking episode from America’s past in this gripping history,” wrote Publishers Weekly. "It will fascinate readers interested in the history of women, immigration, and racism.” [14] In its starred review, Kirkus Reviews called The White Devil's Daughters "An accessible, well-written, riveting tale of a dismal, little-known corner of American history."[15] The White Devil's Daughters was selected as an Editors' Choice pick by the New York Times Book Review.[16] The Commonwealth Club of California named The White Devil's Daughters as a finalist for a 2019 California Book Award,[17] and The California Independent Bookseller Alliance granted 2019 "Golden Poppy" awards to The White Devil's Daughters in the non-fiction and regional categories.[18]Siler was an expert interviewed about Tye Leung Schulze, the first Chinese American woman to vote, for the PBS American Masters series, Unladylike, in 2020. Siler has written about her own journey to becoming a late-in-life competitive rower after undergoing brain surgery for National Geographic, about the survival of the banyan tree in Lahaina after the 2023 fire in The New York Times, and is a regular contributor to the Wall Street Journal's books section. She is a member of the National Book Critics Circle and is co-director of nonfiction for the Community of Writers. In 2025, Siler will be a visiting scholar at Oxford University as part of Next Horizons, a program of Harris Manchester College and the Rhodes House. References
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