When the Post War World Was New

When she graduated from Swarthmore College in 1952 Mary Alzina Stone, known then by her nickname 'Maryal' did not know what she wanted to do next. While she thought about her options, like some of her classmates she volunteered to go overseas with the Quakers to help rebuild war-torn Europe. She found herself at a Finnish work camp on the Arctic Circle where she helped clear wooded fields for farms with volunteers from all over Europe. When work camp ended, she met some of her college friends to backpack through Western Europe, ending up in London where she stayed several months exploring the city before sailing for home. Years later, a published author, wife, and mother, Dale has made use of her trip diary and letters home to write up her experiences. Her book includes her diary entries and correspondence with family and friends describing her reactions to Europe's history and beauty as well as the adventures young Americans had backpacking across Europe. Dale's travels will make the reader want to book passage on the first flight abroad to retrace her footsteps in When the Postwar World was New. Alzina Stone Dale is a freelance author, scholar, and lecturer who has contributed articles and reviews to numerous literary publications, as well as written several award winning biographies and travel books. She has taught seminars on the history of mysteries at the Newberry Library, run workshops on family history for Urban Gateways at Chicago's inner city schools, chaired panels at mystery conventions, and given lectures on Dorothy L. Sayers, T.S. Eliot, C.S. Lewis and G.K. Chesterton at Bowling Green State University, the University of Chicago, Notre Dame University, University of Toledo, Seattle Pacific University and the Sayers Society in Great Britain. She is a member of the Authors Guild, the Society of Midland Authors, the Crime Writers Association, Dorothy L. Sayers Society, G.K. Chesterton Society, and Sisters in Crime. Dale graduated from Swarthmore College in 1952 and received an M.A. in Literature and Theology from the University of Chicago in 1957. She and her husband Charles have three children. They live in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood but spend summers at Sawyer, Michigan at their old cottage on the lake.