Mary MacLane

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Mary MacLane
MacLane in 1918
Born	May 1, 1881 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Died	August 6, 1929(1929-08-06) (aged 48) Chicago, Illinois, United States
Nationality	Canadian-American
Occupation	Writer

Mary MacLane (May 1, 1881 – c. August 6, 1929) was a controversial Canadian-born American writer whose frank memoirs helped usher in the confessional style of autobiographical writing.^[1] MacLane was known as the "Wild Woman of Butte".^[2]

MacLane was a popular author for her time,^[3] scandalizing the populace with her shocking bestselling first memoir and to a lesser extent her two following books. She was considered wild and uncontrollable, a reputation she nurtured, and was openly bisexual as well as a vocal feminist. In her writings, she compared herself to another frank young memoirist, Marie Bashkirtseff, who died a few years after MacLane was born,^[4] and H. L. Mencken called her "the Butte Bashkirtseff".^[2]