Following the release of her provocative book Sexual Personae in 1990, Camille Paglia, a professor of Liberal Arts at the University of Pennsylvania, established herself as an internationally recognized and highly controversial public intellectual. She is known for being non-conformist in her approach to intellectual life and for her unique methods of communicating her uncommon and sometimes unpopular viewpoints.

Born April 2, 1947 in Endicott, New York, to parents Pasquale John and Lydia Anne (Colapietro) Paglia, she was raised in Syracuse New York where she attended public school. Her academic training continued on a traditional path: she earned a B.A. from SUNY Binghamton in 1968, a M.Phil. from Yale University in 1971, and a Ph.D. in English in 1974, also from Yale. Her teaching career began at Binghamton University in Bennington, Vermont, where she was a faculty member in the Literature and Language department until 1980. Before arriving...