author

Mary Hooker

A sharp-eyed American traveler, this author turned a terrifying moment in history into a vivid firsthand memoir. Her writing brings readers inside the 1900 siege of the foreign legations in Peking with immediacy and calm detail.

1 Audiobook

Behind the scenes in Peking : Being experiences during the siege of the Legations

Behind the scenes in Peking : Being experiences during the siege of the Legations

by Mary Hooker

About the author

Mary Hooker was an American writer best known for Behind the Scenes in Peking, a firsthand account of the Boxer Rebellion era. Sources available during this search identify her as Mary Osborne Condit-Smith Hooker and give her dates as 1876–1918.

Her best-known book grew out of her experiences in Beijing during the 1900 siege of the foreign legations. Published in 1910, it is valued as an eyewitness narrative, combining personal observation with a close view of the political tension, fear, and daily endurance of people caught inside the crisis.

Some family-history sources also connect her to Richard Stewart Hooker, a U.S. Marine officer. Reliable portrait information was not clearly confirmed from the pages found here, so no image is included.