Knoxville, Tennessee, socialite Evelyn Hazen did something brazen, nearly impossible. In an act
that defied social conventions in the 1930s, she sued her former lover for seduction and breach
of promise to marry and won. When Hazen was a fourteen-year-old, raven-haired beauty, she
entered the University of Tennessee in 1914. Naïve and impressionable, she fell in love with Ralph
Scharringhaus, the son of a prosperous businessman. By 1917, they were engaged and dreaming of
a wedding, but when the United States entered World War I Scharringhaus joined the armed
forces. Their engagement would continue for fifteen years with Hazen seeking a wedding and
Scharringhaus finding ways to maneuver her into bed. When in 1932 Scharringhaus severed their
relationship and fled, Hazen considered murdering him but decided to sue him instead. The
Seduction of Miss Evelyn Hazenrecounts the events leading to the landmark case, which Hazen won.
She was awarded $80,000—a fortune in the middle of The Great Depression.

Jane Van Ryan  is an award-winning broadcast journalist and communications executive. She served as a talk show host, reporter, and anchor at television stations in Charleston, S.C., Peoria, Ill., and Louisville, Ky., before spending several years at a major network affiliate in Washington, D.C. Since 1987, Van Ryan has managed communications programs for trade associations, a large corporation specializing in research and engineering, and one of America’s oldest and most respected research universities.