Diamond and Juba: The Raucous World of 19th-Century Challenge Dancing is this author’s dual biography of Irish American John Diamond and African American William Henry Lane (nicknamed Juba). Published by the University of Illinois Press in December 2025, this biography explores the lives of these two men who were internationally famous in the 1800s as rival champions in the art and sport of challenge dancing. An American history professor at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, Masten also authored Art Work: Women Artists and Democracy in Mid-Nineteenth Century New York, along with essays on Jacksonian-era painter Nelly Martin Spencer, the pitfalls of writing interdisciplinary history, and the joys of teaching history through dance. April F. Masten was interviewed during BIO’s May 2026 annual conference in New York City by BIO member and podcast producer Jenny Skoog Mondesir.