David Baron: American Eclipse

Cover: American Eclipse

Cover: American Eclipse

AMERICAN ECLIPSE:
A NATION’S EPIC RACE TO CATCH
THE SHADOW OF THE MOON AND
WIN THE GLORY OF THE WORLD

David Baron
Liveright (A Division of W.W. Norton), June 6, 2017, $27.95
ISBN-10: 1631490168; ISBN-13: 978-1631490163

Baron reports:

The origins of American Eclipse stretch back nineteen years, and began with a personal obsession and an astronomical news peg.

In February 1998, I witnessed my first total solar eclipse ― in Aruba ― and was spellbound. Standing beneath the sun’s glorious corona proved magical, and I vowed to repeat the experience. Indeed, since then I have continued to stalk eclipses across Europe, Australia, and Asia.

David Baron

David Baron

I also resolved back in 1998 that I would write a book about eclipses, but not right away. Even as a rookie eclipse chaser, I knew that the grandest eclipse of our era would occur on August 21, 2017, when the moon’s shadow will, for the first time in 99 years, traverse the entire breadth of the continental United States. It seemed obvious that the summer of 2017 offered the right opportunity to release my book. But what, precisely, would the book be about?

In 2011, I began hashing out ideas with my agent and soon settled on a topic. I would tell the story of the great American eclipse of 1878, which crossed the nation’s Wild West, lured many Gilded Age scientists (including Thomas Edison and the Vassar astronomer Maria Mitchell) to the frontier, and inspired America’s rise as a scientific power.

Thank goodness I started work six years in advance of publication. Writing a history book proved a gargantuan task. Here are some things I learned along the way:

  • The Internet has, unsurprisingly, made historical research easier than ever. The papers of Thomas Edison and other bygone scientists, and vast newspaper collections, are available online. Google Books offers ready access to nineteenth-century tomes.
  • The Internet is, however, no substitute for on-site archival research. My most exciting finds came while poring through old letters, diaries, and news clippings at the National Archives, Library of Congress, and university manuscript collections. What a thrill it was to hold letters written by Edison and Alexander Graham Bell.
  • The travel involved with visiting archives can quickly get expensive. If you want to write a science history book, do what I did: contact the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. The book grant I received was a godsend.

Contact info:


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Tell your fellow NASW members how you came up with the idea for your book, developed a proposal, found an agent and publisher, funded and conducted research, and put the book together. Include what you wish you had known before you began working on your book, or had done differently.

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Thinking of writing a book? If you are a NASW member, you may access a list of more than 150 books and online resources to help you craft your book proposal, find an agent and funding sources, negotiate your contract, learn about self-publishing, publicize and market your book, and more at www.nasw.org/article/write-book.

Send book info and questions about book publishing to Lynne Lamberg, NASW book editor, llamberg@nasw.org.

May 31, 2017

Advance Copy

The path from idea to book may take myriad routes. The Advance Copy column, started in 2000 by NASW volunteer book editor Lynne Lamberg, features NASW authors telling the stories behind their books. Authors are asked to report how they got their idea, honed it into a proposal, found an agent and a publisher, funded and conducted their research, and organized their writing process. They also are asked to share what they wish they’d known when they started or would do differently next time, and what advice they can offer aspiring authors. Lamberg edits the authors’ answers to produce the Advance Copy reports.

NASW members: Will your book be published soon? Visit www.nasw.org/advance-copy-submission-guidelines for information on submitting your report.

Publication of NASW author reports in Advance Copy does not constitute NASW's endorsement of any publication or the ideas, values, or material contained within or espoused by authors or their books. We hope this column stimulates productive discussions on important topics now and in the future as both science and societies progress. We welcome your discussion in the comments section below.

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