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In the scorching summer of 1878, with the Gilded Age in its infancy, three tenacious and brilliant scientists raced to Wyoming and Colorado to observe a rare total solar eclipse. One sought to discover a new planet. Another-an adventuresome female astronomer-fought to prove that science was not anathema to femininity. And a young, megalomaniacal inventor, with the tabloid press fast on his heels, sought to test his scientific bona fides and light the world through his revelations. David Baron brings to three-dimensional life these three competitors-James Craig Watson, Maria Mitchell, and Thomas Edison-and thrillingly re-creates the fierce jockeying of nineteenth-century American astronomy. With spellbinding accounts of train robberies and Indian skirmishes, the mythologized age of the last days of the Wild West comes alive as never before. A magnificent portrayal of America's dawn as a scientific superpower, American Eclipse depicts a young nation that looked to the skies to reveal its towering ambition and expose its latent genius.



About the Author

David Baron

David Baron is an award-winning author, journalist, and broadcaster. A former science correspondent for NPR and former science editor for PRI's The World, he has traveled to every continent and more than 50 countries for work and pleasure. An avid umbraphile (eclipse chaser) , he has witnessed seven total solar eclipses in such disparate locales as Australia, Indonesia, Chile, and the Faroe Islands. David's popular TED Talk on eclipse chasing has received more than 2 million views. He lives in Boulder, Colorado.



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