In All the Light
Here Comes from Above: The Life and Legacy of
Edward Hitchcock, Massachusetts
author Robert T. McMaster brings Edward Hitchcock
to life for his readers. Relying largely on
Hitchcock's own words from his letters, notes, and
other unpublished manuscripts, McMaster presents
an intimate view of the man, his scientific
achievements and his theological writings, as well
as his battles with powerful personal demons that
threatened him at every turn. Each chapter is
introduced with a vignette, a scene from the life
of Edward Hitchcock or his family, that reveals
the humanity of the man with dignity, charm, and
humor.
WORDS OF PRAISE
FOR
All
the Light Here Comes from Above:
The Life and Legacy of Edward Hitchcock
"McMaster’s biography brings Edward
Hitchcock alive in all his facets…The book
is eminently readable…I am confident in
the scholarship of this work and recommend
it to scholars as well as to anyone
interested in history."
JOANNE
BOURGEOIS, Professor Emerita,
Earth and
Space Sciences, University
of Washington
(See Earth Sciences
History 41(1) 2022, pp. 217-219
for the
complete review)
¦
¦
"One
hundred fifty-six years after Hitchcock's
death, Robert T. McMaster revisits the
life and scientific work of the noted New
England geologist, capturing his relevance
to the history of scientific study.
McMaster engages the reader with a
combination of well documented details of
Hitchcock's scientific endeavors and the
use of imaginative introductory
'vignettes' to each chapter...McMaster's
new study demonstrates that Edward
Hitchcock is worth a fresh look."
DARIA
D'ARIENZO, archivist and co-author
of
Orra White Hitchcock, 1796-1863: An
Amherst Woman of Art and
Science
¦
¦
"...a superb book
that brings to light the person and his
times."
STEPHEN GEORGE,
Professor Emeritus of Biology, Amherst
College
¦
¦
"Robert T.
McMaster's biography of Edward Hitchcock,
one of the most distinguished American
geologists of the pre-Civil War period, is
an invaluable portrait of an individual
and his era. Hitchcock was a
complicated, conflicted man. He was a
prodigious worker who published a great
many scholarly articles, books, and
scientific studies, but he suffered from
deep anxiety about his health, convinced
that he would not live for long. A former
Protestant minister to a small
congregation in rural Western
Massachusetts, he originally embraced the
traditional belief that the biblical story
of Creation was true in every detail, but
his careful studies of New England geology
and the evidence of glaciation and the
presence of fossil prints of huge extinct
creatures challenged his older
orthodoxies. He eventually acknowledged
that some geological evidence was
inconsistent with the biblical record, but
he insisted to his last days that religion
and science were not incompatible. Though
his first love was teaching, he accepted
an appointment as president of Amherst
College, demonstrating great skill as an
administrator by guiding the college
through a financial crisis that threatened
its very existence. McMaster's account of
Hitchcock's life, enhanced by more than
one hundred illustrations, is
thorough-going and readable, and deserves
a wide audience."
GERALD MCFARLAND, Emeritus Professor
of History, UMass - Amherst
¦
¦
"Robert T.
McMaster's biography of geologist Edward
Hitchcock, the third president of Amherst
College during the mid-1800s and leading
authority on fossil footprints from the
Connecticut River valley, marks a scholarly
treatment of one of New England's leading
figures at the forefront of science and
religion during a time when geology was
starting to command a greater role in the life
of the young republic. Among other
accomplishments, the book treats Hitchcock's
investiture as the first state geologist of
Massachusetts, opening the door to a broader
movement followed by other states when
federally mandated surveys remained rare prior
to the permanent foundation of the US
Geological Survey as late as 1879. This book
deserves the approbation not only of
historians interested in the development of
the Connecticut River valley, but geologists
and history of geology buffs interested in the
wider intellectual and physical development of
the antebellum United States of America."
MARKES
JOHNSON, Professor of Natural Science,
Emeritus,
Williams College
★★★★★
Five-star rating on Amazon.com
★★★★★
Five-star rating on
Goodreads.com
HOW TO ORDER

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All
the Light Here Comes from Above
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the Light Here Comes from Above
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from Above
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from Above
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PAPERBACK:
ISBN 978-0-9856944-9-4
HARD COVER: ISBN
978-1-6662497-2-9
Published by
Unquomonk
Press
416
pages, over 100 illustrations,
notes, references, index
Also by Robert T.
McMaster
THE TROLLEY DAYS BOOK SERIES
Historical novels set in a New
England industrial city
during
the World War I era.
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