My past & present writing projects
I've only recently become active on GoodReads, and I'm new to blogging, but I'll see if I can write something here that will be of interest.
If you look down my list of book titles, you'll see that I've written and edited a good number of books on a wide range of subjects. Most of these books are entirely my own creations, but others are books I've edited for the reference-book publishing company for which I've worked since 1994. This is not to say that my input into the edited books has not been substantial--in most cases it has been. For example, Cyclopedia of Literary Places is a 3-vol. reference work that I conceived and planned, and I personally edited virtually all its c. 1,300 articles. I also wrote some of the articles myself. I really do consider these volumes as "my" own publications. At the other end of the spectrum is the 5-vol. Encyclopedia of Family Life. I came into that project late and had little hand in its creation.
Hmmm ... I just noticed that the number of my titles in the GoodReads list has jumped from 30 to 31 since this morning. I can't figure out which title is new. I'm expecting to see Agriculture in History turn up here eventually, but it doesn't seem to be in the list.
Incidentally, there is some duplication in this list, but not as much as on Amazon.com. When I just now entered "kent rasmussen" under AUTHOR in Amazon's advanced book search, an astonishing 72 titles came up! I suspect that at least half of them are redundant. However, my title list would be even longer if every reference book that I've edited were listed. So far as I can tell, Amazon and GoodReads list only the books in which my name appears on the title page. My name appears only on copyright page mastheads in many other books and not at all in still other books.
I didn't mean to go off on that long tangent, so I'll be brief about what I'm doing currently. The first four books of my that I published are on African history--the subject of my graduate school studies. Over the past 15 or so years, I've published mainly on Mark Twain. At the moment, I have six Mark Twain books in print, two more on the way, and ideas for still more. Mark Twain is a subject of which I never tire. I'm also working a variety of reference books: 13 volumes of Great Athletes, 3 vols. of The Forties in America,3 vols. of Encyclopedia of American Immigration, and 3 vols. of The Thirties in America.
Both my current Mark Twain books are edited volumes. One is a collection of new and reprinted critical essays. This book is still taking shape, so I'll withhold details until I can be more definite about its contents. For now, I'll merely say that I'm very excited about the topics on which scholars are writing new essays. This book will have some truly original perspectives.
I'm also excited about my second book, a collection of letters to Mark Twain from his readers. You might not believe what some people wrote to him! The best letters are filled with sincere and moving thanks for his books. Many come from would-be writers soliciting advice; others are from schemers with often bizarre business propositions. Many letters are from people down on their luck, asking him for money or help. The list goes on and on. What makes these letters interesting, however, is what they say about Mark Twain himself. Why did so many people send such letters to him and not to other writers of his time? Can you imagine anyone inviting Henry James to come down to Florida to gather material for a book about the burgeoning market in swampland? Or writing to Herman Melville to ask for financial help?
There are enough interesting letters to Mark Twain to fill dozens of books, but for now, I'll be selecting only enough to fill one little volume in the University of California Press's Jumping Frog series. If this first volume is a success, perhaps we'll do more volumes later. Because of this possibility, I'm not going to use all the best letters in this first volume.
My working title for this book? There's only one possibility: Dear Mark Twain: Letters from His Readers. (Okay, I admit it's not entirely original. I got the idea from Dear Bertrand Russell, and I can still laugh remember how much Russell said he liked that title.)
If you look down my list of book titles, you'll see that I've written and edited a good number of books on a wide range of subjects. Most of these books are entirely my own creations, but others are books I've edited for the reference-book publishing company for which I've worked since 1994. This is not to say that my input into the edited books has not been substantial--in most cases it has been. For example, Cyclopedia of Literary Places is a 3-vol. reference work that I conceived and planned, and I personally edited virtually all its c. 1,300 articles. I also wrote some of the articles myself. I really do consider these volumes as "my" own publications. At the other end of the spectrum is the 5-vol. Encyclopedia of Family Life. I came into that project late and had little hand in its creation.
Hmmm ... I just noticed that the number of my titles in the GoodReads list has jumped from 30 to 31 since this morning. I can't figure out which title is new. I'm expecting to see Agriculture in History turn up here eventually, but it doesn't seem to be in the list.
Incidentally, there is some duplication in this list, but not as much as on Amazon.com. When I just now entered "kent rasmussen" under AUTHOR in Amazon's advanced book search, an astonishing 72 titles came up! I suspect that at least half of them are redundant. However, my title list would be even longer if every reference book that I've edited were listed. So far as I can tell, Amazon and GoodReads list only the books in which my name appears on the title page. My name appears only on copyright page mastheads in many other books and not at all in still other books.
I didn't mean to go off on that long tangent, so I'll be brief about what I'm doing currently. The first four books of my that I published are on African history--the subject of my graduate school studies. Over the past 15 or so years, I've published mainly on Mark Twain. At the moment, I have six Mark Twain books in print, two more on the way, and ideas for still more. Mark Twain is a subject of which I never tire. I'm also working a variety of reference books: 13 volumes of Great Athletes, 3 vols. of The Forties in America,3 vols. of Encyclopedia of American Immigration, and 3 vols. of The Thirties in America.
Both my current Mark Twain books are edited volumes. One is a collection of new and reprinted critical essays. This book is still taking shape, so I'll withhold details until I can be more definite about its contents. For now, I'll merely say that I'm very excited about the topics on which scholars are writing new essays. This book will have some truly original perspectives.
I'm also excited about my second book, a collection of letters to Mark Twain from his readers. You might not believe what some people wrote to him! The best letters are filled with sincere and moving thanks for his books. Many come from would-be writers soliciting advice; others are from schemers with often bizarre business propositions. Many letters are from people down on their luck, asking him for money or help. The list goes on and on. What makes these letters interesting, however, is what they say about Mark Twain himself. Why did so many people send such letters to him and not to other writers of his time? Can you imagine anyone inviting Henry James to come down to Florida to gather material for a book about the burgeoning market in swampland? Or writing to Herman Melville to ask for financial help?
There are enough interesting letters to Mark Twain to fill dozens of books, but for now, I'll be selecting only enough to fill one little volume in the University of California Press's Jumping Frog series. If this first volume is a success, perhaps we'll do more volumes later. Because of this possibility, I'm not going to use all the best letters in this first volume.
My working title for this book? There's only one possibility: Dear Mark Twain: Letters from His Readers. (Okay, I admit it's not entirely original. I got the idea from Dear Bertrand Russell, and I can still laugh remember how much Russell said he liked that title.)
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