I Own More Library Cards Than Credit Cards: An Interview with Paul Dickson
Ann M. Simpson
Paul Dickson could be called the Energizer bunny of authors. With forty-three books to his credit, two more in the works, and at least two more ideas percolating in his brain, it's apparent he will, like the battery, just keep going and going.
One of the amazing attributes of this prolific writer is that he can't be pigeonholed; his subject matter is always changing. Some of his works are fun-like his book Toasts: Over 1,5OO of the Best Toasts, Sentiments, Blessings, and Graces (Crown, 1991). Other works are more reference in nature, such as his book Stang (Pocket Books, 1998), which was selected by William Safire of the New York Times as one of the best lan- guage books in 1999. Still others are like the one he's research- ing now with Thomas G. Allen on the Bonus Army, the WWI veterans who marched on Washington in 1932 demanding early payment of their wartime bonus scheduled to be paid in 1945. The only trait his books have in common is that they are all nonfiction.
One of Paul Dickson's books is a celebration of public libraries and librarians called The Library in America (Facts on File, 1986). The impetus for the book was Dickson's realization that the public, as well as elected officials, didn't appreciate our great library system. Dickson contends, "There is nothing like our public libraries anywhere in the world-Norway may come the closest." The book's central message is that United States libraries are one of the greatest treasures in the world, and we need to protect and fund them. The book goes on to explain how unique our library system is, and how no other country in the world allows such free and complete access to information. 'Our public libraries are the envy of the world. They are free, they have an incredible breadth of information, and we have the freedom to use them. Even in Britain, the good libraries are membership institutions-not public," he comments.
In Dickson's most recent book, Sputnik: The Shock of the Century (Walker and Co., 2001), he gives us access to more information. This work looks at how the United States govern- ment and the nation reacted to the launch of the first space satellite on October 4, 1957. The evening Sputnik was put into orbit was also the night that Leave It to Beaver first aired on 'fV. The juxtaposition of these two images-one of Communist technological superiority, the other of American gee-whiz inno- cence-shook the country. The United States thought it was infallible, and the idea that someone could beat the United States was unthinkable, yet the Soviet Union did just that.
Sputnik, which was published before September 11, takes a good look at how the United States deals with trauma and offers an interesting perspective on how we may heal from our recent terror. While on a factual level there was no loss of life with the launch of Sputnik, the terror that swept the nation was just as real. (If you were born before 1950 you probably remember where you were when you heard the radio broad- cast.) The book documents the panic in the media and in Congress. It analyzes President Eisenhower's performance, the election rhetoric, and the politics leading to Kennedy's edict to put a man on the moon before the end of the decade. Sputnik is a fascinating look at both the political actions as well as the culture of the time, and it includes extensive documentation, including footnotes on almost every page and an extensive bibiography.
The following interview was conducted via telephone in early April 2002.
PL: Research that is as extensive as what'you had to do for Sputnik begs the question, do you do your research on the Internet?
PD: [Emphatically] No! I own more library cards than credit cards. I could not do what I do without the support of librarians around the country. The first inning of any of my books always takes place in libraries. And I return frequently during the research stage of each book. I am always looking for facts and trying to identify the experts I need to interview. I couldn't do either without the help of librarians across the country. Of course there are some things I do on the Internet, but that is secondary.
PL: In Sputnik you include eighteen pages of bibliography. How do you keep your sources straight and the facts correct?
PD: I believe that archiving data is a discipline, and it is one that I practice every day. I may not do it with my expense reports, but I do it with my sources. I am extremely careful and respectful of the information they share with me. It is almost a religion for me. My ability to acknowledge the help I get from those who are making history is critical to my ability to write. I am always reading the thank yous in books to see if writers acknowledge the librarians, archivists, and scholars that have helped them with their research. There are some great people who spend their life with a specific focus, and if you write a book concerning their area of expertise and don't thank them for their help, it makes me skeptical of the quality of the book. I don't believe you can write a nonfiction book alone. Librarians, for instance, know about old dusty books in the stacks, they know the important recorders of information, and, more important, they know how to access the information you need. Tomorrow, I'm having a meeting with Tom Mann at the Library of Congress, who is helping me with the research for my forthcoming book on the Bonus Army. David Kelly, also at the Library of Congress, has helped me with research on several of my baseball books-along with Tim Wiles and the other librarians at the National Baseball Library in Cooperstown. People like Kelly and Wiles have a knowledge of baseball that is encyclopedic in nature. I have been impressed with all of the librarians I have had the privilege of working with.
PL: How did you get interested in books and writing?
PD: When I was about twelve and just getting out of Dr. Doolittle I fell through a trap door and banged up my wrist pretty bad. The doctor prescribed Paul Dickson bed rest, as was the normal medical protocol at that time. No swimming, no sports, total bed rest for an active boy. We were out in the country without a TV and only a radio to keep me company. To rescue me from boredom, my mom went to the public library and came home loaded down with an armload of books. They were all nonfiction. But they were my entertainment for the next few weeks. In amongst all those books was one titled Small Potatoes. It was a series of stories about a man who traveled to different places and reported what others were doing. That book intrigued me; it opened up a whole new way of looking at life, and it has stuck with me for roughly forty years. The idea that through writing you could bring style and a storyline to a situation was what got me thinking about being a writer.
My first opportunity to write was while I was stationed in Europe with the Navy. It was a travel story, and I sold it to the New York Times. After the army I joined McGraw-Hill for two years and then followed my heart and became a freelance writer-a career I have loved for more than thirty years for the freedom it has given me to, move from one idea to another.
PL: Your books on the Bonus Army and Sputnik are interesting narratives - how long does it take you to take these stories from concept to reality?
PD: With each book being so different it takes quite a while. The experts on space and missile technology that I needed to cultivate for Sputnik don't know much about the bonuses that were promised to our men in uniform, which the government reneged on. So there is considerable time needed to build new relationships to become part of their universe and to build a new Rolodex of names and numbers. I like to look at myself as the person carrying water between experts. Right now Tom Mann at the Library of Congress is one of the best. He is able to find information that we have only thought existed. He is amazing in his knowledge of how to locate old documents.
Generally to do the research, line up the funding, do the interviews, and write a book takes at least three years. But you need to realize that I am always working on more than one book. While I am starting the research on the Bonus Army I am still writing my book The Hidden Language of Baseball, which will be published next March.
PL: What trends in publishing have you seen change during the thirty years that you have been writing?
PD: The challenge today is trying to make the economics work. It is expensive to publish and promote a title. With the Bonus Army book we are looking at creating a touring museum show and a made-for-TV movie as well as publishing the book as a single project. In the past, an author would write a book, turn it over to the publisher and sit back and see what happened. A possible movie or museum show would come later. Today you need to try and sell the con- cept as far as you can before you even start writing the book. You need the complete package to make the economics work. The book on the explorer Shackelton [Caroline Alexander and Frank Hurley, The Endurance: The Sbackleton Legendary Antarctic Expedition (Knopf, 1998)] was the book that really did this first, and it may be the new model.
PL: What's it like to be a writer? As you talk about writing I can't help but think of the contradiction I am hearing. As a writer you are talking about a solitary endeavor. Yet when you talk about needing to meet with librarians, potential sponsors, and experts in the field you are writing about, you have to be out there being almost an extrovert. How do you balance these two very different styles?
PD: You're right. Writers do spend their time going between different worlds. I get up at about 5:30 A.M. and write for a couple of hours on the book that is clue-The Hidden Language of Baseball-and then, for example, tomorrow I'll take the train into Washington, D.C., to meet two librarians for lunch to discuss the research I am doing on The Bonus Army and get their advice on how to search out the facts that need to be proven, not just perceived.
I believe that while I need to be able to embrace solitude in order to write-and that fiction writers need to marry solitude-I have the liberty to invite classical or jazz music into my office while I write and be as social as I can during the day. Sometimes I think solitude has been oversold. One of the best weeks of writing I ever had was at a summer cottage in Maine with kids streaming in and out of the place.
PL: Do you enjoy doing the research?
PD: Yes, I enjoy the search for truth. The need to spend time digging out the real facts is critical. When I began Sputnik I assumed, going with the public perception that Ike was bumbling along and didn't really understand the importance of the launch of Sputnik, that Ike's calm manner was not in keeping with the hysteria the media, his army, and the public were feeling. Yet the research turned up documentation that proved that he was great---even brilliant in his assessment of the situation. There are few greater thrills than being able to correct public perceptions with solid research and show that someone was better than what we had thought. Seeing someone in a better light is one of my favorite parts in writing my books.
PL: Looking over your list of titles it appears that baseball is one of your favorite subjects. Did you play baseball as a kid?
PD: I grew up in Yonkers, New York, and the culture of the family included a passion for baseball. I can even tell you where I was when Bobby Thompson hit his home run [the three-run homer in the ninth inning that allowed the Giants to beat the Dodgers and win the National League pennant in 1951]. But no, I didn't play baseball. I wasn't very good at the sport. Nobody wanted me on their team.
My family's favorite team growing up was the Yankees. And on one level, since I live in Maryland, the Orioles are the team I follow. But having now written five books on baseball, and currently working on the sixth, I am more of a student of the game than a fan of the game. It is an interesting game. For instance, did you know that in a tight baseball game there might be as many as five hundred signals communicated between the coaches and the players? And it is all done with its own language---its own rhetoric! In most sports, players get dressed and spend time in a locker room before and after a game. But in baseball, players are in the clubhouse. On the field, there is a totally different code of ethics - there are unwritten rules about when you can know what's happening and when you can't.
Ann M. Simpson is President of Generous Books in Seattle.
Paul Dickson is a wonderful conversationalist and is available via telephone to participate in library book discussion groups. learn more about the free services offered to book groups by Generous Books, send an email to ann@generousbooks.com.