Andrew Szanton
Encyclopedia
Andrew Szanton is an American collaborative memoirist. During his career he has worked with a wide range of subjects including civil rights pioneer Charles Evers
, Nobel Prize
winning physicist Eugene Wigner, former co-chairman of Goldman Sachs John Whitehead
, former United States Senator Edward Brooke
, founding director of Xerox PARC George Pake
, eminent surgeon Dr. Charles Epps, and head of the Missouri Botanical Garden Peter Raven. Szanton is currently working on the memoirs of former Boston mayor Raymond Flynn
.
A successful Ghostwriter and Memoir Coach commonly performs a range of tasks: mastering whatever published material is directly relevant to telling the life story; helping the memoir subject to gather and evaluate family letters, manuscripts and photos; interviewing family, friends, and colleagues; and perhaps most important of all, seeing the essential patterns of the life,
and helping the subject eloquently trace those patterns through their life, understanding the
ways that certain experiences of childhood and youth can shape the choices of the mature person. Mr Szanton has a website at: www.MemoirAuthor.com.
Andrew Szanton honed his approach to memoir writing for a number of years as an instructor at the Extension School of Harvard University
.
A 1985 graduate of Princeton University
, Andrew Szanton worked for several years as an oral historian
for the Smithsonian Institution
before becoming an author. It was through the Smithsonian that Szanton first encountered the Hungarian-American Eugene Wigner, a famously modest man who had always resisted entreaties to write his memoirs. Reminded of his own mortality by the raft of old friends and colleagues passing away, Dr. Wigner agreed to write his memoir, with Szanton assisting. The result was "The Recollections of Eugene P. Wigner".
"Have No Fear" with Charles Evers followed in 1997 and "Bridging the Divide" with Edward Brooke was published in 2007.
Memoir collaboration was once commonly the work of journalists or academics, working as a sideline. For example, a critic of popular music for a major newsmagazine might be hired to bring material to, and check the accuracy of, the rich but scattered spoken recollections of a pop star. The journalist critic was hired primarily for what he or she knew about the subject area, and for an ability to meet deadlines—not for any particular dedication to, or demonstrated skill at, the memoir form. The books that resulted were advertised as "By (the headliner) "as told to" the collaborator, as though the collaborator were merely a scribe.
Andrew Szanton is one of a younger generation of writers which places memoir collaboration at the center of its art, and has few, or no, institutional connections. Such writers often bring to their work detailed knowledge from certain fields—Szanton is something of an expert in the early history of atomic weaponry and of the U.S. civil rights movement from 1963-1971. But Szanton, and others of his generation of memoir collaborators, tend to stake
their claim to co-authorship less on any fund of relevant knowledge than on their mastery of the memoir form.
Szanton lives in Newton, Massachusetts
with his wife Barbara, and two children, Benjamin and Elizabeth.
Charles Evers
James Charles Evers is a prominent American civil rights advocate. The older brother of slain civil rights activist Medgar Evers, Charles Evers is a leading civil rights spokesman within the Republican Party in his native Mississippi. In 1969 he became the first African American since the...
, Nobel Prize
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
winning physicist Eugene Wigner, former co-chairman of Goldman Sachs John Whitehead
John C. Whitehead
John Cunningham Whitehead is an American banker and civil servant, currently a board member of the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation and, until his resignation in May 2006, chairman of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation.-Biography:He was born in Evanston, Illinois...
, former United States Senator Edward Brooke
Edward Brooke
Edward William Brooke, III is an American politician and was elected to the United States Senate as a Republican from Massachusetts in 1966, defeating his Democratic opponent, Endicott Peabody, 60.7%–38.7%...
, founding director of Xerox PARC George Pake
George Pake
George Pake was a physicist and research executive primarily known for helping found Xerox PARC. Pake earned his bachelors and masters degrees from the Carnegie Institute of Technology and his doctorate in physics at Harvard University in 1948.A rather serious case of scoliosis kept Pake out of...
, eminent surgeon Dr. Charles Epps, and head of the Missouri Botanical Garden Peter Raven. Szanton is currently working on the memoirs of former Boston mayor Raymond Flynn
Raymond Flynn
Raymond Leo Flynn , also known as Ray Flynn, served as Mayor of Boston, Massachusetts from 1984 until 1993. He was later appointed United States Ambassador to the Holy See by President Bill Clinton.-Early life:...
.
A successful Ghostwriter and Memoir Coach commonly performs a range of tasks: mastering whatever published material is directly relevant to telling the life story; helping the memoir subject to gather and evaluate family letters, manuscripts and photos; interviewing family, friends, and colleagues; and perhaps most important of all, seeing the essential patterns of the life,
and helping the subject eloquently trace those patterns through their life, understanding the
ways that certain experiences of childhood and youth can shape the choices of the mature person. Mr Szanton has a website at: www.MemoirAuthor.com.
Andrew Szanton honed his approach to memoir writing for a number of years as an instructor at the Extension School of Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
.
A 1985 graduate of Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
, Andrew Szanton worked for several years as an oral historian
Oral history
Oral history is the collection and study of historical information about individuals, families, important events, or everyday life using audiotapes, videotapes, or transcriptions of planned interviews...
for the Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...
before becoming an author. It was through the Smithsonian that Szanton first encountered the Hungarian-American Eugene Wigner, a famously modest man who had always resisted entreaties to write his memoirs. Reminded of his own mortality by the raft of old friends and colleagues passing away, Dr. Wigner agreed to write his memoir, with Szanton assisting. The result was "The Recollections of Eugene P. Wigner".
"Have No Fear" with Charles Evers followed in 1997 and "Bridging the Divide" with Edward Brooke was published in 2007.
Memoir collaboration was once commonly the work of journalists or academics, working as a sideline. For example, a critic of popular music for a major newsmagazine might be hired to bring material to, and check the accuracy of, the rich but scattered spoken recollections of a pop star. The journalist critic was hired primarily for what he or she knew about the subject area, and for an ability to meet deadlines—not for any particular dedication to, or demonstrated skill at, the memoir form. The books that resulted were advertised as "By (the headliner) "as told to" the collaborator, as though the collaborator were merely a scribe.
Andrew Szanton is one of a younger generation of writers which places memoir collaboration at the center of its art, and has few, or no, institutional connections. Such writers often bring to their work detailed knowledge from certain fields—Szanton is something of an expert in the early history of atomic weaponry and of the U.S. civil rights movement from 1963-1971. But Szanton, and others of his generation of memoir collaborators, tend to stake
their claim to co-authorship less on any fund of relevant knowledge than on their mastery of the memoir form.
Szanton lives in Newton, Massachusetts
Newton, Massachusetts
Newton is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States bordered to the east by Boston. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the population of Newton was 85,146, making it the eleventh largest city in the state.-Villages:...
with his wife Barbara, and two children, Benjamin and Elizabeth.