All the Light Here Comes from Above: The Life and Legacy of Edward Hitchcock

EDWARD HITCHCOCK was not the only star in the firmament of American science and philosophy in the nineteenth century, but he was certainly one of the brightest. Raised among the wheat and rye fields of Deerfield, Massachusetts, he was expected to pursue a farmer's life, but early on he developed a "strong relish" for science. In his teens he adopted his father's orthodox Christian faith and began studying for the ministry. By age twenty-five he had set a dual path for his life, science and religion.Although Hitchcock's career as a pastor would be brief, preaching and spreading the Gospel would remain his highest calling. Nevertheless, his scientific impulses could never be denied, his spiritual life could not deflect him from the pursuit of scientific truth. In that respect he was perhaps unique for his time – and for today – for he saw no conflict between science and religion. “When rightly interpreted and understood,” he wrote, “they will appear in perfect unison.”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, revealing the humanity of the man with dignity, charm, and humor. Relying largely on Hitchcock's own words from his letters, notes, and other unpublished manuscripts, McMaster presents an intimate view of Edward Hitchcock, his scientific achievements, his theological writings, as well as his battles with powerful personal demons that threatened him at every turn.

ROBERT T. MCMASTER completed his undergraduate education at Clark University, then earned graduate degrees from Boston College, Smith College, and the University of Massachusetts. Early in his career he taught middle school science, then worked as an administrator for several environmental education organizations. After completing his graduate studies, he taught biology and botany at Smith College, Connecticut College, and Holyoke Community College.

One of McMaster's interests is New England history, especially the early twentieth century. He found inspiration in his parents' Reminiscences of growing up in that era, particularly his father's stories of riding the streetcars that plied city streets and country roads in those days. Those stories led him to write The Trolley Days Series of four historical novels. Set in the Connecticut River Valley of western Massachusetts, they follow the lives of four young people growing up in Holyoke, Massachusetts, in the tumultuous World War I era.

McMaster's ancestral ties to Ireland led him to undertake a second project, The County Wicklow Mysteries, in 2022. Set in modern-day Ireland, Rose of Glenkerry and Fugitive from Injustice follow the lives of Rosie O'Malley and Cary McGurk as they set out on adulthood in a changing world. Rosie's story is unique in contemporary fiction, including her struggle with colitis as a child and adjusting to life with an ostomy. 

The author's latest novel, Emma and George: The Knightleys of Highbury, is a sequel to Jane Austen's beloved Emma, following Emma and George Knightley and their friends through harrowing times in early nineteenth-century England.

McMaster's fascination with Edward Hitchcock, renowned American geologist and paleontologist, began when he visited the Pratt Museum of Natural History at Amherst College. In 2021 he published All the Light Here Comes from Above: The Life and Legacy of Edward Hitchcock, the first ever biography of one of America's first, great scientists.