Background

Marc Aronson was born on October 19, 1950 in New York. He is the son of the American designer Boris Aronson and Lisa Aronson, the grandson of rabbi Solomon Aronson, and of the musical conductor Heinrich Jalowetz.

Education

Aronson has a Doctor of Philosophy degree in American History from New York University.

Career

Marc Aronson has written history and biography nonfiction books for children and young adults. He wrote a column for School Library Journal called "Consider the Source". As of September 2014 he writes an SLJ blog called "Nonfiction Matters".

He served in Harper & Row in New York as an editor, and later became a senior editor in Henry Holt Books for Young Readers. From 2000 to 2004 he worked in Carus Publishing as an editorial director and vice president of nonfiction development. He was also a managing editor of zooba.com and an instructor in publishing courses at New York University, Simmons College, and the Radcliffe Publishing program.

Nowadays he is an assistant professor of practice at the School of Library and Information Science faculty at Rutgers University-New Brunswick.

Achievements

• Marc Aronson writes nonfiction titles for young adults that have been praised for the author’s engrossing prose style and unique approach to source materials.
  
  In 2001 Aronson won the first Robert F. Sibert Medal for nonfiction for Sir Walter Ralegh and the Quest for El Dorado.
  
  His book Art Attack: A Short Cultural History of the Avant-Garde was recognized as the Best Book of the Year by Publishers Weekly and Book with notable citations by the New York Times in 1998.

Works

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  • The Skull in the Rock: How a Scientist, a Boy, and Google Earth Opened a New Window on Human Origins

    (From the fossil hunter who discovered the Homo naledi fos...)

    2012
  • Eyes of the World

    (With a cast of characters ranging from Langston Hughes an...)

    2017
  • Pick-Up Game: A Full Day of Full Court

    (Nine of YA literature’s top writers, including Walter Dea...)

    2011
  • Sugar Changed the World: A Story of Magic, Spice, Slavery, Freedom, and Science

    (When this award-winning husband-and-wife team discovered ...)

    2010
  • Trapped: How the World Rescued 33 Miners from 2, 000 Feet Below the Chilean Desert

    (The amazing story of the trapped Chilean miners and their...)

    2011
  • Ain't Nothing but a Man: My Quest to Find the Real John Henry

    (Who was the real John Henry? The story of this legendary ...)

    2007
  • If Stones Could Speak: Unlocking the Secrets of Stonehenge

    (In If Stones Could Speak, award-winning author Marc Arons...)

    2010
  • The Griffin and the Dinosaur: How Adrienne Mayor Discovered a Fascinating Link Between Myth and Science

    (Here is the story of one insightful, curious, and determi...)

    2014
  • Rising Water: The Story of the Thai Cave Rescue

    (The incredible true story of the twelve boys trapped with...)

    2019
  • Witch Hunt: Mysteries of the Salem Witch Trials

    (The witch trials will eventually claim 25 lives, shatter ...)

    2003
  • The World Made New: Why the Age of Exploration Happened and How It Changed the World

    (Historian and author Marc Aronson - a Library Journal Bes...)

    2007
  • For Boys Only: The Biggest, Baddest Book Ever 2007

Connections

Marc Aronson married Marina Budhos on September 14, 1997. They have two sons.

Father:

Boris Aronson

Boris Aronson was an American scenic designer for Broadway and Yiddish theatre. He won the Tony Award for Scenic Design six times in his career.

Mother:

Lisa Aronson

Wife:

Marina Budhos

Marina Budhos is an author of award-winning fiction and nonfiction.

Grandfather:

Heinrich Jalowetz

Heinrich Jalowetz was an Austrian musicologist and conductor. He was one of the core members of what became known as the Second Viennese School in the orbit of Arnold Schoenberg.

Grandfather:

Solomon Aronson