Interview With Author Rebecca Bratspies
Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am a law professor with an abiding interest in cities. I live in NYC and just wrote a book about the people that we name things for, and what that tells us about who we are. I have also written many scholarly books and articles about international law and environmental justice.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Naming Gotham: The Villains, Rogues, and Heroes Behind New York Place Names. My husband Allen and I used to routinely drive the Major Deegan Expressway (which means we routinely sat in bad traffic jams.) I used to grumble “who was that darn Major Deegan anyway?” One day Allen dared me to stop grumbling and find out. Out of that casual challenge, a hobby was born—finding out about the lives behind the names that adorned so much infrastructure in New York City. Major Deegan was first, but I soon
became hooked on this whimsical pathway into the history of the city I love.
On a more personal note, this book was a labor of love. It started when Allen suffered a catastrophic cardiac arrest. He was in the hospital for 6+ months, with the first month in a coma hanging between life and death. With no emotional energy for my usual environmental scholarship, I still desperately needed a project to keep me mentally engaged as I sat by his bedside. Writing about Major Deegan and all the other characters in this this book was a way to connect with our past as I waited to see if we would have a future. That story has a happy ending. Although he has limitations, Allen made a truly miraculous recovery and is even able to compose again.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I like to start writing immediately and then to continually edit and revise as my thinking and knowledge changes.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
Far too many to list here. I really appreciate writers with clear straightforward prose, who are able to convey complicated ideas without resorting to complicated words or sentences. (like J.D. Salinger, Naomi Klein, and Hemingway.) I also love the elegance, of writers like Amitav Ghosh and the precision of poets like H.D. I read the Alexandria Quartet by Lawrence Durrell in college and fell in love with the idea of telling the same stories from multiple perspectives.
What are you working on now?
I am working with the UN and an artist to write a comic book about the dangers that environmental defenders face around the world.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I don’t really know yet. Most of my writing has been scholarly so not really the kind of thing that one promotes. We will see how this book goes.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Someone once said to me, you can’t edit air. It is so true. Getting words on the paper matters. Even the wrong words. You can edit bad prose that doesn’t capture your meaning. But you can’t edit air.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Be the change you want to see in the world. Paul Robeson said “The artist must take sides. He must elect to fight for freedom or slavery. I have made my choice. I had no alternative.”
What are you reading now?
I am reading Pollution is Colonialism, by Max Liboiron, and the Percy Jackson series with my kid.
What’s next for you as a writer?
I am writing a law review article called “What’s In a Name? Urban Infrastructure and Social Justice” that takes a critical look at the patterns of naming infrastructure in New York City. Where Naming Gotham is the fun, gossipy part of the naming story, this article will look at the process for naming and renaming, and what the names we have given things tell us about who we think we are.
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
really really long books. Probably Moby Dick, War and Peace, and Animals: The Definitive Visual Guide
Author Websites and Profiles
Rebecca Bratspies Amazon Profile
Rebecca Bratspies’s Social Media Links