Getting Started

What could a book be and become with new technological advances? This question has intrigued writers for decades. Writing in 1999, then president of the American Historical Association, Robert Darnton, cast his own vision. He described a multi-layered work that would include a narrative argument, perhaps in a printed volume, as well as various layers of expansions—distinct modules dedicated to separate subjects related to the main argument but presented as standalone, unique but complementary works rather than incorporated into the narrative.