" The sky is gray, the light pale, and dusk is approaching."

So ends the first chapter in the book 1831: Year of the Eclipse, by Louis P. Masur. What at first might seem like a random year plucked out of the history of the United States, 1831 is really a year of crucial events and somewhat of a turning point in many developments that were about to take place in US history at the time. One of these events symbolically is the eclipse itself.

In the year 1831, people no longer looked upon an eclipse as a sign of impending doom. They did not anticipate the end of the world, destruction and loss of life. Indeed, according to the book, " ...on the day of the eclipse some Philadelphians went ice skating." The eclipse did, however, serve as an " omen." Proving overall to be "anticlimactic...