I began to ask two questions while I was reading a book that excited me: not only what was going to happen next, but how is this done? How is it that these words on the page make me feel the way I'm feeling? This is the line of inquiry that I think happens in a child's mind, without him even knowing he has aspirations as a writer.

In 1969 Doctorow left publishing in order to write accepting a position as Visiting Writer at the University of California Irvine where he completed The Book of Daniel (1971) a freely fictionalized consideration of the trial and execution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg for allegedly giving nuclear secrets to the Soviet Union during the Cold War. He has donated his papers to the Fales Library of New York University. 31 no.

He is known internationally for his unique works of historical fiction.