David McCullough

The Personal is Critical: How Should Early Americanists Think of David McCullough as a "Gateway" to History?

by Rebecca Brenner Graham

Historians' tributes to David McCullough underscore the need to respect popular "gateways to history" but to also find gateways without gatekeeping. 

Ultimately, David McCullough Succeeded by "Writing the Book I Wanted to Read"

by Cary Heinz

When the author loaned his father a copy of McCullough's Truman biography, "he not only read it, but loaned it to enough people that I eventually got it back with the book’s spine split in half," a testament to his narrative gifts.

The Rediscovery of David McCullough

by Lindsay M. Chervinsky

A presidential historian now at work on her own book on John Adams reflects on how McCullough's blockbuster inspired her own career, and his hits and misses as a chronicler of overlooked or forgotten people and events in American history. 

Remembering David McCullough Off the Page, as a Champion of Preservation

by Richard Moe

Having known the late David McCullough through his work advocating historic preservation, the author says McCullough lived a maxim of John Adams he often quoted: while he achieved success, he was more driven to work to deserve it.

The Pioneers: Heroic Settlers or Indian Killers?

by Walter G. Moss

Unless we in the USA acknowledge not only the heroic, but also heinous deeds of our past, we will  fail to face our future with the courage needed to overcome such ills as racism and our present political polarization.  

Don't buy your dad the new David McCullough book for Father's Day

by Neil J. Young

McCullough appears to have written the perfect dad book, but it's romantic view is the book's danger.

Historian David McCullough on His New Book, The Pioneers

The Pulitzer Prize–winning historian wants the nation to remember its better angels—and hopes his latest book might jog our memory.

Historian McCullough to Republicans in Congress: ‘Stand up’ to President Trump

David McCullough is trying to stage an intervention with Congress.

Review of David McCullough’s “The American Spirit: Who We Are and What We Stand For”

by Kathryn Smith

David McCullough is an American treasure.

David McCullough is hard at work on his next book

It’s “The Pioneers.” Scheduled to be published in 2019, it chronicles the early settlement of what was known as “the Old Northwest.”

David McCullough: President Trump's Disregard for History Is 'Utter Nonsense'

He's said he does not read history, or presidential biographies, because, as he said, he has a mind that can reach beyond all that. That’s utter nonsense."

David McCullough is out with a new book

It’s "The American Spirit: Who We Are and What We Stand For,” a collection of his talks.

David McCullough's next book will focus on generations of Northwest pioneers

The author will recount the story through generations of extraordinary families that explored and settled the Northwest Territory. The book will be published by Simon & Schuster in 2019.

Evan Thomas and David McCullough discuss Trump, Nixon, Ike, and Truman

"Harry Truman said the only new thing about the world is the history you don’t know. And when you have a presidential aspirant who doesn’t know any history, and everything is new to him, he doesn’t know how to handle it.” — McCullough

Whitehead fans slam McCullough's "The Wright Brothers"

These have become dark days for the aviation historians and others who have maintained that Gustave Whitehead of Bridgeport flew a heavier-than-air airship more than two years before the Wright brothers' first flight on Dec. 17, 1903.

Why I Wrote a Book About the Wright Brothers (Interview)

by David McCullough

"They were both brilliant. They weren’t just a couple of clever bicycle mechanics who got lucky. I’m convinced, and it’s self-evident once you know the full story, that Wilbur Wright was a genius."

Coming Soon: David McCullough's new book

It's about the Wright Brothers. It will be published in May. 

Pittsburgh bridge renamed for historian McCullough

PITTSBURGH — A Pittsburgh bridge has been renamed for Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David McCullough on his 80th birthday.County officials gathered Sunday to rename the 16th Street Bridge in McCullough's honor. A Pittsburgh native and two-time Pulitzer prize winner, McCullough said no honor has touched him like the decision to rename the bridge after him.McCullough, who wrote a book about the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge, said he's had many honors."But no pat on the back has ever touched me to the heart, to the depths of what I am, the way this announcement of a bridge named in my honor has," the Pittsburgh-Post Gazette reported. "There's something magical about a bridge."...

Historian David McCullough on Work and the Pursuit of Happiness

Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David McCullough is author of popular biographies such as Truman and John Adams, and at 79 years old, he’s still going strong. When asked by Harvard Business Review whether he is ready to retire, McCullough offered some interesting perspective on how he views his work through the American founders’ understanding of the “pursuit of happiness” (HT):