{"id":129296,"date":"2025-09-08T17:46:06","date_gmt":"2025-09-08T17:46:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/129296\/"},"modified":"2025-09-08T17:46:06","modified_gmt":"2025-09-08T17:46:06","slug":"history-matters-review-a-nice-complement-to-david-mccullough-works","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/129296\/","title":{"rendered":"‘History Matters’ review: A nice complement to David McCullough works"},"content":{"rendered":"

The late Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David McCullough<\/a> told an audience in 2012 that writing history was like working on a detective case.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd once on the case, you want to know more and more and more,\u201d he said in remarks at Dartmouth College. \u201cFollow your curiosity.\u201d<\/p>\n

One thing that\u2019s clear after reading \u201cHistory Matters,\u201d a posthumous collection of McCullough\u2019s writings and speeches that include his Dartmouth remarks, is how much the revered historian practiced what he preached.<\/p>\n

The book is an enjoyable complement to McCullough\u2019s canon of works that include biographies of John Adams,<\/a>Theodore Roosevelt<\/a> and a reminder of why he was one of the greatest historians of our time. They also offer a glance into his approaches to reading and writing.<\/p>\n

In a tribute to the late novelist Herman Wouk that\u2019s part of the collection, McCullough underscores the importance of feeling and narrative writing for historians. Another tribute to novelist, painter and historian Paul Horgan shows how McCullough approached his writing with a painter\u2019s eye.<\/p>\n

The writings also include a short history of his typewriter, a second-hand Royal Standard that he bought in 1965 and used to write every one of his 12 books. A recommended reading list from McCullough underscores how much he viewed literature as necessary for understanding history.<\/p>\n

Throughout the book, McCullough\u2019s remarks display concerns about the consequences of historical illiteracy. His pieces also illustrate the power of helping out younger writers and connecting with them.<\/p>\n

Overall, the collection offers a brief introduction to McCullough for readers not familiar with his works but one that pales to the value of reading his books. Hopefully, it will provide inspiration to readers to delve into McCullough\u2019s writings.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP book reviews: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/book-reviews<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The late Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David McCullough told an audience in 2012 that writing history was like working…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":129297,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[70925,5534,5533,353,2389,49,48,70924,75,70928,70926,2247,70927],"class_list":["post-129296","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-books","tag-andrew-demillo","tag-arts-and-entertainment","tag-book-reviews","tag-books","tag-books-and-literature","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-david-mccullough","tag-entertainment","tag-herman-wouk","tag-john-adams","tag-nonfiction","tag-paul-horgan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129296","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=129296"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129296\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/129297"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=129296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=129296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}