Books by David McCullough
David McCullough (1933-2022) was an American historian, known for his highly readable books about American history. He twice won the Pulitzer Prize, once for his biography of Harry Truman and once for his biography of John Adams. He was awarded the US’s foremost civilian decoration, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, in 2006. The announcement of the award cited McCullough as “one of our Nation’s most distinguished and honored historians. His books have earned him the respect of general audiences and scholars alike, and he is one of our foremost experts on the American Presidency.”
“I love biographies and this one in particular strikes me. I don’t believe John Adams comes immediately to mind as one of the great presidents, but he was. Students of history know he had a hand in so many of the founding documents we remember today. Politics today is so polarised – but this division is not unique to our time. If you look back on the relationship between John Adams and Jefferson, it was not always smooth. Yet together they helped make the Declaration of Independence a reality. Progressives should keep their eyes on the prize, but we should never be afraid to constantly engage with those whom we perceive to be rivals…Adams was also incredibly courageous when he defended the British soldiers after the Boston Massacre. He was a patriot who understood that a democratic society cannot undermine the basic democratic rights of even the most despised in our society. There are few today who would be willing to do what he did in today’s supercharged partisan environment. I’m not sure anyone would be willing to do that today.” Read more...
The best books on Progressive America
Antonio Villaraigosa, Politician
“David McCullough is a friend and mentor. His subjects range from the Johnstown Flood in Pennsylvania to the biographies of presidents to the Wright Brothers. The Great Bridge was, for me, a pivotal book in understanding how you could tell a story about a great engineering accomplishment in the context of the backdrop of urban history and the development of New York. He is such a masterful storyteller that he can engage you in what seemed to be an unlikely subject for a full-length nonfiction narrative and succeed in spectacular fashion…It’s a very powerful story. Even though you know what the ending is—you know the bridge was built and that it’s still there—he creates a dramatic sense of just what it took to bring this bridge into being and to complete it. He also is very skillful at developing the characters, the human element, of the Roebling family: John Roebling, his son Washington Roebling, and, finally, Emily, Washington Roebling’s wife, who played a crucial role in the final years of the construction of the bridge because Washington Roebling was disabled by caisson disease. He ended up watching most of the construction of the bridge from his apartment window. His wife Emily was the key communicator between Roebling and the engineers working on the site.” Read more...
The best books on American History
Brent Glass, Historian
Truman
by David McCullough & Nelson Runger (narrator)
***Winner of the 1993 Pulitzer Prize in Biography***
Interviews where books by David McCullough were recommended
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1
The Great Bridge: The Epic Story of the Building of the Brooklyn Bridge
by David McCullough -
2
Wilderness At Dawn: The Settling of the North American Continent
by Ted Morgan -
3
The Story of American Freedom
by Eric Foner -
4
This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War
by Drew Gilpin Faust -
5
In the Kingdom of Ice: The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the USS Jeannette
by Hampton Sides
The best books on American History, recommended by Brent Glass
The best books on American History, recommended by Brent Glass
Which are the best books on American history? Brent Glass, Director Emeritus of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, the world’s largest museum devoted to telling the story of America, chooses five standout books in a crowded field.
The best books on Progressive America, recommended by Antonio Villaraigosa
In the last of our series of interviews on American progressivism, the mayor of Los Angeles chooses five novels and biographies that provide lessons from the past and show what a democratic society should aspire to be
The Best Presidential Memoirs as Audiobooks