David McCullough
David McCullough speaking at Emory University, on April 25, 2007
Born	David Gaub McCullough (1933-07-07) July 7, 1933 (age 78) Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Occupation	Historian, author
Nationality	American
Period	1968 – current
Genres	History
Notable work(s)	The Path Between the Seas (1977), Truman (1992), John Adams (2001)
Spouse(s)	Rosalee Ingram Barnes McCullough (1954 – present)
Children	Five
Influences Thornton Wilder[1]

David Gaub McCullough (pronounced /məˈkʌlə/; born July 7, 1933) is an American author, narrator, historian, and lecturer.^[2] He is a two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award and a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States' highest civilian award.^[2][3]

Born and raised in Pittsburgh, McCullough earned a degree in English literature from Yale University. His first book was The Johnstown Flood (1968); and he has since written eight more on such topics as Harry S Truman, John Adams, and the Brooklyn Bridge. McCullough has also narrated multiple documentaries, as well as the 2003 film Seabiscuit; and he hosted American Experience for twelve years. McCullough's two Pulitzer Prize-winning books, Truman and John Adams, have been adapted by HBO into a TV film and a mini-series, respectively. McCullough's most recent work, The Greater Journey, about Americans in Paris from the 1830s to the 1900s, was released on May 24, 2011.^[4]

Life and career[link]

Youth and education[link]

McCullough was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,^[5] the son of Ruth (née Rankin) and Christian Hax McCullough.^[6] He is of Scotch-Irish descent.^[7] He was educated at Linden Avenue Grade School and Shady Side Academy, in his hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.^[8] One of four sons, McCullough had a "marvelous" childhood with a wide range of interests, including sports and drawing cartoons.^[9] McCullough's parents and his grandmother, who read to him often, introduced him to books at an early age.^[7] His parents talked openly about history, a topic he feels should be discussed more often.^[7] McCullough "loved school, every day";^[9] he contemplated many career choices ranging from architect, actor, painter, writer, lawyer, and even attending medical school.^[9]

In 1951, McCullough began attending Yale University.^[10] He believed that it was a "privilege" to study English at Yale because of faculty members such as John O'Hara, John Hersey, Robert Penn Warren, and Brendan Gill.^[11] McCullough occasionally ate lunch with Pulitzer Prize-winning^[12] novelist and playwright Thornton Wilder.^[11] Wilder, says McCullough, taught him that a competent writer maintains "an air of freedom" in the storyline, so that a reader won't anticipate the outcome, even if the book happens to be non-fiction.^[1]

While at Yale, he became a member of Skull and Bones.^[13] He served apprenticeships at Time, Life, the United States Information Agency, and American Heritage.,^[11] where he found enjoyment in research. "Once I discovered the endless fascination of doing the research and of doing the writing, I knew I had found what I wanted to do in my life."^[11] While attending Yale, McCullough studied Arts and achieved his Bachelor's degree in English, with the intention of becoming a fiction writer or playwright.^[7] He graduated with honors in English literature (1955).^[14][15]

Writing career[link]

Early career[link]

After graduation, McCullough moved to New York City, where the recently formed Sports Illustrated hired him as a trainee.^[9] He was later hired by the United States Information Agency, in Washington, D.C., as an editor and writer.^[5] After working for twelve years, including a position at American Heritage, with a consistent concentration on editing and writing, McCullough "felt that [he] had reached the point where [he] could attempt something on [his] own."^[9] McCullough "had no anticipation that [he] was going to write history, but [he] stumbled upon a story that [he] thought was powerful, exciting, and very worth telling."^[9] While working at American Heritage, McCullough wrote in his spare time for three years.^[9][16] The Johnstown Flood, a chronicle of one of the worst flood disasters in United States history, was released in 1968^[9] to high praise by critics.^[17] John Leonard, of The New York Times, said of McCullough, "We have no better social historian."^[17] Despite rough financial times,^[10] McCullough, with encouragement from his wife, Rosalee, made the decision to become a full-time writer.^[18]

Gaining recognition[link]

After the success of The Johnstown Flood, two new publishers offered him contracts, one to write about the Great Chicago Fire and another about the San Francisco earthquake.^[20] However, Simon & Schuster, publisher of The Johnstown Flood, also offered McCullough a contract to write a second book.^[10] Trying not to become "Bad News McCullough",^[20] he decided to write about a subject showing "people were not always foolish and inept or irresponsible."^[20] Remembering the words of his Yale teacher, "[Thornton] Wilder said he got the idea for a book or a play when he wanted to learn about something. Then, he'd check to see if anybody had already done it, and if they hadn't, he'd do it."^[10] McCullough decided to write a history of the Brooklyn Bridge, which he had walked across many times.^[10]

"To me history ought to be a source of pleasure. It isn't just part of our civic responsibility. To me it's an enlargement of the experience of being alive, just the way literature or art or music is."

– David McCullough^[11]

He also proposed, from a suggestion by his editor,^[7] a work about the Panama Canal; both were accepted by the publisher.^[10] Published in 1972, critics hailed The Great Bridge as "the definitive book on the event."^[21] Five years later, The Path Between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal was released, gaining McCullough widespread attention for the first time.^[10] The book won the National Book Award in History,^[22] the Samuel Eliot Morison Award,^[23] the Francis Parkman Prize,^[24] and the Cornelius Ryan Award.^[25] Later in 1977, McCullough travelled to the White House to advise Jimmy Carter and the United States Senate on the Torrijos-Carter Treaties, which would give Panama control of the Canal.^[23] Carter later said that the treaties, which were agreed upon to hand over ownership of the Canal to Panama, would not have passed, had it not been for the book.^[23]

"The story of people"[link]

McCullough's fourth work was his first biography, reinforcing his belief that "history is the story of people".^[26] Released in 1981, Mornings on Horseback tells the story of seventeen years in the life of the 26th President of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt.^[27] The work, ranging from 1869, when Roosevelt was ten years old, to 1886, tells of a "life intensely lived."^[27] The book won McCullough's second National Book Award^[28][a] and his first Los Angeles Times Prize for Biography and New York Public Library Literary Lion Award.^[29] Next, he released Brave Companions, a collection of essays that "unfold seamlessly".^[30] Written over twenty years, the book^[31] includes works about Louis Agassiz, Alexander von Humboldt, John and Washington Roebling, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Conrad Aiken, and Frederic Remington.^[31] McCullough's next book and second biography continued the trend of writing about American presidents—Truman (1993) about the 33rd president. The book won McCullough his first Pulitzer Prize, in the category of "Best Biography or Autobiography."^[32] Two years later, the book was adapted as Truman, a television movie by HBO, starring Gary Sinise as Truman.^[10]

"I think it's important to remember that these men are not perfect. If they were marble gods, what they did wouldn't be so admirable. The more we see the founders as humans the more we can understand them."

– David McCullough^[33]

Working for the next seven years,^[34] McCullough released John Adams (2001), his third biography about a United States president. One of the fastest-selling non-fiction books in history,^[10] the book won McCullough's second Pultizer Prize for "Best Biography or Autobiography."^[32] It began as a book about founding fathers and back-to-back presidents Thomas Jefferson and John Adams; but Jefferson was eventually dropped, and the book focused solely on Adams.^[33] HBO returned to McCullough's works to adapt John Adams.^[35] Premiering in 2008, the seven-part miniseries starred Academy Award-nominated actor Paul Giamatti in the title role.^[35] The DVD version of the miniseries includes the biopic, "David McCullough: Painting with Words."

McCullough's 1776, tells the story of the founding year of the United States, focusing on George Washington, the amateur army, and other struggles for independence.^[34] Because of McCullough's popularity, its initial printing was 1.25 million copies, many more than the average history book.^[3] Upon its release, the book was a number one best-seller in the United States.^[34] A miniseries adaptation of 1776 was rumored.

McCullough considered writing a sequel to 1776.^[34] However, he signed a contract with Simon & Schuster to do a work about Americans in Paris between 1830 and 1900, The Greater Journey, which was released in May 2011. The book covers 19th-century Americans like Mark Twain and Samuel Morse, who migrated to Paris and went on to achieve importance in culture or innovation. Other subjects include Elihu Washburne, the American ambassador to France during the Franco-Prussian War, and Elizabeth Blackwell, the first female doctor in the United States.^[36]

Personal life[link]

David McCullough currently lives in Boston and is married to Rosalee Barnes McCullough, whom he met at age 17, in Pittsburgh. The couple have five children and eighteen grandchildren.^[37] He enjoys sports, history and art, including watercolor and portrait painting.^[38]

McCullough speaking in 2008 at Vassar College.

Awards and accolades[link]

McCullough has received numerous awards throughout his career, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom in December 2006, the highest civilian award that a United States citizen can receive.^[3] In 1995 the National Book Foundation conferred its lifetime Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters.^[39] McCullough has been awarded over 40 honorary degrees, including one from the Eastern Nazarene College in John Adams' hometown of Quincy, Massachusetts.^[40] For his writing, McCullough has received two Pulitzer Prizes, two National Book Awards, two Francis Parkman Prizes, the Los Angeles Times Book Award, and New York Public Library’s Literary Lion Award, among others.^[16][41] McCullough was chosen to deliver the first annual John Hersey Lecture at Yale University on March 22, 1993. (Author, Yale alumnus, and Yale writing professor John Hersey died later that year.)^[42] He is a member of the John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship^[43] and the Academy of Achievement.^[44] In 2003, the National Endowment for the Humanities selected McCullough for the Jefferson Lecture, the U.S. federal government's highest honor for achievement in the humanities.^[45] McCullough's lecture was entitled "The Course of Human Events";^[46]

In 1995, McCullough received the Peggy V. Helmerich Distinguished Author Award. The Helmerich Award is presented annually by the Tulsa Library Trust.

McCullough has been called a "master of the art of narrative history."^[47] New York Times critic John Leonard wrote that McCullough was "incapable of writing a page of bad prose."^[26] His works have been published in ten languages, over nine million copies have been printed,^[7] and all of his books are still in print.^[2]

Works[link]

Books[link]

Narrations[link]

McCullough has narrated many television shows and documentaries throughout his career. In addition to narrating the 2003 film Seabiscuit, McCullough hosted PBS's American Experience from 1988–1999.^[33] McCullough has also narrated numerous documentaries directed by Ken Burns, including Emmy Award winning The Civil War,^[33] Academy Award nominated Brooklyn Bridge,^[49] The Statue of Liberty,^[50] and The Congress.^[51]

List of films presented or narrated[link]

• Brooklyn Bridge (1981)
• Smithsonian World (5 episodes, 1984–1988)
• The Shakers: Hands to Work, Hearts to God (1984)
• The Statue of Liberty (1985)
• Huey Long (1985)
• A Man, A Plan, A Canal : Panama (NOVA) (1987)
• The Congress (1988)
• The Civil War (9 episodes, 1990)
• American Experience (23 episodes, 1991–2006)
• Coney Island (1991)
• The Donner Party (1992)
• D-Day Remembered (1994)
• Napoleon-PBS Empires Special (2000)
• Seabiscuit (2003)

Notes[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• David McCullough at Simon and Schuster
• Appearances on C-SPAN
  • Booknotes interview with McCullough on Truman, July 19, 1992.
  • In Depth interview with McCullough, December 2, 2001
• David McCullough on Charlie Rose
• David McCullough at the Internet Movie Database
• Works by or about David McCullough in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• David McCullough collected news and commentary at The New York Times
• A film clip "The Past as an Act of Faith…In Print and On The Air (1992)" is available for free download at the Internet Archive [more]
• Elizabeth Gaffney and Benjamin Ryder Howe (Fall 1999). "David McCullough, The Art of Biography No. 2". The Paris Review. http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/894/the-art-of-biography-no-2-david-mccullough. 
• Speech Transcript: "Knowing History and Knowing Who We Are" at Hillsdale College National Leadership Seminar on the topic, “American History and America’s Future.”