The death of David McCullough has occurred. His biographies of John Adams and Harry Truman both won Pulitzer Prizes, and his best-selling stories of American achievement were complemented by his work as a public television host and narrator for popular movies and documentaries, such as Ken Burns’ The Civil War.
He was a bravura historian and public intellectual. His biographies of Truman and Adams both won Pulitzer Prizes.
According to McCullough’s publishers, Simon & Schuster, the author passed away on Sunday at his home in Hingham, Massachusetts. He had 89 years under his belt.
The topics that McCullough covered were extraordinarily broad. Construction of iconic structures like the Brooklyn Bridge and the Panama Canal. 1776 was the year that saw significant changes made to the Declaration of Independence.
He wrote about historical people of epic proportions, ranging from Theodore Roosevelt to the Wright Brothers.
McCullough did not appear to be intimidated by the subjects of his books; rather, he seemed to enjoy writing about them, and as a result, his readers found them fascinating.
It is possible that only a depiction of Truman written by McCullough could have remained at the top of the New York Times best-seller list for nearly an entire year; the biography was a publishing phenomenon in 1992.
“Too many people, the figures, the main characters or protagonists of the drama of our founding years are perceived as almost like characters in a costume pageant with their powdered hair and their ruffled shirts and satin britches and the rest,” McCullough said during a discussion of the Revolutionary War on NPR’s Talk of the Nation in 2006.
The conversation was centred on the American Revolution. “On the contrary, they were nothing like that at all. They were also not gods, nor were they any kind of superhuman beings.
They exhibited a great deal of humanity. And each one of them was flawed, fallible, and prone to making errors in judgement.”
David McCullough was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and went on to study English literature at Yale University.
It was at Yale that he became friends with Thorton Wilder, the playwright and author of the Americana classic Our Town. McCullough’s childhood home was in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
While working for periodicals in the 1950s, McCullough gained an appreciation for research, even though he initially thought he may go into playwriting as well.
In addition to penning several highly regarded works of historical fiction, McCullough provided the narration for the picture Seabiscuit, which was released in 2003.
He was awarded the National Book Award twice, and in 2006, he was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which is the highest civilian honour that can be bestowed in the United States.
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In 1998, he was awarded an honorary degree by the university that he attended. According to the citation, “he paints with words” is his speciality as a historian.
“Giving us photos of the American people who live, breathe, and most importantly, confront the fundamental issues of courage, achievement, and moral character.” [translated from Spanish.
