{"id":49582,"date":"2022-08-19T00:07:57","date_gmt":"2022-08-19T00:07:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/david-mccullough-obituary-history-books\/"},"modified":"2022-08-19T00:07:57","modified_gmt":"2022-08-19T00:07:57","slug":"david-mccullough-obituary-history-books","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/david-mccullough-obituary-history-books\/","title":{"rendered":"David McCullough obituary | History books"},"content":{"rendered":"
David McCullough, who has died aged 89, was the US’s most popular historian. His books were bestsellers; his biography of Harry Truman and John Adams both won Pulitzer prizes, and were taken up for TV by HBO. Two more of his books, on the creation of the Panama Canal and about Theodore Roosevelt’s early years, won the US National Book award.<\/p>\n
But McCullough was perhaps best known for his voice, as the narrator of documentaries, most notably Ken Burns’ epic series The Civil War (1990) and the Disney movie Seabiscuit (2003), about the 1930s sensation racehorse, and as host of the long -running PBS series American Experience.<\/p>\n
The American experience was at the core of everything McCullough wrote about, and his narrating voice, a gentle, high-pitched baritone made him sound like a relaxed teacher telling familiar stories.<\/p>\n
In 1998, when he received an honorary degree from his alma mater, Yale University, the citation said: \u201cHe gives us pictures of the American people that live, breathe and above all confront the fundamental issues of courage, achievement and moral character.\u201d<\/p>\n
David was born in Pittsburgh, the son of Christian McCullough, president of the McCullough Electric Company, founded by David’s great-grandfather, and Ruth (nee Rankin), a leading figure in Pittsburgh society. David followed his father to Shady Side academy, Pittsburgh’s poshest prep school.<\/p>\n