History Matters
David McCullough, Edited by Dorie McCullough Lawson, and Michael Hill
Simon & Schuster (September 2025)

And so do those who keep it alive  when we need it most to nourish and enlighten us

In recent years, I have read several hundred works of both fiction and non-fiction and have not as yet read any other that I enjoyed reading more than I did reading History Matters.

I highly recommend it if you enjoy reading about fascinating people who are involved in exceptionally interesting situations within a real-world context of exceptionally interesting significance. All of this material is anchored in a context.

David McCullough is an author for all seasons. He is a terrific storyteller. He is a highly regarded historian and cultural anthropologist. His curiosity is insatiable, as is his appetite for learning what he can and then share with others.

Pretend that you are about to read one of his several bestsellers. Immediately he establishes a direct rapport with you. Note the inclusive use of first-person PLURAL pronouns in this excerpt. Here is how he begins his preface to “Why History?”:

“History shows us how to behave. History teaches, reinforces what we believe, what we stand for, and what we ought to be willing to stand for. History is — or should be — the bedrock of patriotism, not the chest-pounding kind of patriotism but the real thing, love of country.”

In part One of History Matters, McCullough shares his thoughts and feelings about what matters most to him: history, American values, luck, the “good work of America,” and a reprint of an interview of him by Ellen Gaffney and Ben Howe that appeared in The Paris Review.

He shifts his attention to profiles of Thomas Eakins, Harriet Beecher Stowe (in Paris), “A conversation About George” [Washington], and a profile of Harry S Truman in Part Two. There are three other Parts comprised of other short works, some of which appear in print for the first time.

I strongly recommend History Matters if you share my regard for historical material of impeccable integrity that is also of the highest literary quality. And I  presume to suggest, as another holiday draws near, that a copy of it would be a perfect gift for any of your family members and friends who share that regard.