1776 Author Dave McCullough

[hkyfan]

Just returned from seeing Dave McCullough (Adams, 1776, Truman etc) speak at SIU-Edwardsville.

Spoke for well over an hour to a full house and it was highly entertaining. Great ambassador for historical studies, good sense of humor and a nice man. Got to speak to him prior to the presentation during a small reception and he's the kind of guy you would like to spend an evening with over a couple of glasses of wine or beer.

If your a reader and haven't picked up any of his books you won't be disappointed.

[Indu WangZi]

I just read 1776 last month. What an excellent book..very well written.


What was the topic of his discussion?

[kah]

QUOTE(Indu WangZi @ Oct 27 2005, 07:47 PM) Quoted post

I just read 1776 last month. What an excellent book..very well written.[/b][/quote]


If you enjoyed that:



http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/080506098...=books&v=glance

[hkyfan]

QUOTE(Indu WangZi @ Oct 27 2005, 09:47 PM) Quoted post

I just read 1776 last month. What an excellent book..very well written.


What was the topic of his discussion?
[/b][/quote]

He opened with about 10 minutes of humorous background that included some nice biographical information, a few funny anecdotes and a couple of jokes. Spent most of the time talking about the period around 1776, the thin line that separated success vs. failure of the American revolution and the importance of the indispensable man...George Washington.

Question and answer afterwards and one of the more interesting was the hypothetical question, what if George is killed or captured and America loses the war? He's not a fan of what if but he has had some discussions regarding this and while some believe the separation of the countries to be inevitable he has heard others argue that the colonies would have become something akin to Canada. That slavery would have ended earlier and that WW I and WWII would have been avoided since the fear of England's American manufacturing capacity would have dissuaded her enemies.

Entertaining evening.

I have Adams on my nightstand currently and plan on beginning that book tonight.

[hkyfan]

QUOTE(kah @ Oct 27 2005, 09:49 PM) Quoted post

QUOTE(Indu WangZi @ Oct 27 2005, 07:47 PM) Quoted post

I just read 1776 last month. What an excellent book..very well written.[/b][/quote]


If you enjoyed that:



http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/080506098...=books&v=glance
[/b][/quote]

I'll put it on the list. Just finished "Angel in the Whirlwind" and want to read Adams so I may take a break from the Revolution and slip a couple of other books in first. I'll get to that though.

Sponsor of Alex Pieterangelo.

..."I spent a lot of money on booze, birds and fast cars. The rest I just squandered." George Best

[triggercut1]

Even if he couldn't write or speak brilliantly (and he can) the sound of his voice is remarkable.

That's McCullough doing the voice-over narration in the movie SEABISCUIT. I'd love to hear him lecture.

[kah]

Ketchum has a series of books that together function as a history of the revolution.

There's "Divided Loyalties" (about the runup to the Revolution and the tensions btwn Tories and Patriots in New York), "Decisive Day" about Bunker Hill, "The Winter Soldiers" above (which is really about the entire 1776 campaign), "Saratoga", and the newest, "Victory at Yorktown".

[Moon Man]

Read 1776 and John Adams in the last couple of months. Great books. Made me go out and get all of his other books from the library.

Perfect voice for the narration of Ken Burns' The Civil War. Saw him speak at the STL Public Library about ten years ago. They had a great series of guest speakers. David Halberstam also spoke as part of the series. It was right after October 1964 came out. Both of them were great in person, and it was a very small setting. I hope the library still does these things.

Moon