David McCullough

Photo Credit: William B. McCullough

David McCullough, author of 1776, is twice winner of the National Book Award and twice winner of the Pulitzer Prize. He has been called a "master of the art of narrative history." His books have been praised for their exceptional narrative sweep, their scholarship and insight into American life, and for their literary distinction. His John Adams, one of the most acclaimed American biographies ever published, hit the New York Times bestseller list at number one and remained on the list for more than a year. To date more than two million copies have been sold.

His new book, 1776, May 2005, tells the intensely human story of those who marched with George Washington in the fateful year of the Declaration of Independence.

Gordon Wood, writing in the New York Review of Books, said of John Adams, "By far the best biography of Adams ever written...McCullough's special gift as an artist is his ability to recreate past human beings in all their fullness and all their humanity."

Edwin Yoder, in The Washington Post, wrote, "If nations appointed historians laureate, David McCullough would surely be ours."

In the words of the citation accompanying his honorary degree from Yale, "As an historian, he paints with words, giving us pictures of the American people that live, breath, and above all, confront the fundamental issues of courage, achievement, and moral character."

His books include The Johnstown Flood, The Great Bridge, The Path between the Seas, Mornings on Horseback, Brave Companions, and Truman. As may be said of few writers, none of his books has ever been out of print.

Mr. McCullough is as well twice winner of the prestigious Francis Parkman Prize. For his work overall he has been honored by the National Book Foundation Distinguished Contribution to American Letters Award, the National Humanities Medal, and the New York Public Library's Literary Lion Award. He is past president of the Society of American Historians. He has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has received 38 honorary degrees.

In a crowded, productive career, Mr. McCullough has been an editor, essayist, teacher, lecturer, and familiar presence on public television -- as host of Smithsonian World, The American Experience, and narrator of numerous documentaries including The Civil War and Napoleon. His is also the narrator's voice in Seabiscuit.

A gifted speaker, Mr. McCullough has lectured in all parts of the country and abroad, as well as at the White House. He is also one of the few private citizens to speak before a joint session of Congress.

Born in Pittsburgh, Mr. McCullough was educated there and at Yale, where he was graduated with honors in English literature. He is an avid reader, traveler, and has enjoyed a lifelong interest in art and architecture. He is as well a landscape painter. Mr. McCullough lives in West Tisbury, Massachusetts with his wife Rosalee Barnes McCullough. They have five children and seventeen grandchildren.

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