McCullough’s celebrations of the American past also led to the toughest criticism against him - that affection turned too easily to romanticization. “Hamilton” author Ron Chernow once called McCullough “both the name and the voice of American history,' while on Monday Burns tweeted that McCullough was a friend and “gifted teacher' to him. In his 70s and 80s, he indulged his affection for Paris with the 2011 release “The Greater Journey” and for aviation with a best-seller on the Wright Brothers that came out in 2015.īeyond his books, the handsome, white-haired McCullough may have had the most recognizable presence of any historian, his fatherly baritone known to fans of PBS’s “The American Experience” and Ken Burns’ epic “Civil War” documentary. His fascination with architecture and construction inspired his early works on the Panama Canal and the Brooklyn Bridge, while his admiration for leaders whom he believed were good men drew him to Adams and Truman. He saw himself as an everyman blessed with lifelong curiosity and the chance to take on the subjects he cared most about. And the other is to the reader who would like to be transported, both intellectually and viscerally.”Ī joyous and tireless student of the past, McCullough dedicated himself to sharing his own passion for history with the general public. “One is to the historical record and to the analysis.

“I think because of David a lot of us feel a twin obligation,” fellow historian Jon Meacham said Monday. He had been in failing health and died less than two months after his beloved wife, Rosalee.

McCullough died Sunday in Hingham, Massachusetts, according to his publisher, Simon & Schuster. NEW YORK (AP) - David McCullough, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author whose lovingly crafted narratives on subjects ranging from the Brooklyn Bridge to Presidents John Adams and Harry Truman made him among the most popular and influential historians of his time, has died.

John adams author david mccullough