Tag Archives: David McCullough

Truman

Posted on August 7, 2008 | Comments Off on Truman

David McCullough’s pullet-surprise book Truman told me a lot about the man that I never knew: That he farmed six hundred acres as a young man, riding a cultivator behind a pair of horses, risked his life in World War I commanding a field artillery battery, and failed as a haberdasher before the Pendergast political machine of Missouri asked him to run for county judge. It’s a lively and touching book, told mainly via Truman’s many letters and diary entries, and those of others who knew him well.

 I originally bought the almost thousand page volume in paper, but it fell apart, so I bought a hardback. That way, Mr. B. can read it when he’s older–and benefit from knowing probably the last president without a college degree.

It’s a good thing for McCullough that his book was published before the Web came along, or it might have been jarred, as it is somewhat for me, by the story of Truman’s eldest grandson. McCullough hardly mentions him, except as a child Truman doted on. I got curious and did a Web search on him. Addicted to drink and drugs, his confused life is a sad footnote to his famous grandfather’s achievements. If McCullough knew the grandson’s tale, he should have included something about it. Even if it would be quite a counterpoint.

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Posted in Library

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The Path Between The Seas

Posted on July 9, 2008 | Comments Off on The Path Between The Seas

I never knew much about the Panama Canal, but assumed that it was during its construction that Yellow Fever and Malaria were defeated for the first time. Actually YF was defeated by American army doctors in Cuba during the Spanish-American War, and M has gone on and on, even in Panama, despite the best efforts, etc. I was also surprised to find, in this really good 1977 read by historian David McCullough (John Adams, etc.), that the French tried and failed to build the canal first, that Americans had favored a Nicaraguan route before T.R. got hold of the effort, and that very little about it was easy.

I knew people who grew up in the Zone, before President Carter turned the canal over to the Panamanians, but their recollections were nothing like the reported experiences of the builders–especially the thousands of black Barbados and Jamaican laborers who were largely denied services available to the whites. It was a different time, 1870 to 1914. Today, there’s an expansion going on that’s expected to be completed in 2010. Thanks to the magic of the Net, you can view the canal live via webcams at the previous link, or take a timelapse trip through the canal yourself, the whole twelve-hour journey in one minute fifty-six seconds.

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Posted in Library, Sailing, Science/Engineering, Scribbles, South of the Border

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The Great Bridge

Posted on June 9, 2008 | Comments Off on The Great Bridge

Historian David McCullough is best known, these days, for his pullet surprise winning books Truman and John Adams. The Great Bridge, The Epic Story of the Building of the Brooklyn Bridge, was his first popular history, in 1972. It’s a compelling story, even at 562 pages. It interested me, initially, because I worked in Trenton, NJ, in the late-1970s, and became aquainted with the history of the town’s most prominent family, the Roeblings, whose patriarch designed the bridge, though his son (with considerable assistance from his wife) built it. I was aware of the technical challenges, but not the political machinations and corruption surrounding the effort, nor of the builder’s Civil War experiences and fame. All-in-all a great read. I’ll try Truman next.

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Posted in Library

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