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American History Reclaimed
Accuracy in Academia ^ | June 27, 2006 | Malcolm A. Kline

Posted on 06/30/2006 8:39:52 AM PDT by JSedreporter

We keep coming back to cover commercially published historian David McCullough for a reason: Unlike his academic counterparts, he actually has something to say.

“Many people today are saying that we should be teaching morals in our schools,” McCullough himself said in a lecture earlier this year at Hillsdale College. “They could find support in the closing line of this section of the Commonwealth Constitution, which speaks of the necessity ‘to countenance and inculcate the principles of humanity and general benevolence, public and private charity, industry and frugality, honesty and punctuality in their dealings, sincerity, good humor, and all social affections and generous sentiments among the people.’”

The commonwealth McCullough refers to is Massachusetts, where the state supreme court recently managed to find a right to gay marriage in that same document. The author of that original constitution was John Adams, of whom McCullough has written a bestselling biography.

“John Adams was born into a poor farm family,” McCullough told the audience at Hillsdale. “He is often imagined as a rich Boston blueblood.”

“He was none of those.” But then, that is not as interesting a story to history professors who would rather pontificate about “patriarchal hegemony.”

“At a young age, he began to keep a diary—it was about the size of the palm of your hand, and his handwriting so small you need a magnifying glass to read it—with the idea that by reckoning day-by-day his moral assets and liabilities, he could improve himself,” McCullough said in the lecture that Hillsdale compiled in its Imprimis magazine.

How does McCullough know this? Because he held the diary in one hand and a magnifying glass in the other so that he could read it. Can you picture the people’s historian, Howard Zinn, doing that?

And here’s another interesting tidbit that Adams’ chronicler leaves us with. McCullough tells us of Abigail Adams, “Schools were closed so she had to educate the children at home.” Does that make President John Quincy Adams the first homeschooled American to achieve prominence?

Academic icons such as Zinn and the late Richard Hoffstadter of Columbia have long held that America’s founding fathers pursued the revolution to protect their property and prestige. McCullough, who has done considerably more research from primary documents than any of them, comes to a different conclusion.

“When our founders pledged their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor, that wasn’t just rhetoric,” McCullough says. “Keep in mind, too, that they were up against the greatest military power on earth and had very little military experience.”

“They had no money—there wasn’t a bank in all of America in 1776.” Really, if the spry septuagenarian can delve as deeply as he does into America’s archives to recover this country’s past, surely tenured professors half his age could make the effort.

Malcolm A. Kline is the executive director of Accuracy in Academia.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; US: Massachusetts
KEYWORDS: 1776; columbiauniv; davidmccullough; foundingfathers; hillsdale; howardzinn; johnadams
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1 posted on 06/30/2006 8:39:55 AM PDT by JSedreporter
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To: JSedreporter
I just finished McCullough's 1776. Very good book and an easy read.
2 posted on 06/30/2006 8:42:27 AM PDT by socal_parrot (Pass)
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To: socal_parrot

book ping!


3 posted on 06/30/2006 8:48:28 AM PDT by true_blue_texican
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To: JSedreporter

Dang. Here I thought we did a pretty good job of reclaiming American history with our book, "A Patriot's History of the United States" last year. (McCulloch is good, though, as is David Hackett Fischer).


4 posted on 06/30/2006 8:50:05 AM PDT by LS
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To: JSedreporter

McCullough is one of the best. I have read both John Adams and 1776. If others reading this post can suggest historians with a knack for accuracy (sarc) I would relish hearing your suggestions. History is about all I read and I despise the modern-day embellishment, interpretation, and removal from context and remodeling to fit a modern agenda, that is so prevalent today.


5 posted on 06/30/2006 8:54:23 AM PDT by Neoliberalnot
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To: JSedreporter

As I recall, and this may be incorrect, God is referred to in the preamble to the Massachusetts constitution as "that great legislator in the sky."

Too bad it's in MA. John Adams would be shocked at what his successors are doing to his once fine commonwealth.


6 posted on 06/30/2006 8:59:47 AM PDT by RexBeach ("There is no substitute for victory." -Douglas MacArthur)
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To: Neoliberalnot
I can recommend A Patriot's History of the United States by Larry Schweikart (FReeper LS).
7 posted on 06/30/2006 9:02:49 AM PDT by socal_parrot (Pass)
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To: Neoliberalnot
Willard Sterne Randall is factually very good but his stuff reads like a high school term paper. Ron Chernow's bio of Alexander Hamilton was amazing. Thomas Fleming has some great stuff too.

H.W. Brands' newest book on Jackson is great. I am just finishing off William C. Davis' "The Pirates Lafitte" about the pirates in the Gulf of Mexico in the early 1800s. Davis is primarily a southern historian. His book on Jefferson Davis is definitive.

Civil War: Stephen W. Sears
Early America: Joseph Ellis (a few Freepers might disagree on that one but I enjoy his books)
Jackson-era: Robert Remini
General American History: Paul Johnson "A History of the American People."

8 posted on 06/30/2006 9:09:09 AM PDT by nonliberal (Graduate: Curtis E. LeMay School of International Relations)
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To: LS
Dang. Here I thought we did a pretty good job of reclaiming American history with our book, "A Patriot's History of the United States" last year.

You did, trust me!

;-)

9 posted on 06/30/2006 9:11:06 AM PDT by eyespysomething
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To: nonliberal
Ellis is excellent, despite his personal lies about his career.

I'd strongly recommend both of my books, "A Patriot's History of the United States," and my recent book, "America's Victories: Why the U.S. Wins Wars and Will Win the War on Terror."

10 posted on 06/30/2006 9:14:30 AM PDT by LS
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To: Neoliberalnot

Can you or any other here recommend some good, honest written works regarding this time period (just before, during and just after 1776).


11 posted on 06/30/2006 9:16:05 AM PDT by roofgoat
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To: nonliberal; All

Can you recommend a good book(s) about the Reconstruction Period?


12 posted on 06/30/2006 9:17:02 AM PDT by uncitizen
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To: LS

I'll have to pick those two up when I have a chance. I'm down to two books behind where I want to be. When I catch up, I head to the bookstore and go nuts.


13 posted on 06/30/2006 9:17:43 AM PDT by nonliberal (Graduate: Curtis E. LeMay School of International Relations)
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To: nonliberal

Hehe. Thanks. If I'm ever in the area, I'll be happy to sign them.


14 posted on 06/30/2006 9:20:04 AM PDT by LS
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To: roofgoat
Both Middlekauf's "Glorious Cause," and the novel by the same name by Shaara, are great.

I also recommend "Washington's Crossing" by David Hackett Fischer.

15 posted on 06/30/2006 9:21:00 AM PDT by LS
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To: roofgoat
I liked Benson Bobrick's "Angel in the Whirlwind." Thomas Fleming's book on the Hamilton-Burr duel is also amazing.

McCullough's "John Adams" is always good.

Also try Joseph Ellis' "Founding Brothers" and Bernard Weisberger's "America Afire" about the election of 1804.

16 posted on 06/30/2006 9:22:14 AM PDT by nonliberal (Graduate: Curtis E. LeMay School of International Relations)
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To: roofgoat

McCullough's book 1776 is good. I think Ellis is a bit too subject to his own interpretation of how historical figures were thinking. Ellis may be a mind-reader, but I question his ability to read the mind of someone that lived 200 years ago. :)


17 posted on 06/30/2006 9:22:54 AM PDT by Neoliberalnot
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To: nonliberal

Let me note that Patriot's History is "special order" only at Barnes & Noble now, because they wanted us to go paperback. We reluctantly agreed, but it won't be out in paper until next March. In the meantime, it's best to get that one at Borders or on Amazon.
LS


18 posted on 06/30/2006 9:23:02 AM PDT by LS
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To: nonliberal

Thank you all for the excellent suggestions. How do I post to more than one person? What is the mechanism?


19 posted on 06/30/2006 9:26:27 AM PDT by Neoliberalnot
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To: uncitizen
Not much on reconstruction. I think Eric Foner has a bunch of stuff out there but he is a flaming liberal and, like Zinn, hardly anything is cited so I don't put much stock in it.

Hans Trefousse wrote a very good biography of Andrew Johnson that details his battles with Sumner, Stevens and the Radicals over reconstruction.
Something that explores a bit of the end of reconstruction is Roy Morris, Jr.'s book "Fraud of the Century" about the Hayes-Tilden election.

20 posted on 06/30/2006 9:27:15 AM PDT by nonliberal (Graduate: Curtis E. LeMay School of International Relations)
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