Book Review: Evidence of historian David McCullough's curiosity abounds in 'History Matters'

The late Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David McCullough told an audience in 2012 that writing history was like working on a detective case.

“And once on the case, you want to know more and more and more,” he said in remarks at Dartmouth College. “Follow your curiosity.”

One thing that’s clear after reading “History Matters,” a posthumous collection of McCullough’s writings and speeches that include his Dartmouth remarks, is how much the revered historian practiced what he preached.

The book is an enjoyable complement to McCullough’s canon of works that include biographies of John Adams,Theodore Roosevelt and a reminder of why he was one of the greatest historians of our time. They also offer a glance into his approaches to reading and writing.

In a tribute to the late novelist Herma