In the closing chapter of Doris Kearns Goodwin’s, “The Unfinished Love Story,” she cites a speech by 28-year-old Abraham Lincoln in which he observes that people no longer have first-hand contact with early history and must depend upon reading to understand their past. With this as a beginning and with requests I have had from readers, I offer in this essay some of my favorite books recently read for some very pleasant reading. In August 2022, we lost one of our finest historians, David McCullough – but he left a legacy of beautiful writing.
While I have read all of his books, I will cite three at this time: his John Adams book inspired keen interest in our second president and his wife Abigail, who provided early distinguished leadership and much futuristic thinking for our nation. In “The Great Bridge” he provided the dramatic story of the design and building of Brooklyn Bridge, our nation’s greatest cultural artifact. His final book “The Pioneers,” recounts eloquently the opening of the Ohio Valley, the founding of Marietta, Ohio, and the settlement of the lush verdant land to the west.
Another historian, Douglas Brinkley, born in Perrysburg, Ohio, was invited to write by the editor of American Heritage the book “American Heritage History of the United States,” a sweeping survey of American history. This is a highly-readable general history of America, which might serve as a beginning for an extensive read in American history. Brinkley specializes in .
