David McCollough passed away in August 2022 and left behind a literary legacy. He wrote some excellent books about history, steeped in research. He, for one, likely cringed at E.L. Doctorow’s method of researching a book — the idea that you should allow the research to find you, to fall onto the floor before you. For fiction, perhaps this approach works better. For histories and anthologies, the research is a little more important.
But along with the research and the writing, David McCollough loved meeting his readers. And oftentimes he was amused at the things they would say.
“I love to meet people who love books,” he shared with us at the National Book Festival some years ago. “I like talking to readers and listening to what they have to say — and what they think about my books.”
He remembered one gentleman who kept opening the book he wanted autographed. “[He] went over the pictures, pointing them out and encouraging me to look at them as though I’d never seen them before.” Another man sighed and said, “I bet you did a lot of research for that book.”
His books depended on a lot of research.
To learn more about McCollough’s own history, read his biography at his website.
http://www.electriceggplant.com/davidmccullough/
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