In a series of fascinating interviews, today's best and brightest historians weigh in on the crucial moments in American history.
American Heritage's Great Minds of American History takes you to critical moments in American history, imbuing the past with an immediacy that goes well beyond the scope of formal histories. Roger Mudd's highly knowledgable questions illuminate five truly first-rate minds:
In World War II and the Post-War Era, Stephen Ambrose—the biographer of Eisenhower and Nixon, bestselling author of Citizen Soldiers and Undaunted Courage, and adviser to Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan—offers his expert insight into war and its aftermath.
In The American Revolution, Gordon Wood, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Radicalism of the American Revolution and renowned expert on the colonial era, brings to life the birth of the first modern democracy.
In America's Forgotten Era: 1865-1914, David McCullough—acclaimed historian and Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Truman—offers his stunning perspective on the dawn of The American Century.
In The American West, Richard White, MacArthur Genius Award winner and author of groundbreaking books on the American West, offers his challenging views on the winning and the losing of the West.
In The Civil War, James McPherson—Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Battle Cry Of Freedom, and one of the foremost experts on the Civil War—offers his compelling insight into our nation's darkest and bloodiest hour.
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Stephen E. Ambrose (1936–2002) was the author of several New York Times bestsellers, including Citizen Soldiers, Undaunted Courage, and D-Day, as well as biographies of Presidents Eisenhower and Nixon. He also founded the Eisenhower Center and was president of the National World War II Museum in New Orleans. His book, Band of Brothers, was the basis for the HBO miniseries. He was also a contributing editor for the Quarterly Journal of Military History, a member of the board of directors for American Rivers, and a member of the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Council Board.
David McCullough (1933-2022), acclaimed historian and #1 New York Times bestselling author, twice won the Pulitzer Prize, for Truman and John Adams, and twice received the National Book Award, for The Path between the Seas and Mornings on Horseback. His other acclaimed books are 1776, Brave Companions, The Johnstown Flood, The Great Bridge, The Greater Journey, and The Wright Brothers. He was awarded numerous honors and awards, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian award, and more than forty honorary degrees. In 1995, the National Book Foundation conferred on him its lifetime Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters.
Gordon S. Wood is the Alva O. Way University Professor and professor of history at Brown University. His 1969 book, The Creation of the American Republic 1776–1787, received the Bancroft and John H. Dunning prizes and was nominated for the National Book Award. His 1992 book, The Radicalism of the American Revolution, won the Pulitzer Prize and the Emerson Prize. Wood contributes regularly to the New Republic and the New York Review of Books.
James M. McPherson is the George Henry Davis ‘86 Professor of History Emeritus at Princeton University. America’s leading historian of the Civil War, he won the Pulitzer Prize for Battle Cry of Freedom, which was a New York Times bestseller, and the Lincoln Prize for For Cause and Comrades.
Richard White is the author of many acclaimed histories, including the groundbreaking study of the transcontinentals, Railroaded, winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. He is Margaret Byrne Professor Emeritus at Stanford University.