BOOK REVIEWS: History Matters: David McCullough
Published 7:50 am Friday, February 13, 2026
History Matters: David McCullough
David McCullough was a historian known for his meticulous eye for detailed research coupled with the narrative flair of a novelist.
He won two Pulitzer Prizes for his biographies of Harry S. Truman and John Adams. Other books centered on topics such as the Wright Brothers, Theodore Roosevelt, the Brooklyn Bridge, the Panama Canal, the Johnstown Flood, etc.
He died in 2022 at the age of 89.
In “History Matters,” Dorie McCullough Lawson, daughter and manager of his public life, collects essays and the texts of speeches that McCullough gave during his celebrated life. Most never before published.
The book’s essays look at the meaning of history, architecture, as well as the craft and discipline of writing.
He delves into the necessity to write with immediacy even if the person lived decades or centuries ago; a historian must remember that we know what happened but the person living the history knew no more how things would turn out than we know how things will go tomorrow.
He writes marvelous vignettes about Harriet Beecher Stowe in Paris, “A Conversation About George (Washington),” a much condensed 14-page look at Harry S. Truman compared to his epic 1100-page “Truman” biography.
A more personal section of “Influences” looks at people whom McCullough revered, respected and loved.
McCullough makes the argument that history – the character of who and what we’ve been as a nation – does, indeed, matter. Our American past should serve as guideposts as we make our way through the uncertainties of our present-day crises.
“History Matters” is a short book. Only about 130 pages. An especially short book for a McCullough volume. But it is grand in scope and deep in passion. A wonderful visit with a man who is gone but whose voice lives in the pages of his beloved books.
Death of the Silver Surfer
Marvel Comics killed its version of Captain Marvel in 1982.
“Death of Captain Marvel” by artist/writer Jim Starlin meshed the spectacular with the intimate. Captain Marvel, or Mar-Vell, didn’t die in a cosmic battle to save the universe but rather he died in bed of cancer.
While Marvel Comics has bestowed the title of Captain Marvel on various characters in the past four decades, most notably Carol Danvers, Mar-Vell has never be resurrected.
Since, almost every superhero has “died” and been resuscitated. Most notably, “The Death of Superman” back in the early 1990s. Even though Superman returned several months later, the Man of Steel “died” in a massive battle to save mankind from the onslaught of Doomsday.
Part of the problem with Marvel’s “Death of the Silver Surfer” is that the “Death of” signifier does not hold the same power that it did in comic books 40 or even 30 years ago. Most readers likely think sooner or later the original Norrin Radd/Silver Surfer will be back sky-riding the space ways. And more than likely it will be sooner rather than later.
In the five-issue “Death of the Silver Surfer,” writer Greg Pak and artist Sumit Kumar create an impassioned and relevant story about tolerance and acceptance of the stranger in our midst. A bigoted human has harnessed the essence of Galactus to destroy the Silver Surfer. The Fantastic Four shows up, along with a smattering of Avengers. Kelly Koh, a human special agent of SHIELD and SWORD, is enlisted to help destroy the Silver Surfer.
And the Surfer dies.
But not before bestowing his Power Cosmic on a replacement.
The Surfer is dead. Long live the Surfer.
There’s no sense of mourning the Surfer’s death. No feeling that his loss is honored. Neither by the featured characters nor the creators. Before it fully registers that the original Norrin Radd/Surfer is dead, he’s been replaced and his replacement surfs off into the cosmos with a splash page and a threat that mankind do better or else.
So expect a run of the new Surfer. Expect the original Surfer to return at some point. But put away any great expectations for “Death of the Silver Surfer.”
