WASHINGTON, Nov. 6 (UPI) -- Even in the period leading up to Sept. 11, the demand for authoritative histories and biographies by American readers had been undergoing a dramatic uptick. Several of the books currently atop The New York Times hardcover bestseller list -- an industry standard-- are what most would call serious books.
In the process, the historians who write them have become pop-culture celebrities. When David McCullough, author of best-selling biographies on Harry S. Truman and John Adams among other books, addressed the first National Book Festival, sponsored by the Library of Congress, he spoke to a standing room-only packed house.
After his remarks, while autograph seekers treated him with the type of attention usually reserved for rock stars and film actors, McCullough shared his thoughts on the phenomena with UPI's Peter Roff.
Q. How does it feel to be a historian and a rock star all rolled into one?
A. Well, it's a lot of fun and it's exhilarating. It also can be exhausting, but I really enjoy seeing people, talking to readers, hearing their reaction to my work. I'm dazzled by how many people are reading the (John Adams) book, by the fact that it is being read by people everywhere in the country.
Q. And likewise with the Truman book before ...
A. Yes, but this is more than twice that. The Truman book, all told, in paperback and hard cover, was over 1 million. The Adams book is well over 1 million in hard cover in less than four months. There has never been anything like it.
Q. What do you think is going on? It's not just your excellent work, but it's Stephen Ambrose, it's Doris Kearns Goodwin -- historians are telling stories relating history that is suddenly captivating the minds of the American people in a way that didn't happen in the '90s.
A. It's also measurable, for example, in the popularity of The History Channel and the PBS series "The American Experience." I think that many people feel we sort of slipped our moorings. They want something to restore their faith in what we are about as Americans.
I think in the case of John Adams -- there is a certain surprise element involved, people just don't know much about him. As the woman said today, she thought he was a "haughty Federalist" and so forth. The fact that he was truthful, the fact that he was devoted to his country, that he served when he was called, that he was faithful to his wife, that he was adoring of his family, that he did unpopular things because he thought they were the right thing to do -- all that I think (are factors in the book's popularity).
And it's a great story, that above all else, it's a great love story and it's a true story. I think, also, there is a hunger for authenticity, which is one of the reasons the Truman story had appeal. We are so satiated with contrivance in politics, focus groups and polls and the show business...
Q. The artifice rather than the art?
A. Yes, exactly. I remember when my children read the Truman book; they said, "It's hard to believe there was ever a president like that."
Q. And Truman was, like Adams, another fellow who finished up his presidency at a relatively young age and went home and stayed there and did relatively little else.
A. Yes.
Q. Do you think that the celebrity of politicians has distorted their place in America?
A. That's been part of it. I think the corrupting role of big money, the rampant, conspicuous play of lobbyists and influence peddling in Washington (has played a part). A lot of it has to do with television. We're satiated with too much information about everybody. Too much that we know is done for appearance and effect. You wonder when they're working.
Q. On the money and the lobbying ... You write quite effectively about the newspaper editors and others who were involved in the Adams administration and in the Adams/Jefferson political squabbles. Do you think it is more pernicious now or was it worse then?
A. I think the media assaults on individual officeholders were more vicious then. This is patty-cake compared to what the media could do then. But the role of money, big money, buying influence, funding one's own career to the tune of $60 million like the senator (Jon Corzine) from New Jersey -- that's new, that's different. I think people feel that generally the quality of aspirants for political office is lower than it was then ... and it is!
Q. Having come out of that industry, you get no argument from me there. I've noticed that there are some American historians who would be classified as Jeffersonian who have not responded to your book on John Adams in the kindest way ...
A. That's right.
Q. Why do you think that is? Is it simply that some people like Jefferson, some people like Adams and there is no twixt-and-tween or is there a modern relevance to being someone who likes Adams or Jefferson.
A. When you write a book, somebody is going to have a go at you. That's the way it is, and I understand that. For some people John Adams just isn't their cup of tea. Any reviewer worth his own salt has his own mind about things, and every reader worth his own salt has his own mind about things.
I'm just very grateful for the good reviews I get, and I try not to take either the good or the bad reviews too seriously -- though it's tempting to take the good ones very seriously. I've had the best reviews I've ever had of anything I've ever written, for this book. I feel it's the best thing I've ever written. I had a certain kind of book I wanted to write, I gave it my all -- six-and-a-half years -- and I'm very pleased with the result.
