Brave Companions

We lost the beloved historian David McCullough in August of this year. In his long storied career, he had won two Pulitzer Prizes and sold over ten million copies of his books. He lived a long, good life of eighty-nine years. As is practice when an author has left us, his writings are collected and published. <br><br>This collection of homages to historical greats sometimes read like Wikipedia entries. There is a series of digressions that make the writing jumpy and noncontextual. What starts as the story of Lindbergh, the aviation giant, digresses to other aviation heroes. This amounts to brief notice of these greats; they were good looking, except Saint-Exupery, and cultural icons. <br><br>Like this essay, the writings seem brief musings, but for the fans of McCullough that will be enough. There is a noteworthy essay about Alexander von Humboldt, a man that this reader knew too little about. As a Californian, I associate it with the city near Eureka. Humboldt was a great and daring explorer. I was fascinated to learn more about his exploits and erudition. <br><br>It is interesting to read who McCullough took note of and also his graduation address admonition to see the world and do good for one’s country.