Brave Companions: Portraits in History

I really enjoyed reading this book. David McCullough is such an excellent story teller. I liked this book so much I ordered a second copy to gift my father in law.

If you have enjoyed David McCullough’s other books you will enjoy this one as well. Great details in each story.

The writing shows little cohesiveness - this is not his best, sadly.

If David McCullough’s books are mountains, BRAVE COMPANIONS is his rock collection. A compilation of seventeen articles, we’re introduced to history-makers from 1980s England to the days of Jefferson. For a man who made his mark with books so weighty they could be used as architectural cornerstones, writing short pieces would seem confining. And, ultimately, the book’s quality is mixed. The historical profiles are very good. One gets a sense that McCullough feels a duty to expose history’s underappreciated figures. Alexander von Humboldt, Frederic Remington, Louis Agassiz - all burned brightly in their day and age, but their impacts on the 21th Century are easy to overlook. The author feelingly shows how these men and women embodied their era. It’s everything that we love in historical biography. A problem arises when the author focuses on living figures. Profiling a contemporary becomes journalism, and it’s not McCullough’s strong suit. His interview with photographer David Plowden is well-written, but mediocre. Same with Miriam Rothschild, a flamboyant heiress pursuing her eclectic interests with tireless fervor. Some of the articles are useful appendices to earlier McCullough works. We’re provided more insight into the Brooklyn Bridge and the Panama Canal, for example. “The Treasure from the Carpentry Shop” is an intriguing postscript to the making of the Brooklyn Bridge - a reminder that history is tangible and valuable even if some artifacts are lost to dust and mothballs. The book’s strongest component is the more free-form essays that conclude the collection. My favorite, “Washington on the Potomac,” will ignite an appreciation for the nation’s capital. Altogether, this is a book specifically designed for fans of David McCullough, more of a B-side to the main albums we love so much, but still worth throwing on the turntable.

Already a fan of David McCullough's work? This is a must read. Always wanted to read his books, but never had the nerve to tackle their length? This is a great place to start. Never heard of David McCullough? Shame on you. And read this book. Less than 300 pages in length, this is a collection of Mr. McCullough's shorter works--magazine articles, lectures, etc. It paints vivid portraits of a wide variety of people--some famous, others rather obscure, but all fascinating. It was just enough to whet my appetite to learn more about these people. Over the course of reading this book, I jotted down the titles of 22 other books I'd like to read. The section I found most interesting was entitled "Pioneers." It includes an article about the building of the Panama Railroad--yes, railroad. As in, before the canal. Forty-seven and a half miles of track, and 170 bridges of more than 12 feet in length. Next is an article about the building of the Brooklyn Bridge. I had no idea how interesting pneumatic caissons were! This is followed by a lovely vignette about the man who discovered and helped to preserve the thousands of intricate hand-drawn plans for the Brooklyn Bridge. The section closes with an intriguing look at the aviation pioneers of the 1920s, many of whom were also prolific writers. I've read and loved many of the works of pioneer aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupery, but was inspired to look up some of the others. There's something for everyone in this collection: science, photography, architecture, history, exploration, ecology. All written in David McCullough's spare, ringing style, these portraits of people and places will spark the imagination and make you want to read more.