On the American revolution:
“My hope is that when we remember July 4, 1776, or the year 1776, that we don’t just remember The Declaration of Independence, as important and noble as it was. We must understand what the people that were fighting the war were enduring and suffering, and what kind of determination that took. Without them, it would have been just what it was called: a declaration. It wouldn’t have meant anything.”
“John Adams estimated realistically, I think that at least a third of the country were loyal, a third were for the revolution, and a third were waiting to see who won before they made up their mind.”
“Too many people see it as a costume pageant, with gentlemen in satin britches and powdered hair mincing around to minuets, and so forth. I wanted to convey the reality of what it was like to be in their shoes, trying to fight a war under such adverse conditions.”
On inspiration:
“The ideas for these books can come from anywhere, chance remarks or something I’ve read.”
“It’s the human side of all of these subjects that interests me. I’m interested in the people, what happened to them and why.”
On Truman:
“One of the reasons I was drawn to Truman was that he is almost an allegorical figure; his life journey represents almost the whole story of the late nineteenth and mid-twentieth century. He’s there for everything: the Depression, financial collapse, living in a small town when that was emblematic of American life; he goes off to fight in France as his generation did and is changed by it; he gets involved with a crooked political machine in Missouri… That’s a guy who really knew a lot about life.”
On historical literacy:
“I feel strongly that we’ve got to revise how we teach the teachers. I would abolish schools of education. I think what every teacher ought to have is a good liberal arts education…But I don’t think the problem is the teachers, entirely. I think the problem with education in our country is us. We’re not doing anywhere near enough as parents or grandparents to talk about history with our children, to talk about the books we’ve loved about historical subjects or figures.”
Read the interview here.
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