Faces

A good historian does much more than discover and reiterate facts accurately. Granted, that is vital. But a good historian lives with his materials so that over time he gains familiarity with the people and places and events, so that he gains the insights necessary to show them to us with words that make them live. So that after reading, we not only learn history but SEE it and to a limited extent experience it.

In his brief essay, David McCullough does just that. I've heard it said that some of our poorest neighborhoods in the USA live better than kings did in previous centuries. Well, you probably can't prove that. But for sure we have comforts, medical care, nutrition, luxuries far beyond what they had during the Revolutionary War. And those who suffered and died so that we might experience freedom in our miraculous country, suffered to an extent we find hard to understand today.

David McCullough writes about Revolutionary soldiers with admiration and compels us to kindle our appreciation for what they gave.

David McCullough brings to light a point I for one have never thought about. In many cases we don't know what the very people who won our freedom looked like. It wasn't until the Civil War that we could attach a face to a famous name.

The author in a very adept way seeks to attach a face to the soldiers of the Revolution with word pictures. My minds eye can now visualize John Daby as a "long hump-shouldered fellow," and Thomas Williams with "film" in his left eye, or George Washington with smallpox scars, something his portraits didn't reveal. If you ever wondered like I have why most subjects in the old paintings never smiled, it's most likely due to the fact they had bad teeth or no teeth at all.

"Faces" is an illuminating read for anyone. I recommend it highly.FUG 10

A very nice essay by Mr. McCullough which actually gave me more of an insight into the author than the time. As a fan of history I always had the curious habit (I thought so) of looking first at the pictures in the book of what the people looked like before I started reading and referring often to those pictures during the reading; mostly to help me visualize.
I'm glad to find out I'm not the only one.

An official Library Weekly book review.

EXCERPT:
How can we know what they looked like? The answers are in what they themselves said in pocket diaries...

RATING:
5 of 5

REVIEW:
When looking back at the founding of our nation, we find ourselves at a lost to what men and women looked
like when they marched into the heat of battle. We have no audio broadcast of what happened, there's no
video that you can download off YouTube. But despite those challenges, historians and writers have been
able to find out who these men were, a true understanding of their inner thoughts through their diaries,
letters, and books. Faces by David McCullough is timeless, an effective reflection of the past, and how
we get to know them.

This writing focuses on the physical aspects and reality in which the people in history, especially the Revolution, lived. We have very little that guides our minds when trying to associate faces with a person we are reading about, and McCullough brings about some poignant ideas about their lives, demeanors and appearance that we often overlook. This is worth a quick read.