Historian and Pulitzer Prize-winning author David McCullough will deliver Milton Academy’s 47th War Memorial Lecture on Thursday, April 24, at 8 p.m., in the Fitzgibbons Convocation Center.
McCullough has been called a "master of the art of narrative history." His books have been praised for their exceptional narrative sweep, their scholarship and insight into American life and for their literary distinction.

“Historical narrative emphasizes the significance of our past and connects us to the people who shape our present,” said Head of School Robin Robertson. “David McCullough is a powerful storyteller and an important voice in this country. We are honored to host him at Milton.”
McCullough is twice winner of the National Book Award, twice winner of the prestigious Francis Parkman Prize, and now twice winner of the Pultizer Prize, most recently for his biography, John Adams. For his monumental work, Truman, he also received the Pulitzer Prize. For his work overall, he has been honored with the National Book Foundation Distinguished Contribution to American Letters Award, the National Humanities Medal, the St. Louis Literary Award, the Carl Sandburg Award and the New York Public Library's Literary Lion Award.

His books include The Johnstown Flood, The Great Bridge, The Path Between the Seas, Mornings on Horseback, Brave Companions, Truman and John Adams. As may be said of the work of few writers, none of his books has ever been out of print.

McCullough has been an editor, essayist, teacher, lecturer and familiar presence on public television—as host of “Smithsonian World,” “The American Experience” and narrator of numerous documentaries including “The Civil War” and “Napoleon.” He is a past president of the Society of American Historians. He has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and has received more than 30 honorary degrees.

A gifted speaker, McCullough has lectured in all parts of the country and abroad, as well as at the White House, as part of the White House presidential lecture series. He is also one of the few private citizens to be asked to speak before a joint meeting of Congress.

Born in Pittsburgh in 1933, McCullough was educated there and at Yale, where he graduated with honors in English literature. An avid reader, traveler and landscape painter, he lives in West Tisbury, Massachusetts, with his wife Rosalee Barnes McCullough. They have five children and 15 grandchildren.

The War Memorial Lecture series at Milton Academy was established to honor the 22 Academy graduates who gave their lives serving in World War I. Conceived of in 1922, the lecture series became a living memorial to the graduates. In 1924, John Buchan, British author of A History of the Great War, delivered the lecture, emphasizing the utility of history “as a great reference book to which man may turn, and find recorded there innumerable experiments of life and their results, so as not to experiment over and over again…usually bringing about disastrous results.”

Other War Memorial Lecture guests have included Franklin D. Roosevelt, T.S. Eliot, Gen. George C. Marshall, Carlos Fuentes, J. Robert Oppenheimer, William F. Buckley, Jr., Helen Suzman and Osca Arias.