The American Spirit: Who We Are and What We Stand For
David McCullough

The Sunny Side of the Street – If you’re feeling beleaguered these days as a citizen of the United States of America, here’s a remedy: Read – or, better yet, listen to David McCullough read – “The American Spirit,” a collection of speeches presented over the years by America’s most optimistic storyteller and historian. On a recent drive to and from our farm in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, Robert Charles, my Dad and I listened to the recording of McCullough reading these speeches aloud. The formidable writer also is genuinely blessed with one of the Great Narrator Voices of our time. The morning after Robert, Dad and I arrived in Ironwood, I purchased the hardcover of this book at Book World, a charming, necessary, well-stocked shop in this town of roughly 5,000 inhabitants in the North Woods. Once we returned to Chicago, I visited Women & Children First in Chicago’s Andersonville neighborhood to buy a second hardcover; this one, a gift for the college-bound son of dear friends. (Spoiler Alert: If I’m buying you a gift, you’re likely to get this book, too!)

The author of 1776, Truman, and John Adams is in fine storytelling form in these speeches and comes across as particularly chipper. Of course, no one invites Debbie Downer to deliver the university commencement speech or to be one of a very few civilians to address a joint session of the U.S. Congress. McCullough reminds us that no one ever lived in history; they lived in their present. He exhorts us to be useful, to become part of something bigger than ourselves, to sing and dance, to embrace curiosity, and to enlarge our lives through reading. He encourages graduates to keep learning as they focus more on earning.

McCullough’s tales and advice serve as a salve, especially in these revolting, chaotic political times. Consider the 12 U.S. Presidents who have served during my lifetime: Democrats have passed the torch from John Kennedy to Lyndon Johnson to Jimmy Carter to Bill Clinton to Barack Obama; meanwhile, Republicans have devolved from Ike to Tricky Dick to Gerald Ford to Ronnie Reagan to Bush I to Bush II to Trump. U.S. Presidents in one party have promoted intelligence, elevated diversity, widened justice, valued a strong sense of the common good, fought for equal opportunity, fought for equal voice, and fought for an equal start in life for more Americans. And the other party? Well, the willful stupidity, racism, vulgarity, corruption, selfishness, and bullying trumpeted today from the whitest of White Houses and empowered by greedy enablers in the Republican Party is tragic – but not surprising and not new. Look at the trajectories: it’s evolution vs. devolution. Look at the math: a reckless game of GOP political division and subtraction ultimately leaves you with less. And, as David McCullough would remind us, look at history: You reap what you sow.