Tuesday, January 10, 2012

The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris by David McCullough

Reviewed by Cassandra, Librarian at Mary Jacobs Library

David McCullough cannot seem to go wrong regarding his writing topics. The Greater Journey is part travel, biography and history that catapults the reader across the pond to Paris as we learn about America's greatest artists, politicians, writers, physicians and thinkers.

We follow known figures such as James Fenimore Cooper, Samuel Morse, Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., Mary Cassat, Elizabeth Blackwell, Harriet Beecher-Stowe, Whistler, William Wells Brown and Augustus Saint-Gaudens as they experience life changing adventures that ultimately played a vital role in transforming the course of US history.

I have always enjoyed David McCullough's books and this one is no different. McCullough delivers miniature biographies of obscure and well known Americans to produce a colorful parade of Victorian-era American travelers and their life-changing experiences in Paris. The audio book, read by Edward Herrman and David McCullough, was very well done and I once again found myself driving circles around my house in order to finish a chapter.