Opening paragraphs.............

History, I like to think, is a larger way of looking at life.  It is a source of strength, of inspiration.  It is about who we are and what we stand for and is essential to our understanding of what our own role should be in our time.  History, as can't be said too often, is human.  It is about people, and they speak to us across the years.

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