With his white hair and Irish sweaters, reedy voice and reserved manner, his stately appearances on PBS, even the Cape Cod shack where he pecked out with four fingers every one of his books, his monuments, on a 1941 Royal typewriter he had purchased, secondhand, in 1965, David McCullough was the very picture of a historian. The genteel Pittsburgh native died at age 89 in 2022 as one of the bestselling historians and biographers in American history, recipient of 56 honorary degrees, the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award — twice each — and the Presidential Medal of Freedom, along with 120 other honors.