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David H. Donald
16quotes
David H. Donald
Full Name and Common Aliases
David Herbert Donald was an American historian and biographer.
Birth and Death Dates
He was born on July 27, 1920, in Greenville, South Carolina, and passed away on May 17, 2009.
Nationality and Profession(s)
Donald's nationality was American, and he worked as a professor of history at Brandeis University and a senior fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. He also taught at various other institutions, including Harvard University and Johns Hopkins University.
Early Life and Background
David Donald grew up in Greenville, South Carolina, where his family owned a small hardware store. His father was of Scottish descent, and his mother's ancestors were from England. Donald developed an early interest in history, particularly the American Civil War era. He attended Furman University for his undergraduate studies before going on to earn his master's degree at Oxford University.
Major Accomplishments
Donald's work as a historian focused primarily on the 19th and early 20th centuries. One of his notable achievements was writing biographies that provided new insights into the lives of influential Americans, such as Charles Sumner and Henry Adams. He also co-authored several books with other prominent historians.
Notable Works or Actions
Donald wrote numerous books and essays throughout his career. His most famous works include _Charles Sumner and the Rights of the Brave_, a Pulitzer Prize-winning biography that examined the life of abolitionist Senator Charles Sumner, and _Look Homeward: The Life of Thomas Wolfe_. He also published articles in prominent academic journals and contributed to various edited collections.
Impact and Legacy
As an historian and biographer, David Donald made significant contributions to our understanding of American history. His meticulous research and engaging writing style helped shape the field of historical biography. Donald's work continues to be widely read and studied by scholars and general readers alike.
Why They Are Widely Quoted or Remembered
David H. Donald is remembered for his in-depth biographies, which often shed new light on underappreciated figures from American history. His approach to biography emphasized the importance of understanding the complexities of individual lives within their broader historical context. As a result, Donald's work has had a lasting impact on the field of historical scholarship and continues to be widely quoted and remembered for its insights into America's past.
Quotes by David H. Donald
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The truth is that I already had written a good deal about Lincoln in a peripheral fashion, but I had always stayed away from the main subject.
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But I do agree that one of Lincoln's faults was his excessive loyalty to his subordinates - whether in the military or in the civil service.
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But added to those accomplishments, of course, there is the assassination, and Americans have a fascination with assassinations and their legacy.
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When I made the decision to go ahead with the project, I said I was going to try and write as if no other biography of Lincoln had yet been written.
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Well, it seems to me Lincoln, I suppose, is kind of a model of a particular sort of presidency, a presidency that first of all is elected by a minority of the votes.
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But having said all of that, that still doesn't account for a lot of the increase in popularity which stems, I think, from Lincoln's personal characteristics.
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Maybe I will write a memoir, perhaps I'll do some essays, or maybe I will write a mystery story.
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What I thought we ought to try to do in a book like this is to focus closely on Lincoln, himself, to see what he knew, how he knew it, how he came to make the decisions that he did, and how he implemented them.
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I was able to sit at Lincoln's side and see how he thought and how he acted, and how he felt about what was going on around him. I felt the pressures that were on him. You can see what people were writing to him, how they were nudging him.
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But I have tried to go over it very carefully, not merely what the evidence is, but with psychoanalysts and psychologists, and I think we're just about all agreed that Lincoln and Speed did not have a homosexual relationship.
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