Brave Companions: Portraits In History

This is a compendium of essays about the pioneers in various fields, and people that he otherwise admires. They include the pioneers in aviation, exploration, bridge construction (The Brooklyn Bridge), and a man who is fighting the giant coal companies in Appalachia. AS usual, his writing is fluid and simple but exquisite.

This book doesn't fit the mold but instead provides a wide variety of military stories and encounters, ranging from a memoir of a Japanese kamikaze pilot to the role of horses in military encounters. There are 51 different accounts, each taking about 20-25 minutes to read. It's a nice book to pick up and read for an hour, and you can come back to it a month later and not miss anything. I've learned a lot from top authors/historians, and the range of topics makes it an interesting read.

Writing good as expected from David McCullough, but a bit disjointed. It was a collections of stories and articles that he has written at previous occasions that have been gathered together. Interesting, but as good as his other books.

The different people featured in this book were certainly diverse. Most interesting to me was the saga of the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge. Overall I found several of McCullough's other books to be much more interesting.

Mr. McCullough is a masterful author and story teller of American history. I have read most all of his books and with each one learn so much about our history and the sacrifices made by so many for our country and our freedom. I recommend this book for everyone but especially our youth. They will learn so much more from this book and all the books written by Mr. McCullough than they will ever learn in our schools.

I like the book and its variety of stories. McCullough is an excellent historical writer. If you have not read one of his books this is a good sample of not only different events in history, but also his writing style.

Really interesting way to relay short, but impactful impressions different people made upon Mr. McCullough while he was researching different books. Great to pick up and read one or two and then do it again a few days later.

David McCullough is one of our most outstanding historians and also a magnificent story teller. This outstanding collection of stories as seen through the eyes of Mr. McCullough make for fascinating reading. A must read!

Thoroughly enjoyable compendium of people places and events that have made the USA what it is today. I recommend this book for those who appreciate the randomness yet significance of history and its participants.

David McCullough writes of several people in short story fashion and how they became part of the fabric, in some cases relatively unknown, of our world. I think this author will one day be written about as a great American author of the 20/21st century. This book is an easy read and I learned a lot reading it. Very informative in a narrative style.

This book describes some interesting people, however, the author's last few chapter's appear dated. I have read almost all of McCullough's books, and this is the worst.

Since I loved most of his books, this book was a disappointment.

I have read all but one of David McCullough books. I have enjoyed each of them. I found this book showed a romantic fantasy of our nation's capital. That one chapter disappointed. He failed to recognize why people who work and live in DC are so eager to escape. To leave the seat of party first politics and the rush to socialize our way of life. The corruption of DC is such a great failure of our founding fathers hopes and dreams would move any patriot to require time away from the deadly poison of powers grasp and the withering of the American dream. It is so unpopular that we currently have Donald Trump gaining support. Washington insiders no longer understand us. In contrast to the rest of this well written book poor David lost his way in the monuments and history of our capital. Your future cries for an outside the beltway vision of freedom.

Another excellent McCullough book portraying famous and not so famous individuals concentrating on their life stories. Even though there are exact differences, the author has weaved the stories to show some common elements of bravery. The telling of these special people show extensive research in the written word, but also the physical presence in some places in order to produce a find historical non-fiction.

David McCullough never fails to please with his writing style, his subject matter, and the obvious regard he has for his subjects. Long may he continue to write such interesting books that teach history as well.

McCullough is the master at finding under-appreciated people with outsized impacts on the course of American history. Some of his subjects in this small compendium of short biographic essays became the centerpieces of later McCullough's full-length books. Some of the lesser-known people in Brave Companions became the author's friends, and he and we are the better for it.

A small book that delivers more than promised by the reviewers. Even the introduction is enjoyable. Each chapter introduces a person that deserves to be remembered; most of whom, would indeed, be a wonderful companion. Good history, good read-aloud book for families.

This book provided stories and insights I would not have know or had without. Each chapter had me captured. I was surprised at how many profound ideas and perceptions I had from reading this book. This was much more than some stories about great people.