I could not do what I do without the kindness, consideration, resourcefulness and work of librarians, particularly in public libraries... What started me writing history happened because of some curiosity that I had about some photographs I'd seen in the Library of Congress.

Nothing ever invented provides such sustenance, such infinite reward for time spent, as a good book.

My wife, the star I steer by.

First of all, you can make the argument that there's no such thing as the past. Nobody lived in the past.

In time I began to understand that it's when you start writing that you really find out what you don't know and need to know.

I am adamant that we must not cut back on funding of the teaching of the arts in the schools: music, painting, theater, dance, all of it. The great thing about the arts is that the only way you learn how to do it is by doing it.

Home is really where education does begin.