In one of his last newsletters, Mike Ranney wrote: "In thinking back on the days of Easy Company, I'm treasuring my remark to a grandson who asked, 'Grandpa, were you a hero in the war?' No,'" I answered, 'but I served in a company of heroes.

When Hitler declared war on the United States, he was betting that German soldiers, raised up in the Hitler Youth, would always out fight American soldiers, brought up in the Boy Scouts. He lost that bet. The Boy Scouts had been taught how to figure their way out of their own problems.

I've always tried to be fair to my subjects. That's easy when they are as likable and admirable as Lewis and Clark, or Eisenhower.

The American Constitution is the greatest governing document, and at some 7,000 words, just about the shortest.

I'm no politician. I'm an historian who has learned through a lifetime of studying that nothing in the world beats universal education.

The number one secret of being a successful writer is this: marry an English major.

American is the first democratic nation-state.