Forrest McDonald on C-Span

While I was at UA, I was fortunate enough to take one of Dr. Forrest McDonald's American History classes. Thanks to the Honors Program and its early registration policy, I probably took a slot that otherwise would otherwise have been filled by a History major, but I don't feel the least bit guilty for it. The opportunity to take a class from Dr. McDonald was one that just I just couldn't pass up.

As a researcher, writer, and teacher, Dr. McDonald sets the standard. He ripped Charles A. Beards revisionist An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States to shreds in We the People: The Economic Origins of the Constitution. His Novus Ordo Seclorum: The Intellectual Origins of the Constitution was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 1986 and was praised by National Review as "A masterpiece. McDonald's status as an interpreter of the Constitution is unequalled - magisterial." He wrote what many consider to be the definitive biography of Alexander Hamilton. His latest book is Recovering the Past (purchase it at Amazon.com for as little as $15.72), which was recently reviewed in the Wall Street Journal. The list of Dr. McDonald's accomplishments goes on and on. (He also recently wrote a review of Joseph Ellis's His Excellency: George Washington, for the New York Times.)

Though he's a conservative, he's certainly not a prude. Take this excerpt from an interview with The American Enterprise magazine:

TAE: Do you really write your books in the nude?

McDONALD: Yeah. Brian Lamb [of C-SPAN] asked, “If I watched you write, what would I see?” I started to giggle. I said you’d see me naked. We live out in the country; for years they didn’t even read the electric meter, because they couldn’t find it. Total isolation, and it gets very hot.

So, Forry is a bit eccentric.

Anyway, I was flipping through channels at a friend's house the other day, and there was Dr. McDonald. Thankfully, he was not in the process of writing a book, but rather was being interviewed about his career and writings. I wasn't able to watch much of the interview, but I see that you can buy it from C-Span for $39.95. Time to get the debit card out.

Update: Here's a link to the program online.