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David McCullough: His next book is about Paris (interview)

David McCullough remembers when he decided history might be more than just a class in school.
He was 14 or 15 when a family in his Point Breeze neighborhood invited him along on a spring break trip to Charlottesville and Williamsburg, Va.,

"It absolutely changed my life," said McCullough, the featured guest Friday at Pittsburgh 250 History Makers Gala at the Senator John Heinz History Center. "I know that's when my interest in history began."

Friday afternoon, McCullough, 74, sat down at the Westin Convention Center for a wide-ranging interview with a group of reporters. He spoke fondly of growing up on Glen Arden Drive in Point Breeze -- "it looks exactly the same" -- and how he enjoys coming back to Pittsburgh two or three times year to visit family.

"Sometimes it's because of my work," he said, "but really, it's because it's my hometown and I love it."
Among the topics McCullough discussed:

• His next book: "It's about Americans in Paris over a 100 years. It's an idea I've had for a long time, and I've wanted to do it for a long time, and I'm having the best experience imaginable.

• How Pittsburgh figures into his work: "Very nice people will come up to me and say 'I think it's wonderful how you work Pittsburgh into all of your books.' And I have to explain I'm not working Pittsburgh into my books, Pittsburgh is part of history. It comes up all the time."...
Read entire article at http://www.pittsburghlive.com