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Funny thing, Harry Williams was a much better writer than Hesseltine, but Hesseltine was the better teacher of writing. We graduate students once asked him: "How can you demand so much from us when your own books are not all that well written," as we confronted him with a review of one of his books that praised his research and historical understanding but deplored his writing. Hesseltine laughed and replied, "My dear boys, You have a better teacher than I did." From 1960 to 1995 I was a full-time teacher (University of New Orleans, Rutgers, Kansas State, Naval War College, U.C. Berkeley, a number of European schools, among others), something that has been invaluable to my writing. There is nothing like standing before 50 students at 8 a.m. to start talking about an event that occurred 100 years ago, because the look on their faces is a challenge -- "lets see you keep me awake." You learn what works and what doesn't in a hurry. Teaching and writing are one to me -- in each case I am telling a story. As I sit at my computer, or stand at the podium, I think of myself as sitting around the campfire after a day on the trail, telling stories that I hope will have the members of the audience, or the readers, leaning forward just a bit, wanting to know what happens next.   |
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