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David McCullough, a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer and historian, will discuss the importance and the joys of history during a lecture Monday at Baylor University’s Waco Hall.

McCullough, 83, will present the annual Beall-Russell Lecture in the Humanities, followed by a book signing. His lecture is titled “The Incomparable Advantage of Intellectual Curiosity.”

“The main thrust of my talk will be the importance of history,” McCullough told Waco Today. “Why history? Why do we bother with it? Why do we need to know it? Not only the essential need that it fills, particularly for leadership, but for joy, the pleasure, the fulfillment of our curiosity that it provides. How can people wave flags and talk about how patriotic they are and all that and not know a thing about history?”

McCullough won a Pulitzer Prize for his 1993 biography of Harry S. Truman, the 33rd president of the United States, and again for his 2002 biography of John Adams, the second president. HBO later adapted both biographies to film.