SOURCE: “Errand in the Wilderness,” in Times Literary Supplement, November 21, 1997, p. 3.

In the following review of A History of the American People, McDougall finds shortcomings and unanswered questions in Johnson's work, but concedes that his “zesty, irreverent narratives teach more history to more people than all the postmodernist theorists, highbrow critics and dons put together.”

Paul Johnson writes so many books—over thirty to date—so quickly, at such length, on such epic themes, that he invites condescension. Where great scholars of American history, for instance, may hesitate even in the autumn of life to harvest the whole field they have tended, Johnson sweeps in with a scythe, eyes alert for the choicest bits, hauls the crop to market, and moves on. The result is a lorry-load of rich wheat and annoying chaff, indifferently bundled. Still, one is obliged to remark on how well the big job was...