The Louis L'Amour conference room on the 14th floor of the Random House Building was surprisingly bereft of company folk - instead, Ron and I joined a Bookspan personnel such as SVP of Corporate Communications Sue Geramian and SVP Publishing Director Carole Baron (with extra bodies provided by Simon & Schuster, most notably publisher David Rosenthal) to fete 1776 author David McCullough for winning the 2nd annual award given by the American Compass Book Club, Bookspan's conservative imprint. After a brief mingle that included chocolate covered strawberries and other refreshments, the crowd assembled to hear McCullough in conversation with ACBC editor-in-chief Brad Miner about the impetus for 1776, why teachers are vital to not only the education of young people but in promoting the necessity of knowing one's history, and ways that historical knowledge can be improved (a mandatory college course in the Constitution was one of McCullough's many suggestions.) The Q&A offered a glimpse of the author's formidable speaking abilities, honed through many appearances on the university lecture circuit, but most of all it showed McCullough's passion for his subject, for readers and for the future - making for one of the more inspiring afternoons in recent memory.