David Hackett Fischer
David Hackett Fischer is University Professor and Earl Warren Professor of History emeritus at Brandeis University. His major works have tackled everything from large macroeconomic and cultural trends (Albion's Seed, The Great Wave) to narrative histories of significant events (Paul Revere's Ride, Washington's Crossing) to explorations of historiography (Historians' Fallacies, in which he coined the term Historian's fallacy).
He is best known for his major study, Albion's Seed, which argued that core aspects of American culture stem from several different British folkways and regional cultures, and the Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington's Crossing, a narrative of George Washington's leadership of the Continental Army during the winter of 1776-1777 during the American Revolutionary War.
“Americans tended to think of war as something that had to be done from time to time, for a particular purpose or goal. They fought not for the sake of fighting but for the sake of winning.”
“Until Washington crossed the Delaware, the triumph of the old order seemed inevitable. Thereafter, things would never be the same again.”
“Fiddlesticks!” Rall replied. “These clodhoppers will not attack us, and should they do so, we will simply fall on them and rout them.”58 (on describing that they had nothing to fear from the COlonists of New Jersey before the night of December 25, 1776; when Washington and his men crossed the Deleware.)”