I wondered vaguely if this was when it would end, whether I would pull up tonight's darkness like a quilt and be dead and at peace evermore.

He was awarded the National Humanities Medal and the Abraham Lincoln Literary Award. William Raymond Manchester (April 1 1922 – June 1 2004) was an American author biographer and historian notable as the bestselling author of 18 books that have been translated into over 20 languages.