The Next Niall Ferguson

Joshua's father is a trial attorney and his mother is an accountant. Joshua has a younger sister and a younger brother, both of whom are still in high school. Joshua's younger brother is very athletic, and he is on the high school football and basketball teams. I have met Joshua's family, as his entire family traveled from Oklahoma to Washington to attend his graduation and mine.

Joshua's father was married once before, and Joshua has one half-sister and two half-brothers, all of whom live in Florida. I have never met Joshua's half-siblings.

Two years ago, Joshua and his two half-brothers received small legacies, and they used the money to travel to Turkey for two months. They visited not only the obvious attractions in the Western half of the country but the seldom-visited Eastern half of Turkey, too. They had an extraordinary journey, and I have read Joshua's Turkey journal and viewed his photographs many times. Alas, Joshua has not seen his half-brothers since that wonderful Turkey trip.

One of Joshua's half-brothers is a restaurant manager and the other is a gemologist. Joshua's half-sister is a dance instructor.

Joshua's undergraduate major was history. He chose American University because its history department has a renowned history faculty. Joshua is interested primarily in European history, from the Middle Ages to the present. Josh has an especial fascination with the history and politics of Britain, France and Germany.

Josh has highly-developed writing skills, and he hopes to become an historian. His writing is evocative and stirring, and he can assemble facts and analyses into a compelling narrative. Perhaps he will be the next Niall Ferguson. I suspect that something like that is his destiny.