David McCullough partners with Mormon Tabernacle Choir for annual Christmas concert

Historian and author David McCullough was a boy of 8, growing up in Pittsburgh, when Pearl Harbor was bombed and the United States entered World War II.

In 1942, he became a Junior Commando, and went door-to-door with his wagon to collect scrap iron. "We had air-raid drills; my father listened to the radio every night. It was very real."

The Pittsburgh steel mills were going full blast, day and night, lighting up the sky, as they increased output of steel for the war effort. "We would look at that red light at night, and it meant we were doing our part to help win the war."

That redness, shinning in the dark, became an indelible symbol of hope. So, when the opportunity came for McCullough to perform at the annual Christmas concert with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, it is perhaps no surprise that he chose to tell a story connected with the American carol "O Little Town of Bethlehem" where "in thy dark street shineth the everlasting light," and an event that happened during World War II.

As has become a tradition with the annual Christmas concert, that narration has not only been released on DVD, but also was turned into a book, "In The Dark Streets Shineth: A 1941 Christmas Eve Story" (Deseret Book, $19.99).

The book includes McCullough's text, a DVD of that portion of the Christmas concert, wartime photos and other historic snippets.

McCullough is very pleased with how it turned out. "They did a beautiful job," he said in a telephone chat from his Maine home. And if you notice that the title uses a "the" instead of the "thy" from the song; that is deliberate, he said. The book's message "is not just part of the old times. It is still part of our vision today. It is a reminder that it is still better to light one candle, that it is still possible to find light for our dark streets."

The story tells of a Christmas Eve visit to America in 1941 by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. On that visit, Churchill heard "O Little Town of Bethlehem" for the first time, and it proved to be an inspiration in a dark time.

"That was one of the darkest times in world civilization," said McCullough. "Half our navy had been destroyed. We were training recruits with wooden rifles because we didn't have adequate weapons. England was on her last legs, and we were fighting one of the worst totalitarian regimes of all time."