Obit: Author/Historian Steven Ambrose (Oct 2002)

Subject: Obit: Author/Historian Steven Ambrose
From: GUEST,Taliesn
Date: 13 Oct 02 - 12:02 PM

Thanks again to C-Span some of us got an immediate in-depth reminder of the breadth of this author's contribution especially to our current knowledge of the Euro-theatre of WWII.
Upon the news of his passing due to lung cancer ( damn that demon tobacco has taken another ) C-span was able to respond by a complete rebroadcast of his hour long "Booknotes" interview with C-span creator Brian Lamb mostly covering the publication of his 13-year project book on D-Day designed to conincide with the 50th anniversary.

My favorite story of his was his taking his two grown sons on a cross-country trek retracing the Lewis & Clark expedition in order to incorporate his "personal" experiencesin the writing of his book " Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West".

And for those with interst , and whom have cable access to C-Span2 , they will be rebroadcasting the 3-hour "In-depth Authors" episode where they sit down with Steen Ambrose and cover all of his published works ( 1st aired either this year or in 2001 ).

His "D-Day" page is a good jump-off for his books
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/068480137X/ref=pd_sim_books/103-3610698-6033466?v=glance

Subject: RE: Obit: Author/Historian Steven Ambrose
From: GUEST,Gern
Date: 13 Oct 02 - 04:08 PM

Sorry to hear of this loss, as I am for any of the thousands whom tobacco will kill this year. I enjoyed the Lewis and Clark chronicles and especially enjoyed Citizen Soldiers. For an author so focused on generals and leaders, this book and others rightly centered on the experiences of the grunts thru their own words. I believe his D-Day museum in New Orleans maintains this focus on the little guy. My father spent over 100 days on the front in the Battle of the Bulge, and this book told me a lot that my father never discussed. But as a writer and former teacher, I was grieved by the controversies that surrounded Ambrose's works in the last few years. Seems that many of his quotes were lifted without attribution from other sources. Ambrose quickly blamed his research staff for the errors -- one reason why the best historians (Shelby Foote, for one) do all the legwork themselves. These mistakes happen easily, but they cheapen the work and cast doubt on the author's accomplishments. Without smoothing over these criticisms, I still appreciate Ambrose's work and regret his passing.