FROM OUR EDITORS

The Barnes & Noble Review
Upon his untimely death in October 2002, Stephen Ambrose was the nation's most popular historian. The author of books such as Band of Brothers, Nothing like it in the World, and Undaunted Courage, he produced an unparalleled string of bestsellers at a time when Americans were rediscovering history.

In this relatively slim volume that, nevertheless, covers a lot of ground, Ambrose looks back on his own career -- reviewing the historical subjects he has treated, from Crazy Horse and Custer to Eisenhower and Nixon, and examining how his opinions may have changed over the years. He also takes a long, loving look at the United States and identifies the intangible quality that differentiates it from other nations: the indomitable American spirit that has pulled the country through in difficult times.

Ambrose's history, born of optimism and reassurance, eloquently expresses the sentiments and values of mainstream America. In his last chapter, he expresses the view that the nation's foes are extremists who place no value on human life. Deeply committed to his belief that the American spirit has provided the strength to defeat past enemies and to "make the world a better place," he assures us that "it will see us through the future." A comforting message indeed, from a beloved writer. Katherine Hottinger

FROM THE PUBLISHER

"In To America, Stephen E. Ambrose reflects on his long career as an American historian and explains what an historian's job is all about. He celebrates America's spirit, which has carried us so far. He confronts its failures and struggles. As always in his much acclaimed work, Ambrose brings alive the men and women, famous and not, who have peopled our history and made the United States a model for the world." "Taking a few swings at today's political correctness, as well as his own early biases, Ambrose grapples with the country's historic sins of racism, its neglect and ill treatment of Native Americans, and its tragic errors (such as the war in Vietnam, which he ardently opposed on campus, where he was a professor). He reflects on some of the country's early founders who were progressive thinkers while living a contradiction as slaveholders, great men such as Washington and Jefferson. He contemplates the genius of Andrew Jackson's defeat of a vastly superior British force with a ragtag army in the War of 1812. He describes the grueling journey that Lewis and Clark made to open up the country, and the building of the railroad that joined it and produced great riches for a few barons." Ambrose explains the misunderstood presidency of Ulysses S. Grant, records the country's assumption of world power under the leadership of Theodore Roosevelt, and extols its heroic victory of World War II. He writes about women's rights and civil rights and immigration, founding museums, and nation-building. He contrasts the presidencies of Dwight Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, and Lyndon B. Johnson. Throughout, Ambrose celebrates the unflappable American spirit.

FROM THE CRITICS

Book Magazine - Terry Teachout

Ambrose died in October, just as his last book, an informal, almost chatty quasi-memoir, was going to press. In it, the author of D-Day and Band of Brothers talks about what he wrote, why he wrote it and how he changed along the way. He writes candidly about his evolution from an antiwar academic leftist into something like (but not quite) a conservative, and his simultaneous transformation from a relatively obscure Eisenhower biographer into a titan of the bestseller lists. Along the way he lets fly with some startling bursts of political incorrectness: "It is easy today to sit back and criticize the United States for its treatment of the Indians, or the individual settlers and frontiersmen for what they did to the Native Americans, but for them the choices were to go back to where they came from or to go forward and seize what they wanted or needed." Alas, Ambrose says nothing about the charges of plagiarism that darkened his final months, or the widespread feeling among colleagues that his work became less serious as it grew more popular. Instead, the flag-waving historian tells a story that sums him up well: "In 1996 I taught a course on World War II at the University of Wisconsin ... [and] a young woman student came up to me to say, 'You are the first professor I've had in four years in Madison to teach me the meaning and value of patriotism.' I like to think that Ike would have nodded his approval." Very likely.

Publishers Weekly

Before his recent, untimely death from cancer, Ambrose seemed to feel he had reached that age when a historian should write a memoir, which means writing yet another history book but replacing footnotes and analysis with anecdotes and opinions. Ambrose castigates the slave-holding founders of American liberty, celebrates the heroes of the slighted Battle of New Orleans and argues that white settlers treated Native Americans no worse than the tribes treated one another. On he goes, damning and praising, through the Vietnam War (which he firmly opposed), appending personal observations on racism, immigration, women's rights and America's nation-building mission. Halfway through, he pauses to recount his development as a historian and writer, from his master's thesis and his biographies of Eisenhower and Nixon to his more recent, bestselling books Undaunted Courage, Nothing Like It in the World and numerous titles on WWII. This personal narrative, dropped into the middle of the book, with revelations about his family life and encounters with famous war veterans, is what Ambrose fans really want to read. It is a pity that Ambrose (or his editors) decided to structure his ruminations and reflections according to historical chronology, because readers looking for his life story will have to take notes and write it themselves. In the process, Ambrose apparently hopes, they will learn what he claims the study of other men's lives has taught him: a broad-minded sympathy that acknowledges an individual's flaws yet focuses on positive achievements. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

This collection of essays by the late Ambrose covers such diverse topics as the administration of U.S. Grant, Thomas Jefferson and slavery, the War in the Pacific, and Vietnam. He writes articulately and with an understated fervor yet in a way that appeals to the world outside of academia. In the introduction that Ambrose reads, one can hear something of the illness that claimed his life. Jeffrey DeMunn narrates with somewhat more expression than one might expect for such a collection; his delivery is clear and easy to follow. Recommended where the author's works are in demand.-Michael T. Fein, Central Virginia Community Coll., Lynchburg Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

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