"I am a storyteller by training and inclination," writes the late Stephen Ambrose in To America, his final book. And what a storyteller. One of the most respected and popular historians of his era, Ambrose had a passion for making the events of the past both relevant and entertaining. In these pages, he touches on many of the subjects that he devoted his career to, including presidents Eisenhower and Nixon, the journey of Lewis and Clark, the building of the transcontinental railroad, and the citizen soldiers of World War II. He also writes about his own personal story and his role as a historian. In detailing a family camping trip to Wounded Knee (an outing which directly led to his dual biography of Crazy Horse and George Armstrong Custer) or offering tips on vivid historical writing (keep your narration in chronological order; keep the reader guessing; and never use the passive voice), he shares what it is like to reflect upon the triumphs and mistakes of the past and why it is so important to pass those stories on to the next generation.

In this brief yet satisfying book, Ambrose moves seamlessly from one topic to the next with contagious enthusiasm and unapologetic optimism. Along the way he points out the inherent absurdity of political correctness, and even takes himself to task for past biases and for sometimes failing to consider his subjects within the context of their own times and not his own. He does not shy away from writing about America's sins, both past and present, but Ambrose's undying faith in his country and his fellow citizens is inspiring. --Shawn Carkonen


From 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 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From AudioFile
Popular historian Stephen E. Ambrose, who died last year at age 66, shares his views on the evolution of the United States and on his own life. He notes that U.S. history is full of contradictions, starting with Thomas Jefferson, who held slaves but inspired the eventual end of slavery through his eloquent writings. Ultimately Ambrose is optimistic about our nation's progress. Even in his own life, he finds contradictions, recalling his own failure to break up a campus men's club and reconciling it with his later support for women's rights. Jeffrey DeMunn reads Ambrose's words with a personal tone that makes you forget that the voice you're hearing isn't Ambrose's. J.A.S. © AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine


From Booklist
Slaveholders, Indian oppressors, imperialists--such epithets are now used to condemn American presidents who were once admired. Ambrose describes his encounters with this tendency among his students, and earlier among university professors when he was a graduate student in the 1950s. Such memories of his career have prompted Ambrose to offer here essays on Jefferson, Washington, Jackson, Grant, and Theodore Roosevelt, which serve as a prelude to a retrospective of his own life. He structures it around his two dozen works of history, remarking that one of them changed his life. Dwight Eisenhower asked Ambrose to edit his papers after reading one of his essays and then cooperated with Ambrose on his biography of Ike. That punched Ambrose's ticket to prominence, which only escalated after his string of 1990s best-sellers. Fans of superstars in any field thirst after personal details about them, and Ambrose's revelations--he describes an episode of heckling President Richard Nixon--may surprise his following, who might presume he is a superpatriotic conservative. With exceptions, such as silence about a recent accusation of plagiarism, Ambrose reveals his beliefs and attitudes in this reflective ramble. Gilbert Taylor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Review
Ken Burns Stephen Ambrose is that rare breed: an historian with true passion for his subjects.

Chicago Sun-Times An exciting classroom lecture by a well-beloved teacher.

The Knoxville News-Sentinel An excellent read...a must for history fans....To America is a love letter to the nation.


Review
Jeff Guinn Fort Worth Star-Telegram Stunning....Stephen Ambrose should be assigned a special, honored place among modern historians....All of us who write or read history are in his debt.


Review
Jeff Guinn Fort Worth Star-Telegram Stunning....Stephen Ambrose should be assigned a special, honored place among modern historians....All of us who write or read history are in his debt.


Book Description
Completed shortly before Ambrose's untimely death, To America is a very personal look at our nation's history through the eyes of one of the twentieth century's most influential historians. Ambrose roams the country's history, praising the men and women who made it exceptional. He considers Jefferson and Washington, who were progressive thinkers (while living a contradiction as slaveholders), and celebrates Lincoln and Roosevelt. He recounts Andrew Jackson's stunning defeat of a superior British force in the battle of New Orleans with a ragtag army in the War of 1812. He brings to life Lewis and Clark's grueling journey across the wilderness and the building of the railroad that joined the nation coast to coast. Taking swings at political correctness, as well as his own early biases, Ambrose grapples with the country's historic sins of racism; its ill treatment of Native Americans; and its tragic errors such as the war in Vietnam, which he ardently opposed. He contrasts the modern presidencies of Eisenhower, Kennedy, Nixon, and Johnson. He considers women's and civil rights, immigration, philanthropy, and nation building. Most powerfully, in this final volume, Ambrose offers an accolade to the historian's mighty calling.


Download Description
In To America, Stephen E. Ambrose, one of the country's most influential historians, 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. To America is an instant classic for all those interested in history, patriotism, and the love of writing.


About the Author
Stephen E. Ambrose wrote more than twenty-five works of history, including Undaunted Courage, D-Day, Citizen Soldiers, Nothing Like It in the World, and Band of Brothers as well as multivolume biographies of Presidents Eisenhower and Nixon. He was founder of the Eisenhower Center, president of the National D-Day Museum in New Orleans, and recipient of a National Humanities Award in 1999 as well as the Distinguished Civilian Service Medal from the Department of Defense in 2000. He died in 2002.

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.

AudioFile