Talk:Stephen Ambrose

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From the article:

Ambrose was born in Decatur, Illinois

According to http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/amb0bio-1, Ambrose was born in Lovington, Illinois. If this is the case, the information in the biography section is inaccurate. (Apologies if I am am adding this comment in a way that is inappropriate; if so, by all means rectify this text...) --Jdk

user:H.J. wrote:

Stephen Ambrose is known as the "Eisenhower Apologist".

I would like to see a source for this. If Ambrose has a reputation as an apologist, then several people (other than you and me) should be calling him that. Please don't misunderstand. I am just as much against military crime as you are. I studied such incidents as the My Lai massacre, carried out by American soldiers in Vietnam and personally interviewed a US marine sniper who (sorry, I can't go on, I'm liable to drip tears on the keyboard or throw it across the room!)... Ed Poor

Maveric took it out, but then I overwrote him after edit conflict with much more complete detail on Ambrose. As close as I've come to violating wiki etiquette. Ortolan88 12:45 Jul 30, 2002 (PDT)
Er? Edit conflicts happen -- in this case all I did is delete the same sentence you replaced with a few nice paragraphs. Good job BTW. --mav

Ed, I heard the mention of Eisenhower apologist on an interview, probably PBS, because I listened/listen to Mc Neill (Lehrer) quite a bit. I cannot recall details right now. If I do, I will put it back in. user:H.J.

user:H.J. -- do you know what the word apologist means? It does not mean, as you seem to think, someone who excuses another -- classically (and in this sense) an apology is simply a reasoned explanation and clarification of an issue. Please try to consider your sources before polluting the site. Do you EVER try to read reviews and ask yourself about motives, etc., of the author? I've recommended this article on reading sources to you several times. It really would greatly help your ever-dwindling credibility if you started to follow some of its precepts, which most of us take for granted. JHK

From the article:

"Ambrose was chosen by Eisenhower as his biographer because Ike..."

Who is Ike? Please don't use terms or names which are not understood outside the US (unless you give a link). -- Tarquin 21:57 Oct 14, 2002 (UTC)

Ike is Eisenhower's nickname. -- Zoe
Thanks. I've removed "ike" from the article -- Tarquin
Anyone interested in Anglo-American Second World War military history should be familiar with the use of Ike for Eisenhower. It would be better for the article to have had some such mention.

Contents

[edit] POV?

I have eliminated some of the POV in this article, after being disturbed to see so much "opinion" supported by so few references. I also do not thing this bio is the place to insert personal book reviews -- that can be done at the book level, if necessary. --AllanJ 08:18, 17 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Incorrect "Eisenhower Center"

Stephen Ambrose was the founder of the Eisenhower Center for American Studies at the University of New Orleans, not the Eisenhower Library in Kansas, to which the page is linked. The Eisenhower Center doesn't have a web page, as it no longer exists. After Ambrose, the historian Douglas Brinkley took over as director of the Eisenhower Center, but when he left to join the faculty of Tulane, the center, which held the archives of oral histories of veterans of D-Day and the Battle of the Bulge that Ambrose drew on for his books, was eventually folded into the National D-Day Museum.

[edit] Pegasus Bridge

The link to Pegasus Bridge in the book list is linked to the article on the actual bridge, and not to article on the book, I don't think one exists. -- 18:00, Wednesday November 8, 2006 (UTC)

Quite right. I'd advocate even a dead link to the non existent page, unless someone wants to write an article about the book.. Hmm, I'll think about it! Sle 22:19, 21 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] "Criticism" section

This section needs to be rewritten. The book "Pegasus bridge", focuses entirely on the British contribution to D-day (And ultimately the winning of the war), to the point of clearly recognising in the book that without the contribution they made there that morning, the invasion would have been unsuccessful. I'm English and am irritated to by the tendency of some Americans to bias things their way, but Mr Ambrose is NOT guilty of this. I suggest the author expand their reading beyond Band of Brothers. Sle 22:28, 21 November 2006 (UTC)

I agree so I at least took out the "However, his WWII books focused almost exclusively on the contributions of the US military, leaving him open to criticism that his work lacks balance. " Since he obviously did write a non US book. Also without sound to personal opinion. Since when is it a criticism for a American Historian to write about Americans? I doubt we could go to another nationalities Historian authors page and write criticism that they didn't include other nationalities.--63.163.213.245 02:56, 6 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Plagiarism Incident

Is the source for this section correct? As it is the day after his death. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 83.104.128.197 (talk) 11:52, 24 December 2006 (UTC).

A George Mason University source for the plagiarism has been added.--Buckboard 07:40, 24 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] American Bias

This does come over strongly in The Victors. We have two quotes of British coxswains needing US officers to brandish revolvers at them to get them to take the landing craft close enough to shore. But the discussion of the 'floatable' tanks being swamped with water didn't feel it was appropriate to mention that this was because their American coxswains also refused to get close enough to shore before expecting the tanks to leave the boats.

Even worse was his mention of the T-34 tank, where he states that it was probably the best tank of the war, and then adds that it was American designed. I guess a bit like the P-51 was British designed? Or Sikorsky helicopters are Russian-designed?

The blurb on the book describes it as the story of the Allies between D-Day and VE-day. 'Allies', in this context, means a description of the British & Canadians mainly to play down their abilities & efforts, and a near-complete omission of the Russians.

(The quote on the T-34 was in a section describing the technical weakness of the Sherman tank against the Panther & Tiger, but then adding that the majority of the German tanks were Mk IVs, and that the Sherman was a better tank than the Panther/Tiger/Mk IV in open country.)

On the plus side, having read Pegasus Bridge before The Victors I could skip large chunks of the early part of the book, since it was word-for-word from Pegasus Bridge. Pegasus Bridge does offset his American bias, but that may have been because this was an aspect of history that could not have been rewritten to claim that the Americans were responsible for that victory. However, it also came across that he did seem genuinely respectful of, even fond of, the characters, German, French & British, that he had interviewed for the book.Bendel boy 13:05, 19 February 2007 (UTC)

World at War - shows he is was a rounded historian thirty-five years ago. 86.149.209.189 23:09, 8 May 2007 (UTC)

Ummm...the P-51 *was* American-designed (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P-51_Mustang). Sikorsky helicopters *are* American-designed (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikorsky_Helicopter). I guess Steven Ambrose's work doesn't have enough "Anti-American Bias" for your taste. --- —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.18.91.121 (talk) 18:10, 10 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Vandalism

In the first paragraph of biographical information, someone had put this:

He got an avalanche from Alex Taylor

As near as I can figure, in this context an avalanche is a sexual act, Alex Taylor is a porn star, who wasn't even born around the time Stephen Ambrose graduated from High School. Can anyone think of any other (legitimate) meaning these words might have?

Mr.aluminumsiding 01:42, 13 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] What is with him in World at War

Does he have an actual speech impediment or is he being pretentious? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.63.86.153 (talk) 00:02, 23 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Educational Biography

If someone who has the information on where Ambrose went to school and, generally, his academic development as a young historian, the article would be greatly enhanced.

Timothy McCallister 02:09, 25 July 2007 (UTC)