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Date Posted: 15:17:51 03/09/03 Sun
Author: Sam Kimpton
Subject: Re: Historian Stephen Ambrose dies
In reply to: Patrick Elie 's message, "Historian Stephen Ambrose dies" on 15:15:35 03/09/03 Sun

I am sorry to hear this as I would not wish for anyone to suffer from the insidious disease which killed Ambrose.

Just the same i feel there are a few facts which should not be forgotten about the man.

Here are a few items which might be worthy of consideration.

> -----FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE-----
>
> Stephen Ambrose: Distorting History
>
> Stephen Ambrose in his book, D-DAY June 6, 1944, THE
>CLIMACTIC BATTLE OF WORLD WAR II, penned several unsubstantiated comments
>demeaning the performance of the air crews of the Troop Carrier Command, US
>Army Air Force.
> Despite the readily accessable plethora of evidence in
>the official records relative to pre-D-Day training, especially galling and
>partially erroneous are his statement on page 198 that "The pilots were
>afraid. For most of the pilots of the Troop Carrier Command this was their
>first combat mission. They had not been trained for night flying, or flak
or
>bad weather, ....[New paragraph]: The possibility of a midair collision
was
>on every pilot's mind." (Underlined for this release.)
>
>In these all-inclusive, undocumented statements, Ambrose writing fifty
years
>after the fact, is completely at odds with reality. For example, D-Day
>briefings for the air crews, included the warning that absolutely no
evasion
>of flak was to be taken on the run into the drop zones. By totally damning
>their performance, Ambrose tars the reputations of thousands of troop
carrier
>personnel, both living and dead, while also casting a pall of doubt in the
>minds of countless other descendants of these honorable people.
>
> In addition, Ambrose,
whether
>inadvertently or willfully, impugned the military judgement of General
>Eisenhower. Would the General have entrusted the delivery of 16,000 elite
>parachute infantry to target areas in Normandy at night to air crews who
had
>"not been trained for night flying, or for flak or bad weather"?
>
> Since the publication of his book in 1994, some veterans of the
troop
>carrier community have written to the author pointing out his carelessly
>indifferent use of language and facts. To date, these objections have been
>ignored. As a world-wide recognized authority on World War II, historian
>Ambrose is morally obligated either to document from official sources the
>validity of his statements, or to correct them and publicly apologize to
the
>people he has so shamefully defamed.
> For further
>information, or for a packet containing the letters written by the
veterans,
>and varied official documents which clarify the role of the Troop Carrier
>Command on the D-Day mission, contact Michael N. Ingrisano Jr., e-mail
> (Ph: 703-356-553; or Randy Hils, e-mail
> (Ph: 850-894-0512).
>
>
>********************************-30-

February 3, 2002

More Ambrose Material Draws Scrutiny
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS


Filed at 4:51 p.m. ET

ST. LOUIS (AP) -- A history student says a paper she wrote three years ago identified improper use of source material in Stephen Ambrose's popular ``Undaunted Courage,'' adding to the list of books in which he is accused of failing to give proper credit.

At least six other books by the best-selling history writer have been questioned.

Lara Marks, a senior at the private Washington University, said she wrote the paper for a class on Lewis and Clark's exploration of the Louisiana Purchase, the subject of ``Undaunted Courage.''

The paper cited three passages in the best seller that are similar to earlier works, but are not noted in a footnote or surrounded by quotation marks, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Sunday.

In one of the passages, Ambrose wrote: ``A band of Sauks rode twice a year through a territory as big as an eastern state and claimed it as their own.''

That's similar to a section of ``Thomas Jefferson and the Stony Mountains: Exploring the West from Monticello,'' edited by Donald Jackson: ``A band of Sauks, say, rode twice a year through a tract as big as a couple of eastern states and claimed it as their own.''

A response to an e-mail the newspaper sent to Ambrose's office seeking comment read, in part, ``people use the word 'plagiarism' much too quickly.''

The other works under scrutiny are ``The Supreme Commander,'' ``Nothing Like It in the World,'' ``Citizen Soldiers,'' Vol. III of Ambrose's Richard Nixon trilogy, ``Crazy Horse and Custer,'' and ``The Wild Blue,'' his latest best seller.

While in St. Louis last week to deliver a speech, Ambrose admitted taking several sentences in his books from other authors, but said his footnotes adequately attributed the material.

``There are something like six or seven sentences in three or four of my books that are the sentences of other writers,'' Ambrose said. ``I know they are, and now reporters know they are, and now the whole world knows they are because I put footnotes behind those sentences and cited where I got this from. What I had failed to do -- and this was my fault, my mistake -- was to put quotation marks around those six or seven sentences.''

Ambrose also has blamed errors on his quick pace; he has published an average of more than a book a year since the mid-1990s.

Marks said her 12-page paper mentioned the three passages only briefly. Its overall theme suggested Ambrose made the narrative more exciting by using less than accurate reporting of the facts.



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January 30, 2002
Ambrose, Goodwin, Simon & Schuster Still Taking Heat

Did you think you'd heard the end of the copycat capers of Ambrose, Goodwin and the rest? Think again. Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin told TIME magazine that she is being more careful in keeping track of the material she pulls from other authors' works, the Associated Press said. She admitted that some material in her book The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys was lifted verbatim from other sources, explaining that she missed rechecking some of her notes when she put the text together. Now she says she is using a computer instead of making longhand notes.

But don't expect perfection. "In the end, I am still the same fallible person I was before I made the transition to the computer, and the process of building a lengthy work of history remains a complicated but honorable task," Goodwin wrote.

Slate criticized the apology, which appeared in the Jan. 28 edition of TIME, saying it was "maddeningly incomplete."

Goodwin wasn't the only historian making headlines this week. More ugly stories about Stephen Ambrose are emerging, the latest involving a veteran who sent his manuscript to Ambrose in 1995 to share his story and to seek advice on finding an agent or publisher, the Oregonian said Tuesday. According to Bob Weiss, Ambrose instead lifted material for his book, Citizen Soldier. Weiss said Ambrose admitted in a letter that he stole some of Weiss's passages for his book, but claimed he gave the veteran full credit. The credit, Weiss said, was less than accurate – and so were some of Ambrose's interpretations of Weiss's work. Weiss threatened to sue Ambrose, but the two eventually reached a "nonfinancial settlement."

Weiss finally found a publisher for his book, Enemy North, South, East, West, and he used some of Ambrose's compliments on the back cover and a description of himself that appeared in Citizen Soldier in his introduction, the Oregonian said. Ambrose was incensed and told Weiss to "go to hell."

Meanwhile, Slate took Simon & Schuster to task on the plagiarism issue. Ambrose and Goodwin had the same editor there, Alice Mayhew. Slate said Mayhew has a stellar reputation as an editor, but the question of plagiarism in five books by Ambrose and the volume by Goodwin may have her worried about keeping it. Slate didn't blame the editor for not knowing that the material was lifted, but it criticizes the publisher for its "Enron-like" response issued when the transgressions came to light.


On a personal note I would add that when I was in school We were told that plagerism is groudns for expulsion.

Again I am sorry to here of Mr Ambroses passing. None-the-less I can think of other scources who are, in my opinion, more worthy of my respect.

home.europa.com/~bessel/505thPIR/505th.html

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  • Re: Historian Stephen Ambrose dies -- Lee Bishop, 15:18:59 03/09/03 Sun
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