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I have read a number of books by this author finding that the titles of his books tend to draw you to buy the books that he has written, in some cases i have enjoyed what i was reading, but what i felt each with each book was his biased opinion of the Brits during WWII. Each book to me reads as thou the War was won by the U.S. Whats your opinion on him or his books?
Below is what i found on another site..
Stephen Ambrose in Perspective
As with many high profile figures, Professor Ambrose has been the subject of various controversies, even before the Plagiarism furor arose early in 2002. Those of you who have frequented this website since its inception know that much pro and con about his work have been aired here, and any shortcomings have been frankly discussed. Now that he has succumbed to lung cancer, we will remember the huge part he played in bringing WW2 back into the consciousness of the American public. As many lesser-known historians continue with their individual projects, the writing and research void left by Ambrose's passing WILL be filled. However it is unlikely that any individual history writer will receive the mass acclaim, sales, or accompanying wealth that Ambrose enjoyed. The Media and the publishing world touted him as an Icon, in a way that no other pop historian in our society has ever been.
Yes, many of us had issues with S.A., and I likened his mega success to the way Blockbuster Video puts many small, privately-owned video stores out of business. Many dedicated but obscure historians have continued their valuable research year in, year out, through the decades, only to have their work ignored by the mass public audience. Largely due to Ambrose's virtual monopoly on book sales in the popular history market, many lesser-known writers have not had a chance. This certainly has much to do with the resentment that many individuals have felt toward his huge success.
With great fame and repute comes great responsibility to convey the story as accurately as possible to the reading audience. Each individual military unit that Ambrose wrote about has complained about various inaccuracies in what he stated about them. Despite pleas to correct those mis-statements, Ambrose demonstrated a lack of willingness to make those errors right in subsequent editions of his work. As historians, we understand that all of us make mistakes, but this refusal to admit and correct errors also did little to endear Ambrose to many veterans or history writers. There was also a feeling that someone as big as he was in reputation, should never have made some of the more blatant errors he made. There was also, a perception that, with a team of knowledgable proofreaders, some of the more glaring mistakes would never have gotten into print in the first place.
Although Tom Hanks may have overstated the case by hailing Ambrose as 'The Greatest Historian of the 20th Century", somebody else recently wrote that Ambrose did more to educate the American public on WW2 than any author in the 20th Century. Whatever else can be said about him, that statement is certainly true. His books, along with Brokaw's and the film 'Saving Private Ryan', have done more than anything else to create the current wave of public interest in WW2. Those of us who carried the torch of WW2 research through decades of public indifference are at least indebted to all the above-named people and projects, for creating the current Renaissance of public interest in WW2.
Source: Mark Brando
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Originally Posted by Dave
