Editing Stephen E. Ambrose

{{Short description|American historian and writer (1936–2002)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2024}}
{{Infobox writer <!-- for more information see [[:Template:Infobox writer/doc]] -->
| image            = Stephen Ambrose.jpg
| caption          = Ambrose in August 2001
| pseudonym        = 
| birth_name       = Stephen Edward Ambrose
| birth_date       = {{Birth date|1936|1|10|mf=y}}
| birth_place      = [[Lovington, Illinois]], U.S.
| death_date       = {{Death date and age|2002|10|13|1936|1|10}}
| death_place      = [[Bay St. Louis, Mississippi]], U.S.
| occupation       = {{hlist|Historian|author}}
| website          = 
| spouse           = {{plainlist|
* {{Marriage|Judith Dorlester|1957|1965|reason=died}}
* {{Marriage|Moira Buckley|1967}}
}}
| children         = 5, including [[Hugh Ambrose]]<ref>{{cite news |title=Hugh Ambrose dies at 48; author of WWII history 'The Pacific' |url=https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-hugh-ambrose-20150529-story.html |work=Los Angeles Times |date=May 29, 2015 }}</ref>
| signature        = 
| education        = [[University of Wisconsin–Madison]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]], [[PhD]])<br>[[Louisiana State University]] ([[Master of Arts|MA]])
}}
'''Stephen Edward Ambrose''' (January 10, 1936 – October 13, 2002) was an American historian, academic, and author, most noted for his books on [[World War II]] and his biographies of U.S. presidents [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] and [[Richard Nixon]]. He was a longtime professor of history at the [[University of New Orleans]] and the author of many bestselling volumes of American [[popular history]].

In 2002, several instances of plagiarism were discovered in his books. In 2010, after his death, Ambrose was found to have fabricated interviews and events in his biographies of Eisenhower.

==Early life and education==
Ambrose was born January 10, 1936,<ref>{{cite news|url= https://www.upi.com/Top_News/2020/01/10/UPI-Almanac-for-Friday-Jan-10-2020/8011578535365/ |title= UPI Almanac for Friday, Jan. 10, 2020 |work= [[United Press International]] | date= January 10, 2020|access-date=February 1, 2020 |archive-date= January 15, 2020|archive-url= https://archive.today/20200115192229/https://www.upi.com/Top_News/2020/01/09/UPI-Almanac-for-Thursday-Jan-9-2020/6871578415895/|url-status=live|quote=... historian Stephen Ambrose in 1936}}</ref> in [[Lovington, Illinois]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/amb0int-1 |title=Biography and Video Interview of Stephen Ambrose |publisher=at Academy of Achievement|access-date=July 30, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120725191311/http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/amb0int-1 |archive-date=July 25, 2012 }}</ref> to Rosepha Trippe Ambrose and Stephen Hedges Ambrose. His father was a physician who served in the [[United States Navy|U.S. Navy]] during [[World War II]]. Ambrose was raised in [[Whitewater, Wisconsin]],<ref name="NYTObit">Richard Goldstein, [https://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/14/arts/stephen-ambrose-historian-who-fueled-new-interest-in-world-war-ii-dies-at-66.html?scp=3&sq=stephen%20ambrose&st=nyt&pagewanted=2 "Stephen Ambrose, Historian Who Fueled New Interest in World War II, Dies at 66,"] ''New York Times'', October 14, 2002, accessed May 27, 2010.</ref> where he graduated from [[Whitewater High School (Wisconsin)|Whitewater High School]]. His family also owned a farm in [[Lovington, Illinois]], and vacation property in [[Marinette County, Wisconsin]].<ref>{{cite news |title=A Class Act: Stephen Ambrose's History Lectures Enthrall Kids and War Veterans Alike.|work=The Capital Times |location=Madison, WI|author=Neil H. Shively|date=September 19, 1996}}</ref><ref>Ambrose, Stephen E. [https://books.google.com/books?id=HRIYzkuBDPoC&pg=PA132. ''Comrades: Brothers, Fathers, Heroes, Sons, Pals'']. Simon & Schuster, 2000, p. 132.</ref> He attended college at the [[University of Wisconsin–Madison]], where he was a member of [[Chi Psi]] fraternity and played on the University of Wisconsin football team for three years.<ref name="CNNobit">{{cite news|url=http://archives.cnn.com/2002/SHOWBIZ/books/10/13/ambrose.death/index.html|title=Historian Stephen Ambrose dies|publisher=CNN|date=October 14, 2002|access-date=June 17, 2010|archive-date=April 23, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130423044722/http://archives.cnn.com/2002/SHOWBIZ/books/10/13/ambrose.death/index.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Ambrose planned to major in pre-medicine, but changed his major to history after hearing the first lecture in a U.S. history class entitled "Representative Americans" in his sophomore year. The course was taught by [[William B. Hesseltine]], whom Ambrose credits with fundamentally shaping his writing and igniting his interest in history.<ref name="SEAB">[https://web.archive.org/web/20040218033249/http://www.stephenambrose.com/bio.html Stephen E. Ambrose bio] by Stephen Ambrose.</ref> While at Wisconsin, Ambrose was a member of the Navy and Army [[Reserve Officers' Training Corps|ROTC]]. He graduated with a B.A. in 1957. Ambrose received a master's degree in history from [[Louisiana State University]] in 1958, studying under [[T. Harry Williams]].<ref name="SEAB" /> Ambrose then went on to earn a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1963, under William B. Hesseltine.<ref name="SEAB" /><ref name="AHA">Christian A. Hale, [http://www.historians.org/perspectives/issues/2002/0212/0212new4.cfm "Stephen Ambrose Dies,"] ''Perspectives'', December 2002.</ref>

==Career==

===Academic positions===
Ambrose was a history professor from 1960 until his retirement in 1995. From 1971 onward, he was a member of the University of New Orleans faculty, where he was named the Boyd Professor of History in 1989, an honor given only to faculty who attain "national or international distinction for outstanding teaching, research, or other creative achievement".<ref name="AHA" /><ref>"Boyd Professors," Louisiana State System [http://www/lsusystem.edu/index.php/system-office/academic-affairs/boyd-professors/]{{dead link|date=June 2018|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=no}}. retrieved March 4, 2014</ref> During the 1969–1970 academic year, he was the [[Ernest J. King Professor of Maritime History]] at the [[Naval War College]]. While teaching at [[Kansas State University]] as the Dwight D. Eisenhower Professor of War and Peace during the 1970–1971 academic year, Ambrose participated in heckling of Richard Nixon during a speech the president gave on the KSU campus. Given pressure from the KSU administration and having job offers elsewhere, upon finishing out the year Ambrose offered to leave and the offer was accepted.<ref name="ISA" /><ref>Alan Brinkley, [http://www.newyorkbooks.com/articles/archives/1987/jul/16/the-best-man/ "The Best Man"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200528203519/https://www.nybooks.com/articles/1987/07/16/the-best-man/ |date=May 28, 2020 }}, ''New York Times Review of Books'', July 16, 1987.</ref> His opposition to the Vietnam War<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ambrose |first1=Stephen E. |title=To America: Personal Reflections of an Historian |date=2002 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=978-0-7432-0275-6 |page=126 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n2J675woMLwC&pg=PA126 }}</ref> stood in contrast to his research on "presidents and the military at a time when such topics were increasingly regarded by his colleagues as old fashioned and conservative."<ref>{{cite news |title=Historian Stephen Ambrose Dead At 66 |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/historian-stephen-ambrose-dead-at-66/ |work=CBS News |agency=Associated Press |date=October 13, 2002 }}</ref> Ambrose also taught at [[Louisiana State University]] (assistant professor of history; 1960–1964) and [[Johns Hopkins University]] (associate professor of history; 1964–1969). He held visiting posts at [[Rutgers University]], the [[University of California, Berkeley]], and a number of European schools, including [[University College Dublin]], where he taught as the Mary Ball Washington Professor of American History.<ref name="SEAB" /><ref>{{cite web |title=The Mary Ball Washington Professorship of American History |url=https://www.ucd.ie/history/about/maryball/ |website=UCD School of History |access-date=July 21, 2020 |archive-date=August 7, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200807123433/https://www.ucd.ie/history/about/maryball/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

He founded the Eisenhower Center at the University of New Orleans in 1989 with, "The mission of the Eisenhower Center is the study of the causes, conduct, and consequences of American national security policy and the use of force as an instrument of policy in the twentieth century."<ref>Eisenhower Center D-Day Collection, Special Collections, University of New Orleans [http://library.uno.edu/specialcollections/inventories/218.htm] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130412231234/http://library.uno.edu/specialcollections/inventories/218.htm|date=April 12, 2013}}</ref> He served as its director until 1994.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.uno.edu/cola/history/eisenhower-center/|title=Eisenhower Center – University of New Orleans|access-date=October 6, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161006150923/http://www.uno.edu/cola/history/eisenhower-center/|archive-date=October 6, 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref> The center's first efforts, which Ambrose initiated, involved the collection of oral histories from World War II veterans about their experiences, particularly any participation in D-Day. By the time of publication of Ambrose's ''D-Day, June 6, 1944: The Climactic Battle of World War II,'' in 1994, the center had collected more than 1,200 oral histories.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Trevelyan |first1=Raleigh |author-link1=Raleigh Trevelyan |title=Telling It Like It Was |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/98/11/22/specials/ambrose-dday.html |work=The New York Times |date=May 29, 1994 }}</ref> Ambrose donated $150,000 to the Center in 1998 to foster additional efforts to collect oral histories from World War II veterans.<ref>{{cite news |first1=Stephen |last1=Ambrose |title=Writer Pleas for Local D-Day Museum Support |work=New Orleans Times-Picayune |date=August 7, 1998 }}</ref>

===Writings===
Ambrose's earliest works concerned the [[American Civil War]]. He wrote biographies of the generals [[Emory Upton]] and [[Henry Halleck]], the first of which was based on his dissertation.<ref name="Ind">M. R. D. Foote, [https://web.archive.org/web/20080527223132/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/stephen-ambrose-613999.html "Stephen Ambrose: Historian and author of ''Band of Brothers'',"] ''The Independent'', October 14, 2002, accessed May 27, 2010.</ref>

Early in his career, Ambrose was mentored by [[World War II]] historian [[Forrest Pogue]].<ref>Art Jester. Ambrose Installs New Faith in Some Old Heroes. ''[[Lexington Herald-Leader]]''. November 9, 1997.</ref><ref>Gwendolyn Thompkins. Ambrose to Leave Historic Legacy: UNO Prof in Colin Powell's Camp. ''[[Times-Picayune]]''. April 30, 1995.</ref> In 1964, Ambrose took a position at [[Johns Hopkins University|Johns Hopkins]] as the Associate Editor of the ''Eisenhower Papers'', a project aimed at organizing, cataloging and publishing Eisenhower's principal papers. From this work and discussions with Eisenhower emerged an article critical of [[Cornelius Ryan]]'s ''The Last Battle'', which had depicted Eisenhower as politically naîve, when at the end of World War II he allowed Soviet forces to take Berlin, thus shaping the [[Cold War]] that followed.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ambrose |first1=Stephen E. |title=Refighting the Last Battle: The Pitfalls of Popular History |journal=The Wisconsin Magazine of History |date=1966 |volume=49 |issue=4 |pages=294–301 |jstor=4634174 |url=http://content.wisconsinhistory.org/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/wmh&CISOPTR=23706&CISOSHOW=23639&REC=1 }}</ref> Ambrose expanded this into a book, ''Eisenhower and Berlin, 1945: The Decision to Halt at the Elbe'' (1967).<ref name=hnn126705>{{cite web |last1=Rives |first1=Timothy D. |title=Ambrose and Eisenhower: A View from the Stacks in Abilene |url=http://www.hnn.us/article/126705 |website=History News Network |access-date=March 21, 2014 |archive-date=January 16, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140116191749/http://www.hnn.us/article/126705 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Ambrose was aided in the book's writing by comments and notes provided by Eisenhower, who read a draft of the book.<ref name=hnn126705/>

In 1964, Ambrose was commissioned to write the official biography of the former president and five-star general [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]].<ref name=hnn126705/> This resulted in a book on Eisenhower's war years, ''The Supreme Commander'' (1970), and a two-volume full biography (published in 1983 and 1984), which are considered "the standard" on the subject.<ref>Jim Newton, [https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2010-may-09-la-ca-stephen-ambrose-20100509-story.html "Books & Ideas: Stephen Ambrose's troubling Eisenhower record,"] ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'', May 9, 2010, accessed May 26, 2010. "His work on Eisenhower is penetrating and readable, lively, balanced and insightful. Indeed, these efforts have long stood alongside Fred Greenstein's ''[[The Hidden-Hand Presidency]]'' as the standards against which other Eisenhower scholarship is judged."</ref> Regarding the first volume, Gordon Harrison, writing for ''The New York Times'', proclaimed, "It is Mr. Ambrose's special triumph that he has been able to fight through the memoranda, the directives, plans, reports, and official self-serving pieties of the World War II establishment to uncover the idiosyncratic people at its center."<ref>Harrison, Gordon, [https://nytimes.com/books/98/11/22/specials/ambrose-supreme.html "The Making of a General and How It Came About"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140913064939/http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/11/22/specials/ambrose-supreme.html |date=September 13, 2014 }}, ''The New York Times'', October 4, 1970.</ref> Ambrose also wrote a three-volume biography of [[Richard Nixon]]. Although Ambrose was a strong critic of Nixon, the biography was considered fair and just regarding [[Nixon's presidency]].<ref>[[Richard John Neuhaus|Neuhaus, Richard J.]] [https://archive.today/20120728174424/http://www.commentarymagazine.com/viewarticle.cfm/nixon--the-education-of-a-politician-1913-1962--by-stephen-e--ambrose-7319 ''"Nixon: The Education of a Politician 1913-1962, by Stephen E. Ambrose"'' (book review)], ''[[Commentary magazine]]'', August 1987. "''Nixon'' is competently, sometimes brightly, written, and one gets the impression that Ambrose is striving, above all, to be assiduously fair."</ref><ref>[[R. W. Apple Jr.|Apple, R.W., Jr.]], [https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/98/11/22/specials/ambrose-nixon2.html "Beyond Damnation or Defense: The Middle Years"], ''The New York Times'', November 12, 1989. Retrieved June 9, 2018.</ref>

A visit to a reunion of [[Easy Company]] veterans in 1988 prompted Ambrose to collect their stories, turning them into [[Band of Brothers (book)|''Band of Brothers, E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne: From Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest'' (1992)]]. ''D-Day'' (1994), built upon additional oral histories, presented the battle from the view points of individual soldiers and became his first best seller. A reviewer for the ''[[Journal of Military History]]'' commended ''D-Day'' as the "most comprehensive discussion" of the sea, air, and land operations that coalesced on that day.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Minniear |first1=Steven S. |last2=Love |first2=Robert W. |title=Review of D-Day June 6, 1944: The Climactic Battle of World War II.; Over Lord: General Pete Quesada and the Triumph of Tactical Air Power in World War II.; The Year of D-Day: The 1944 Diary of Admiral Sir Bertram I. Ramsay., Robert W. Love, Jr.; D-Day 1944 |journal=The Journal of Military History |date=1996 |volume=60 |issue=1 |pages=186–188 |doi=10.2307/2944480 |jstor=2944480 }}</ref> [[Christopher Lehmann-Haupt]], writing for ''The New York Times'', proclaimed that "Reading this history, you can understand why for so many of its participants, despite all the death surrounding them, life revealed itself in that moment at that place."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Lehmann-Haupt |first1=Christopher |title=Books of The Times; Putting a Human Face On One Shattering Day |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/06/06/books/books-of-the-times-putting-a-human-face-on-one-shattering-day.html |work=The New York Times |date=June 6, 1994 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230822005116/https://www.nytimes.com/1994/06/06/books/books-of-the-times-putting-a-human-face-on-one-shattering-day.html |archive-date= August 22, 2023 }}</ref> Ambrose's ''[[Citizen Soldiers]]'', which describes battles fought in northwest Europe from D-Day through the end of the war in Europe, utilized, again, extensive oral histories. ''Citizen Soldiers'' became a best seller, appearing on the ''New York Times'' best sellers lists for both hardcover and paperback editions in the same week. During the same week, in September 1998, ''D-Day'' and ''Undaunted Courage'', Ambrose's 1996 book on [[Meriwether Lewis]] and the Corps of Discovery, appeared on the best seller list, also.<ref>"Best Seller", ''New York Times Book Review'', September 20, 1998, p. BR38 and BR40.</ref> He also wrote ''The Victors'' (1998), a distillation of material from other books detailing Eisenhower's wartime experiences and connections to the common soldier, and ''[[The Wild Blue]]'', that looks at World War II aviation largely through the experiences of [[George McGovern]], who commanded a [[B-24]] crew that flew numerous missions over Germany. His other major works include ''[[Undaunted Courage]]'' about the [[Lewis and Clark Expedition]] and ''[[Nothing Like It in the World]]'' about the construction of the [[First transcontinental railroad|Pacific Railroad]]. His final book, ''[[This Vast Land]]'', a historical novel about the Lewis & Clark expedition written for young readers, was published posthumously in 2003.

Ambrose's most popular single work was ''Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West'' (1996), which stayed on the ''New York Times'' best seller list for a combined, hardcover and paperback, 126 weeks.<ref>"Best Seller", ''New York Times Book Review'', March 23, 1997, p. BR26, and "Best Seller", ''New York Times Book Review'', January 17, 1999, p. BR32</ref> Ambrose consolidated research on the [[Corps of Discovery]]'s expedition conducted in the previous thirty years and "synthesized it skillfully to enrich our understanding and appreciation of this grand epic", according to [[Alvin M. Josephy, Jr.]], who reviewed the book for ''The New York Times''.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Josephy |first1=Alvin M. |title=Giants in the Earth |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/97/03/09/bsp/undaunted.html |work=The New York Times |date=March 10, 1996 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230822005115/https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/97/03/09/bsp/undaunted.html |archive-date= August 22, 2023 }}</ref> [[Ken Burns]], who produced and directed a [[PBS]] documentary on Lewis & Clark declared that Ambrose "takes one of the great, but also one of the most superficially considered, stories in American history and breathes fresh life into it."<ref>Simon & Schuster, Books [http://books.simonandschuster.com/Undaunted-Courage/Stephen-E-Ambrose/9780684726974 Retrieved March 6, 2014]{{Dead link|date=June 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=no }}</ref>

In addition to 27 self-authored books, Ambrose co-authored, edited, and contributed to many more and was a frequent contributor to magazines such as [[American Heritage (magazine)|''American Heritage'']].<ref>{{cite web|title=List of essays by Stephen Ambrose|url=http://www.americanheritage.com/users/stephen-e-ambrose|access-date=January 14, 2014}}</ref> He, also, reviewed the works of other historians in the ''[[Journal of Southern History]]'', ''[[Military Affairs]]'', ''[[American Historical Review]]'', ''[[The Journal of American History]]'', and ''[[Foreign Affairs]]''. He served as a contributing editor to ''[[MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History]]'', also.<ref name=confessore2001>[[Nicholas Confessore]], "Selling Private Ryan," ''[[The American Prospect]]'', September 24 – October 8, 2001, p. 21-27.</ref>

===Television, film, and other activities===
Ambrose featured in the 1973-74 [[ITV (TV network)|ITV]] television series, ''[[The World at War]]'', which detailed the history of World War II.

He served as the historical consultant for the movie ''[[Saving Private Ryan]]''.<ref name="NGS" /> [[Tom Hanks]], who starred in the movie, said he "pored over ''D-Day''" and ''Band of Brothers'' in researching his role.<ref>{{cite news |first1=Mark |last1=Bowden |title=Tom Hanks, The 'Men's Journal' Interview |work=Men's Journal |date=November 2004 |url=http://www.mensjournal.com/magazine/tom-hanks-the-mens-journal-interview-20131021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131023130008/http://www.mensjournal.com/magazine/tom-hanks-the-mens-journal-interview-20131021 |archive-date=October 23, 2013 }}</ref> Hanks also credited Ambrose's books with providing extensive detail, particularly regarding D-Day landings.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://rogerebert.com/interviews/tom-hanks-recalls-private-ryan-shoot|title=Tom Hanks recalls 'Private Ryan' shoot - Interviews - Roger Ebert|first=Roger|last=Ebert|access-date=October 6, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161009131735/http://www.rogerebert.com/interviews/tom-hanks-recalls-private-ryan-shoot|archive-date=October 9, 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The [[HBO]] mini-series, ''[[Band of Brothers (TV miniseries)|Band of Brothers]]'' (2001), for which he was an executive producer, helped sustain the fresh interest in World War II that had been stimulated by the 50th anniversary of [[D-Day]] in 1994 and the 60th anniversary in 2004.<ref name="NGS" /> Ambrose served as executive producer for ''Price for Peace'', a documentary concerning the war in the Pacific theater during World War II, and for ''Moments of Truth'', a TV documentary containing interviews with World War II veterans.<ref name=imdb2014>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0024421/|title=Stephen Ambrose|website=[[IMDb]]|access-date=October 6, 2016}}</ref>

In addition, Ambrose served as a commentator for ''[[Lewis & Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery]]'', a documentary by [[Ken Burns]].<ref name="NGS">[https://web.archive.org/web/20021016222219/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/10/1015_021015_ambrose.html Historian Steven Ambrose Dead at 66], National Geographic News, October 15, 2002.</ref> He provided commentary in 20 made-for-TV documentaries, covering diverse topics, such as World War II, Lewis & Clark, and America's prominence in the 20th century.<ref name=imdb2014 /> He also appeared as a guest on numerous TV programs or stations, including ''[[The Charlie Rose Show]]'', [[C-Span]] programming,<ref name="ny" /> [[CNN]] programming, [[NBC]]'s ''[[Today (U.S. TV program)|Today Show]]'', [[CNBC]]'s ''[[Hardball with Chris Matthews|Hardball]]'',<ref name=confessore2001 /> and various programming on [[The History Channel]] and the [[National Geographic Channel]].<ref name="NGS" /> Ambrose's association with [[National Geographic Society|National Geographic]] stemmed, in part, from his designation as an Explorer-in-Residence by the Society.<ref name="NGS" />

In addition to his academic work and publishing, Ambrose operated a historical tour business, acting as a tour guide to European locales of World War II.<ref name="Ind"/> Also, he served on the board of directors for American Rivers and was a member of the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Council.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bookreporter.com/authors/stephen-e-ambrose|title=Stephen E. Ambrose - Bookreporter.com|access-date=October 6, 2016}}</ref>

===National World War II Museum===
Ambrose's work for the Eisenhower Center, specifically his work with D-Day veterans, inspired him to co-found the National D-Day Museum in New Orleans with another historian and UNO professor [[Gordon H. Mueller|Gordon H. "Nick" Mueller]]. Ambrose initiated fundraising by donating $500,000.<ref>{{cite news |first=Stephen |last=Ambrose |title=Writer Pleas for Local D-Day Museum Support |newspaper=New Orleans Times-Picayune |date=August 7, 1998 }}</ref> "He dreamt of a museum that reflected his deep regard for our nation's citizen soldiers, the workers on the Home Front and the sacrifices and hardships they endured to achieve victory."<ref name=NWWII>{{cite web |url=https://www.nationalww2museum.org/about-us/our-team/museum-founders-stephen-ambrose-and-nick-mueller |title=About The Founder - The National WWII Museum - New Orleans |access-date=October 6, 2016}}</ref> He secured large contributions from the federal government, state of Louisiana, Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg, and many smaller donations from former students, who answered a plea made by Ambrose in the ''New Orleans Times-Picayune''.<ref>{{cite news |first=James |last=Varney |title=$64,000 Given to Museum by Locals, Ambrose Needs $2 Million More |newspaper=New Orleans Times-Picayune |date=August 30, 1998 }}</ref> In 2003, Congress designated the museum as "America's [[National World War II Museum]]," acknowledging an expanded scope and mission for the museum. "The Stephen E. Ambrose Memorial Fund continues to support the development of the museum's Center for Study of the American Spirit, its educational programs and oral history and publication initiatives."<ref name=NWWII />

===Awards===
In 1997, Ambrose received the [[St. Louis Literary Award]] from the [[Saint Louis University]] Library Associates.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.slu.edu/libraries/associates/award.html|title=Saint Louis Literary Award - Saint Louis University|access-date=October 6, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160823003924/http://www.slu.edu/libraries/associates/award.html|archive-date=August 23, 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://lib.slu.edu/about/associates/literary-award |title=Recipients of the Saint Louis Literary Award |author=Saint Louis University Library Associates |access-date=July 25, 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160731082313/http://lib.slu.edu/about/associates/literary-award |archive-date=July 31, 2016 }}</ref> In 1998, he received the [[National Humanities Medal]].<ref name="NYTObit"/> In 1998, he was awarded the [[Samuel Eliot Morison Prize]] for lifetime achievement given by the [[Society for Military History]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.smh-hq.org/awards/morison.html |title=Samuel Eliot Morison Prize previous winners |publisher=[[Society for Military History]] |access-date=December 25, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180108141323/http://www.smh-hq.org/awards/morison.html |archive-date=January 8, 2018 |url-status=dead }}</ref> In 1998, he received the Golden Plate Award of the [[Academy of Achievement|American Academy of Achievement]].<ref>{{cite web|title= Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement |website=www.achievement.org|publisher=[[American Academy of Achievement]]|url= https://achievement.org/our-history/golden-plate-awards/}}</ref> In 2000, Ambrose received the [[Department of the Army Civilian Awards|Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service]], the highest honorary award the [[United States Department of Defense|Department of Defense]] offers to civilians.<ref name="NGS"/> In 2001, he was awarded the [[Theodore Roosevelt]] Medal for Distinguished Service from the [[Theodore Roosevelt Association]].<ref>Theodore Roosevelt Association, [http://data.memberclicks.com/site/tra/Medal_Recipients_up_to_2006.pdf The Theodore Roosevelt Distinguished Service Medal Recipients]{{dead link|date=March 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}.</ref> Ambrose won an [[Emmy Award|Emmy]] as one of the producers for the mini-series ''[[Band of Brothers (TV miniseries)|Band of Brothers]]''.<ref name="NGS"/> Ambrose also received the [[George Marshall]] Award, the [[Abraham Lincoln]] Literary Award, the [[Bob Hope]] Award from the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, and the [[Will Rogers]] Memorial Award.<ref name="NGS"/>

Upon Ambrose's death, U.S. [[United States Senator|Sen]]. [[Mary Landrieu]] of Louisiana offered a resolution in the Senate, which received unanimous consent, saluting the "excellence of Stephen Ambrose at capturing the greatness of the American spirit in words."<ref>Tribute to Stephen E. Ambrose, capitolwords.org, October 16, 2002 [http://capitol words.org/date/2002/10/16/luker#ixzz2uTBVBwBF]{{Dead link|date=June 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=no }}. Retrieved February 25, 2014.</ref>

==Personal life, final years, and death==
{{external media| float = right| video1 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?173343-1/stephen-ambrose-memorial-service Memorial Service for Ambrose at the National D-Day Museum, October 19, 2002], [[C-SPAN]]}}
He married his first wife, Judith Dorlester, in 1957, and they had two children, Stephenie and Barry. Judith died in 1965, when Ambrose was 29. Ambrose married his second wife, Moira Buckley (1939–2009), in 1967 and adopted her three children, Andrew, Grace, and [[Hugh Ambrose|Hugh]]. Moira was an active assistant in his writing and academic projects. After retiring, he maintained homes in [[Helena, Montana]], and [[Bay St. Louis, Mississippi]].<ref name="Ind"/><ref name=ambrose>{{cite web|title=Stephen E. Ambrose, Ph.D.|publisher=Academy of Achievement|url=http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/amb0bio-1|access-date=August 12, 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111005233629/http://achievement.org/autodoc/page/amb0bio-1|archive-date=October 5, 2011}}</ref> A longtime smoker, he was diagnosed with [[lung cancer]] in April 2002. His health deteriorated rapidly, and seven months after the diagnosis, he died at the age of 66. [[George McGovern]], the primary focus of Ambrose's ''Wild Blue'' said, "He probably reached more readers than any other historian in our national history."<ref name="NYTObit"/>

==Legacy==
Ambrose donated $500,000, half the amount needed, to the University of Wisconsin, to endow a chair in the name of William B. Hesseltine, Ambrose's mentor. The chair's position would focus on the teaching of [[American military history]]. When the chair became fully endowed, after Ambrose's death, it was renamed the Ambrose-Hesseltine Chair.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Luker |first1=Ralph E. |title=Sit in My Chair |url=https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2006/12/04/sit-my-chair |website=Inside Higher Ed |date=December 4, 2006 }}</ref>

The Ambrose Professor of History title was established at the [[University of New Orleans]] after his death. The position is reserved for a [[military historian]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.uno.edu/academicaffairs/endowed-chairs/|title=Endowed Chairs and Professors - University of New Orleans|access-date=October 6, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160624133524/http://www.uno.edu/academicaffairs/endowed-chairs/|archive-date=June 24, 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Each year the [[Rutgers University]] Living History Society awards the Stephen E. Ambrose Oral History Award to "an author or artist who has made significant use of oral history." Past winners include [[Tom Brokaw]], [[Steven Spielberg]], [[Studs Terkel]], [[Michael Beschloss]], and [[Ken Burns]].<ref>[http://news.rutgers.edu/media-advisories/2013/may-2013/rutgers2019-stephen-20130510#.Uxn7lWmx7cs "Rutgers' Stephen Ambrose Oral History Award Goes to Michael Beschloss"], ''Rutgers Today'', May 14, 2013</ref>

==Criticism==

===Plagiarism===
In 2002, Ambrose was accused of plagiarizing several passages in his book ''[[The Wild Blue]]''.<ref>Williams, Robert Chadwell. [https://books.google.com/books?id=DD6GFORubKoC&dq=%22wild+blue+yonder%22+plagiarism+ambrose&pg=PA88 ''The Historian's Toolbox: A Student's Guide to the Theory and Craft of History''] Armonk NY: M E Sharpe Inc (2003) {{ISBN|0-7656-1093-0}} pp 88-89</ref><ref name="nyt">David D. Kirkpatrick, [https://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/11/national/11AMBR.html "As Historian's Fame Grows, So Does Attention to Sources,"] ''New York Times'', January 11, 2002, accessed May 27, 2010.</ref> [[Fred Barnes (journalist)|Fred Barnes]] reported in ''[[The Weekly Standard]]'' that Ambrose had taken passages from ''Wings of Morning: The Story of the Last American Bomber Shot Down over Germany in World War II'', by [[Thomas Childers]], a history professor at the [[University of Pennsylvania]].<ref>[https://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/law/jan-june02/history_1-28.html Writing History] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140118080217/http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/law/jan-june02/history_1-28.html |date=January 18, 2014 }} [[PBS NewsHour]] discussion of plagiarism by historians, January 28, 2002.</ref> Ambrose had footnoted sources, but had not enclosed in quotation marks numerous passages from Childers's book.<ref name="nyt" /><ref name="hnn">[http://hnn.us/articles/504.html "How the Ambrose Story Developed,"] History News Network, June 2002.</ref>

Ambrose asserted that only a few sentences in all his numerous books were the work of other authors. He offered this defense:
{{blockquote|I tell stories. I don't discuss my documents. I discuss the story. It almost gets to the point where, how much is the reader going to take? I am not writing a Ph.D. dissertation.

I wish I had put the quotation marks in, but I didn't. I am not out there stealing other people's writings. If I am writing up a passage and it is a story I want to tell and this story fits and a part of it is from other people's writing, I just type it up that way and put it in a footnote. I just want to know where the hell it came from.<ref name="nyt"/>}}

A ''[[Forbes]]'' investigation of his work found cases of plagiarism involving passages in at least six books, with a similar pattern going back to his doctoral dissertation.<ref>Mark Lewis, [https://www.forbes.com/2002/05/10/0510ambrose.html "Ambrose Problems Date Back To Ph.D. Thesis,"] ''Forbes'', May 10, 2002.</ref> The [[History News Network]] lists seven of Ambrose's more than 69 works—''The Wild Blue'', ''Undaunted Courage'', ''Nothing Like It In the World'', ''Nixon: Ruin and Recovery'', ''Citizen Soldiers'', ''The Supreme Commander'', and ''Crazy Horse and Custer''—contained content from twelve authors without appropriate attribution from Ambrose.<ref name="hnn"/>

===Factual errors and disputed characterizations===

====Pacific Railroad====
A front-page article published in ''[[The Sacramento Bee]]'' on January 1, 2001, entitled "Area Historians Rail Against Inaccuracies in Book",<ref>Barrows, Matthew ''"Area Historians Rail Against Inaccuracies in Book"''. The ''Sacramento Bee'', January 1, 2001</ref> listed more than sixty instances identified as "significant errors, misstatements, and made-up quotes" in ''[[Nothing Like It in the World]]: The Men Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad, 1863–1869,'' Ambrose's [[Scholarly peer review|non-academic]] popular history about the construction of the [[First transcontinental railroad|Pacific Railroad]] between [[Council Bluffs, Iowa]]/[[Omaha, Nebraska]], and the [[San Francisco Bay]] at [[Alameda, California|Alameda]]/[[Oakland, California|Oakland]] via [[Sacramento, California]], which was published in August 2000. The discrepancies were documented in a detailed [[Fact checker|"fact-checking"]] paper compiled in December 2000 by three Western US railroad historians who are also experienced researchers, consultants, and collectors specializing in the Pacific Railroad and related topics.<ref name="hnn" /><ref name="sosea">Graves, G.J., Strobridge, E.T., & Sweet, C.N.[http://cprr.org/Museum/Books/Comments-Ambrose.html ''The Sins of Stephen E. Ambrose''] The Central Pacific Railroad Photographic History Museum (CPRR.org), December 19, 2000</ref><ref>Stobridge E. (2002). [http://hnn.us/articles/541.html Stephen Ambrose: Off the Rails]. ''[[History News Network]]''.</ref>

On January 11, 2001, ''[[The Washington Post|Washington Post]]'' columnist [[Lloyd Grove]] reported in his column ''The Reliable Source'' that a co-worker had found a "serious historical error" in the same book that "a chastened Ambrose" promised to correct in future editions.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Grove |first1=Lloyd |title=The Reliable Source |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2001/01/11/the-reliable-source/b6454d5a-63f0-413f-85f1-4c8439f29c25/ |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=January 11, 2001 }}</ref> A number of journal reviews also sharply criticized the research and fact checking in the book. Reviewer Walter Nugent observed that it contained "annoying slips" such as mislabeled maps, inaccurate dates, geographical errors, and misidentified [[etymology|word origins]],<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Nugent |first1=Walter |last2=Ambrose |first2=Stephen E. |title=Nothing Like It in the World: The Men Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad, 1863-1869 |journal=The Journal of American History |date=September 2001 |volume=88 |issue=2 |pages=657 |doi=10.2307/2675159 |jstor=2675159 }}</ref> while railroad historian Don L. Hofsommer agreed that the book "confuses facts" and that "The research might best be characterized as 'once over lightly'."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hofsommer |first1=Donovan L. |title=Nothing Like It in the World: The Men Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad, 1863-1869, and: Empire Express: Building the First Transcontinental Railroad (review) |journal=Technology and Culture |date=2002 |volume=43 |issue=1 |pages=169–170 |doi=10.1353/tech.2002.0018 |s2cid=110233622 }}</ref>

====The Eisenhower controversy====
In the introduction to Ambrose's biography of Eisenhower, he claims that the former president approached him after having read his previous biography of the American general [[Henry Halleck]],
but Tim Rives, Deputy Director of the [[Eisenhower Presidential Center]], says it was Ambrose who contacted Eisenhower and suggested the project,<ref name="ny">{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.newyorker.com/talk/2010/04/26/100426ta_talk_rayner |author=Rayner, Richard |title=Channelling Ike|magazine= The New Yorker |access-date=May 11, 2010|date=April 26, 2010 }}</ref><ref name=abc>{{Cite news|url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/historian-stephen-ambrose-lie-interviews-president-dwight-eisenhower/story?id=10489472 |title=Did Historian Stephen Ambrose Lie About Interviews with President Dwight D. Eisenhower?|publisher= ABC News|author=Goldman, Russell|date= April 27, 2010 |access-date=May 11, 2010 }}</ref> as shown by a letter from Ambrose found in the [[Eisenhower Presidential Center|Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum]].<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Rayner |first=Richard |url=https://www.newyorker.com/talk/2010/04/26/100426ta_talk_rayner |title=Uncovering Stephen Ambrose's fake Eisenhower interviews |magazine=The New Yorker |access-date=July 30, 2012}}</ref> In his response, Eisenhower stated that "the confidence I have derived from your work by reading your two books—especially the one on Halleck—give reasons why I should be ready to help out so far as I can."<ref name=hnn126705/><ref>{{cite web |title=Eisenhower and My Father, Stephen Ambrose |url=http://www.hnn.us/article/126907 |website=History News Network |access-date=March 24, 2014 |archive-date=March 24, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140324155208/http://www.hnn.us/article/126907 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The Halleck biography "still sits on a shelf" at the [[Eisenhower National Historic Site]] in Gettysburg.<ref name=hnn126705/>

After Eisenhower's death in 1969, Ambrose made repeated claims to have had a unique and extraordinarily close relationship with him over the final five years of the former President's life. In an extensive 1998 interview, before a group of high school students, Ambrose stated that he spent "a lot of time with Ike, really a lot, hundreds and hundreds of hours." Ambrose claimed he interviewed Eisenhower on a wide range of subjects, and that he had been with him "on a daily basis for a couple years" before his death "doing interviews and talking about his life."<ref name="ISA">[http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/printmember/amb0int-1 Interview with Stephen Ambrose] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101212023732/http://achievement.org/autodoc/printmember/amb0int-1 |date=December 12, 2010 }} May 22, 1998, Academy of Achievement, Washington, D.C.</ref> The former president's diary and telephone records show that the pair met only three times, for a total of less than five hours.<ref name=hnn126705/><ref name="ny"/> Rives has stated that interview dates Ambrose cites in his 1970 book, ''The Supreme Commander'', cannot be reconciled with Eisenhower's personal schedule, but Rives discovered, upon further investigation, a "hidden" relationship between the two men. Eisenhower enlisted Ambrose in his efforts to preserve his legacy and counteract criticisms of his presidency, particularly those charging that Eisenhower's actions at the end of World War II produced the Cold War. Ambrose wrote a review and book supporting the former general, with Eisenhower providing direction and comments during the process. Rives could not square the questionable interview dates cited by Ambrose in later works, but uncovered a relationship with Eisenhower that was "too complicated" to be described by Ambrose's critics.<ref name=hnn126705/>

In his 2015 book ''The President and the Apprentice: Eisenhower and Nixon, 1952–1961'', Irwin F. Gellman wrote that "while some Eisenhower scholars questioned Ambrose's research after [his] book's publication, the enormity of his falsifications was not revealed until after his death. Ambrose lied about his relationship with Eisenhower" and that "Ambrose also manufactured events that never took place".<ref name="gellman">{{cite book |last=Gellman |first=Irwin F. |date=2015 |title=The President and the Apprentice Eisenhower and Nixon, 1952–1961 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CqcXCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA4 |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |pages=4–5 |isbn=978-0-300-18105-0}}</ref> Historian [[David Greenberg (historian)|David Greenberg]] stated in 2015 that Ambrose's "wanton acts of plagiarism and the posthumous revelation that he fabricated interviews with Dwight Eisenhower have rendered his work unusable".<ref name="greenberg">{{cite news |last=Greenberg |first=David |author-link=David Greenberg (historian) |date=June 24, 2015 |title='Being Nixon' and 'One Man Against the World' |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/24/books/review/being-nixon-and-one-man-against-the-world.html |work=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=September 2, 2024}}</ref>

====Band of Brothers====
The book [[Band of Brothers (book)|Band of Brothers]] states [[E Company, 506th Infantry Regiment (United States)|Easy]] reached [[Berchtesgaden]] first amongst Allied units. Other units claim the honor, for example, on May 4 by forward elements of the [[7th Infantry Regiment (United States)|7th Infantry Regiment]] of the [[3rd Infantry Division (United States)|3rd Infantry Division]].<ref name=historynet>{{cite web |url=http://www.historynet.com/world-war-ii-race-to-seize-berchtesgaden.htm |title=World War II: Race to Seize Berchtesgaden |last=McManus |first=John C. |date=June 12, 2006 |website=HistoryNet |access-date=July 10, 2019 |archive-date=November 16, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201116173041/https://www.historynet.com/world-war-ii-race-to-seize-berchtesgaden.htm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/USA-SS-Chronology/USA-SS-Chronology-5.html |editor-last=Williams |editor-first=Mary H. |date=1960 |title=Special Studies, Chronology 1941-1945 |series=[[United States Army in World War II]] |publisher=Center of Military History, United States Army |quote=In U.S. Seventh Army's XV Corps area, 7th Inf of 3d Div, crossing into Austria, advances through Salzburg to Berchtesgaden without opposition. |access-date=January 11, 2017 |archive-date=November 16, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201116173157/http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/USA-SS-Chronology/USA-SS-Chronology-5.html |url-status=live }}</ref>{{efn| According to [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]], Supreme Commander of Allied forces in Europe, the [[3rd Infantry Division (United States)|3rd Infantry Division]] was the first to take the town of Berchtesgaden; the "Eagle's Nest" is never mentioned.<ref>{{cite book |title=Crusade in Europe |url=https://archive.org/details/crusadeineurope00eise |url-access=registration |last=Eisenhower |first=Dwight D. |date=1948 |location=New York |publisher=[[Doubleday (publisher)|Doubleday]] |page=[https://archive.org/details/crusadeineurope00eise/page/418 418] |quote="On May 4 the 3d division of the same corps captured Berchtesgaden." (The corps mentioned was the US XV Corps. The term "Eagle's Nest" is not in the quote nor the paragraph that mentions the capture of Berchtesgaden.)}}</ref> This view is supported by General [[Maxwell D. Taylor]], former Commanding General of the [[101st Airborne Division]], then attached to the [[XXI Corps (United States)|XXI Corps]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Swords and Plowshares |url=https://archive.org/details/swordsplowshares00tayl |url-access=registration |last=Taylor |first=Maxwell D. |date=1972 |location=New York |publisher=[[W. W. Norton]] |page=[https://archive.org/details/swordsplowshares00tayl/page/106 106] |isbn=9780393074604 |quote=3d Division units got into Berchtesgaden ahead of us on the afternoon of May 4}}</ref><!-- What did Taylor have to say, if anything, about the Kehlsteinhaus, which is the point at issue on this page? --> }} Reputedly members of the 7th went as far as the elevator to the ''Kehlsteinhaus'',<ref name=historynet/> with at least one individual claiming he and a partner continued on to the top.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/vhp/story/loc.natlib.afc2001001.09540/ |title=Veterans History Project: Interview with Herman Finnell |date=2001 |website=Library of Congress |access-date=July 15, 2019 |archive-date=November 16, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201116173048/http://memory.loc.gov/diglib/vhp/story/loc.natlib.afc2001001.09540/ |url-status=live }} Herman Louis Finnell of the 3rd Division, 7th Regiment, Company I, states that he and his ammo carrier, Pfc. Fungerburg, were the first to enter the Eagle's Nest, as well as the secret passages below the structure. Finnell stated that the hallway below the structure had rooms on either side filled with destroyed paintings, evening gowns, destroyed medical equipment and a wine cellar.<!-- Note: Unlike Hitler's Berghof, the Kehlsteinhaus was ''not'' bombed; purportedly SS troops which survived the air raid inflicted substantial destruction on the Berghof, Kehlsteinhaus, and elsewhere before leaving the area in advance of Allied occupation. It remains unclear who inflicted the destruction the Fungerburg describes, the SS, or prior U.S. troops. --></ref> However, the [[101st Airborne Division|101st Airborne]] maintains it was first both to Berchtesgaden and the Kehlsteinhaus.<ref>[[E Company, 506th Infantry Regiment (United States)|Easy Company of the 2nd Battalion 506th Regiment]], US 101st Airborne Division: {{cite video |year=1945 |title=Video: Allies Sign Control Law For Germany, 1945/06/14 (1945) |url=https://archive.org/details/1945-06-14_Allies_Sign_Control_Law_For_Germany |publisher=[[Universal Newsreel]] |access-date=February 20, 2012 }}</ref>{{Failed verification|date=November 2017}} Elements of the [[2nd Armored Division (France)|French 2nd Armored Division]], Laurent Touyeras, Georges Buis and Paul Répiton-Préneuf, were present on the night of May 4 to 5, and took several photographs before leaving on May 10 at the request of US command,<ref>{{cite book |title=Les Fanfares perdues: Entretiens avec Jean Lacouture |last1=Buis |first1=Georges |last2=Lacouture |first2=Jean |date=1975 |location=Paris |publisher=[[Éditions du Seuil]] |language=fr}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=La Nueve. Los españoles que liberaron París |trans-title=The Nine. The Spaniards who liberated Paris |first=Evelyn |last=Mesquida |location=Barcelona |publisher=[[Ediciones B]] |date=April 2010 |language=es |isbn=978-8-49872-365-6}}</ref> and this is supported by testimonies of the Spanish soldiers who went along with them.

==Works==

===Sole author===
* ''[[Halleck: Lincoln's Chief of Staff]]'', Baton Rouge, [[Louisiana State University Press]] (1962)
* ''Upton and the Army'', Louisiana State University Press (1964)
* ''Duty, Honor, Country: A History of West Point'', Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press (1966)
*{{Cite book
| title= Eisenhower and Berlin, 1945: The Decision to Halt at the Elbe.
| location = New York |publisher= W.W. Norton|year=1967 |oclc= 203781}}
* ''[https://archive.org/details/supremecommander00ambr The Supreme Commander: the War Years of General Dwight D. Eisenhower]'', New York: Doubleday (1970)
* ''Crazy Horse and Custer: The Parallel Lives of Two American Warriors'', New York: Doubleday (1975) {{ISBN|0-385-09666-6}}
* ''Ike's Spies: Eisenhower and the Espionage Establishment'', New York: Doubleday (1981) {{ISBN|0-385-14493-8}}
* ''Eisenhower Volume 1: Soldier, General of the Army, President-Elect, 1890-1952'', New York: [[Simon & Schuster]] (1983) {{ISBN|0-671-44069-1}}
* ''Eisenhower Volume 2: The President'', New York: [[Simon & Schuster]] (1984) {{ISBN|0-671-49901-7}}
* ''Pegasus Bridge: June 6, 1944'', New York: [[Simon & Schuster]] (1985) {{ISBN|0-671-52374-0}}
* ''[https://archive.org/details/nixon00ambr/mode/2up Nixon: The Education of a Politician, 1913-1962]'', New York: Simon & Schuster (1987) {{ISBN|0-671-52836-X}}
* ''Eisenhower: Soldier and President'', New York: Simon & Schuster (1990) {{ISBN|0-671-70107-X}} (a one-volume condensation of the 1983-84 two-volume Eisenhower biography)<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-671-70107-9 |title=Eisenhower: Soldier and President |work=[[Publishers Weekly]] |date=October 1, 1990 |access-date=March 5, 2019 }}</ref>
* ''[https://archive.org/details/nixon00ambr_0 Nixon: The Triumph of a Politician, 1962-1972]'', New York: Simon & Schuster (1990) {{ISBN|0-671-52837-8}}
* ''[[Nixon: Ruin and Recovery, 1973-1990]]'', New York: Simon & Schuster (1991) {{ISBN|0-671-69188-0}}
* ''[[Band of Brothers, E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne: From Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest]]'' (1992) {{ISBN|0-671-76922-7}}
* ''D-Day, June 6, 1944: The Climactic Battle of World War II'', New York, Simon & Schuster (1994) {{ISBN|0-671-88403-4}}
* ''[[Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West]]'', New York: Simon & Schuster (1996) {{ISBN|0-684-81107-3}}
* ''[[Citizen Soldiers: The U.S. Army from the Normandy Beaches to the Bulge to the Surrender of Germany, June 7, 1944 - May 7, 1945]]'', New York: Simon & Schuster (1997) {{ISBN|0-684-81525-7}}
* ''Americans at War'', Jackson: University Press of Mississippi (1997) {{ISBN|1-57806-026-5}}
* ''The Victors: Eisenhower and his Boys - The Men of World War II'', New York: Simon & Schuster (1998) {{ISBN|0-684-85628-X}}
* ''Comrades: Brothers, Fathers, Heroes, Sons, Pals'', New York: Simon & Schuster (1999) {{ISBN|0-684-86718-4}}
* ''[[Nothing Like It in the World: The Men who Built the Transcontinental Railroad, 1863-1869]]'', New York: Simon & Schuster (2000) {{ISBN|0-684-84609-8}}
* ''[[The Wild Blue: The Men and Boys who Flew the B-24s over Germany]]'', New York: Simon & Schuster (2001) {{ISBN|0-7432-0339-9}}
* ''The Good Fight: How World War II Was Won'', Atheneum Books for Young Readers (2001) {{ISBN|0-689-84361-5}}
* ''[[To America: Personal Reflections of an Historian]]'', New York: Simon & Schuster (2002) {{ISBN|0-7432-0275-9}}
* ''[[This Vast Land]]'', New York: Simon & Schuster, (2003) {{ISBN|0-689-86448-5}}

===With others===
* with Richard H. Immerman, ''Milton S. Eisenhower, Educational Statesman'', Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press (1983) {{ISBN|0-8018-2988-7}}
* with [[Douglas Brinkley]], ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=5lzMtwXckcEC Rise to Globalism: American Foreign Policy since 1938]'', New York: [[Penguin Books]] (1997) {{ISBN|0-14-026831-6}}
* with [[Sam Abell]], ''Lewis and Clark: Voyage of Discovery'', Washington DC: National Geographic Society, (1998, 2002) {{ISBN|0-7922-7084-3}}
* with Douglas Brinkley, [https://books.google.com/books?id=RxT9YFOd9zwC ''Witness to America''] (1999) {{ISBN|978-0-06-271611-8}}; 2010: {{ISBN|0-06-199028-0}}
* with Douglas Brinkley, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=94QTAAAAYAAJ The Mississippi and the Making of a Nation: From the Louisiana Purchase to Today]'' (2002), {{ISBN|0-7922-6913-6}}

===Edited works===
* ''Institutions in Modern America: Innovation in Structure and Process'', Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press (1967)
* with James A. Barber, ''The Military and American Society: Essays and Readings'', New York, NY: The Free Press (1972) {{ISBN|0-375-50910-0}}
* with Gunter Bischoff, ''Eisenhower and the German POWs: Facts Against Falsehood'', Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press (1992) {{ISBN|0-8071-1758-7}}
* with Gunter Bischoff, ''Eisenhower: A Centenary Assessment'', Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press (1995) {{ISBN|0-8071-1942-3}}
* ''American Heritage New History of World War II'' (original text by C.L. Sulzberger), New York, NY: Viking Press (1997) {{ISBN|0-670-87474-4}}

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{Cite book|last=Hoffer|first=Peter Charles|title=[[Past Imperfect: Facts, Fictions, and Fraud|Past Imperfect: Facts, Fictions, Fraud—American History from Bancroft and Parkman to Ambrose, Bellesiles, Ellis, and Goodwin]]|date=2004 |publisher=[[PublicAffairs]]|location=New York|pages=175–207}}

==External links==
* {{C-SPAN|789}}
* {{IMDb name|0024421}}

{{Stephen Ambrose}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ambrose, Stephen}}
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