I have found Stephen Ambrose's histories very readable, especially "D-Day" and "Citizen Soldiers". This book is more of an autobiography than a history, though. He starts out by reviewing several stories in American history (The Founding Fathers, The Battle of New Orleans, The Indian Country, and The Transontinental Railroad are the first four chapters), but then near the end, he talks more about his own development as a historian.

At first, I was a little put off by his attitude that whatever happened in US history, happened, and deeming to justify it by the fact that we have overcome most of our transgressions (mainly slavery, and forcing the Indians off their land) and become a free and just nation. But I later came to realize that he has always seen the historian's job as reporting facts, not editorializing. So, for example, to portray the settling of America by white Europeans as a racist exercise in colonialism would be to distort what actually happpened. Dwight D. Eisenhower especially appreciated his fairness, and chose him to write his biography because of it.

I was surprised to learn that he was quite the anti-war activist in his youth and young adulthood. As a faculty member at Kansas State University, he (and others) stood up during a speech by the visiting President Richard Nixon and shouted things like "Napalm!" and "Body Count!". He wasn't fired, but it was made clear to him that KSU would not be unhappy if he left.

I enjoyed learning about his personal journey, the blended family that he and his wife Moira made, how they and all five of their kids retraced Lewis & Clark's expedition, how he helped establish the National World War II Museum in New Orleans, and many other things about his life.

The book was published in 2002. Sadly, Stephen Ambrose, a heavy smoker, was diagnosed with lung cancer and died the same year.

If you have read any of his history books, you will probably enjoy this one, too.

This book recaps what Ambrose learned and discovered as he wrote his other books. He spends most of the book talking about what America did right and areas we still need to learn from. It is easy to see who Ambrose loves and who he learned to respect from his research. This book makes you see American history with a balanced eye showing our mistakes as a country and where we need to grow and learn. This book is certainly a timely read with all the events happening currently in our country.

Part memoir, part history and mostly a celebration of American idealism and spirit. In telling the stories of his writing of many of his books, he tells the stories of those books, and personal stories as well. In all he celebrates the greatness of America. His premise is that although we have done some terrible things, we are continually improving, and overall moving the world toward democracy. By first admitting to mistakes, he then goes on to show how these mistakes were overshadowed by better things, or were worth the trade-offs. In general he does not acknowledge bad motives, but only mistakes. He claims that their is something special about the American spirit. While it is a nice myth, no empirical evidence supports that special-ness. (and yes, psychologists have tried to demonstrate it, unsuccessfully).

Stephen E. Ambrose was an influential American historian who wrote many extraordinary books about our country and our heroes, such as Eisenhower: Soldier and President, and Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest.

In To America: Personal Reflections of an Historian, Ambrose dedicates chapters to important events in our history and the after-effects of those events, with some personal reflections thrown in. Here is a passage regarding our Marines fighting in the South Pacific in WWII. I paid special attention to his words as my dad was one of those Marines fighting in hell for four years. "Twice in the last year my wife, Moira, and our son Hugh have gone to the Pacific to examine the battlefields. We went to Guam, Saipan, Tinian, Iwo Jima, Okinawa in the Central Pacific, and Guadalcanal, Australia, New Guinea, Peleliu, Bataan, Corregidor, Manila, Pearl Harbor. I have been visiting battlefields and studying them for almost four decades--Civil War, Revolutionary War, Indian battlefields in the United States, fields from wars all across Europe (almost every battle from Normandy to east of Berlin: from Italy north to Berlin: Moscow). None was as testing, as difficult, as dangerous, as shocking in the ordeal they presented to the Marines as Peleliu, Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima, Okinawa. I believe that no infantry force in the world could have done what the Marines did on those islands.

The Marines had to be better soldiers than the Japanese. Their shells and bombs and napalm were not going to defeat their foes. On Iwo Jima and elsewhere, the Marines had to move forward cave by cave, tunnel by tunnel, foxhole by foxhole. To get at the Japanese, they had to rely not on the big guns or the big planes but on their M-1's (through most of 1942 on their '03 Springfields), Browning automatic rifles (BARs), machine guns, mortars, flamethrowers--in short, handheld weapons that they had to get close to the enemy to use."

In To America, Ambrose also teaches us about our Founding Fathers, Crazy Horse and Custer, Teddy Roosevelt, Vietnam, Nixon, American racism and more. Throughout, he celebrates the "unflappable American spirit."

Stephen Ambrose was one of my favorite historians. He was an excellent writer that brought a "you are there" quality to his works. In many cases, he actually had been there, such as on the Missouri River following the footsteps of Lewis and Clark, which made his books more authoritative and readable. Sadly, he passed away due to cancer in 2002, but he managed to finish this last work.

"To America" is a little bit memoir, a little bit "greatest hits," and a little bit patriotic hymn to America. In it, Ambrose discusses the Founding Fathers, the Battle of New Orleans, General Grant, Theodore Roosevelt, Ike, and, of course, World War II. However, he also has interesting things to say about nationbuilding, Richard Nixon, America's transformation in the 1960s, and what it's like to write history (10 hours of a day for a number of years, in case you're curious). If you like Ambrose's books, I would highly recommend it (the parts abut Eisenhower are especially interesting). If you've never read one of Ambrose's books, this is a readable introduction to his scholarship that will probably make you want to tackle some of his other books.

This made me proud to be an American and reenergized me to resist the current political climate we are in.

This turned out to be a personal look at history - how Ambrose became an historian and how he reacted to the things he chose to study. One of the things I really liked about it was his honesty in pointing out how he had gone with the academic crowd's current opinion when he first starting teaching, and where he has since come to a different opinion due to his own research and experiences. It was nice to hear an academic admit to having been wrong at some point, and to have changed his mind over the years. He has kept thinking throughout his career.

In some ways, he gives a balanced view of some of the more extreme events and problems the US has faced, but by the end of the book, it felt like a love song to America, which got a tad tedious. Still, I learned things I didn't know about this country, and thanks to things he said, I find myself grateful both to be an American and to be living in this country today.

Interesting reflections on a variety of points in American history... founding fathers, railroads, Roosevelt, WWII, Nixon, etc. Reads like a book of short stories - enjoy the ones you want and skip any in which you aren't interested.

A summary of of the life behind the impressive life’s work of Stephen Ambrose, and the conclusions he has reached. His thoughtful reflection on his many years as a American historian are a delight to read. He admits his mistakes over the years and some unique stances he still holds. In all it is a letter to a nation on why it is unique and special, and how to remain that way.

Excellent! Chapters each on an aspect or matter on American history. Among them thoughts of Washington and Jefferson, the transcontinental railroad, Grant and reconstruction, Eisenhower, WWII in the Pacific, the legacy of WWII, Vietnam, Nixon, American racism, Women's rights and immigration, etc. Each is written in chapter of about fifteen pages. This was a fascinating read. (and I'm not a history buff by any means.)

The form of this book reminded me of Barbara Tuchman's Practicing History. As their career comes to its end, authors of history have so many unused scraps, untold stories, unexplained episodes; of course, they stitch them together into another book. The memoir element is strong. Here is an opportunity to express their personal opinions, reactions and convictions.

What impressed me the most was how studying the documents changed Ambrose's mind about so many things. He often compares how he first taught a subject/person and how he revised it later, e.g. whether Truman was right in reference to Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

His chapter on Ulysses S. Grant made me dust off Grant's memoir and decide to read it this year. I've read about a quarter of the books Ambrose has published, and several more are calling my name.

A personal reflection on American history from a leading US Historian. It is a wide-ranging collections of essays about America's past and his views and opinions of the events and people that shaped this country. It also includes many things about his personal life and how it relates to the history of our country. Short read, good book!