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More copies of this ISBNThis title in other editionseBook editionsTo America: Personal Reflections of an Historianby Stephen E. Ambrose
Synopses & ReviewsPublisher Comments:In To America, Stephen E. Ambrose, one of the country's most influential historians, reflects on his long career as an American historian and explains what an historian's job is all about. He celebrates America's spirit, which has carried us so far. He confronts its failures and struggles. As always in his much acclaimed work, Ambrose brings alive the men and women, famous and not, who have peopled our history and made the United States a model for the world. Taking a few swings at today's political correctness, as well as his own early biases, Ambrose grapples with the country's historic sins of racism, its neglect and ill treatment of Native Americans, and its tragic errors (such as the war in Vietnam, which he ardently opposed on campus, where he was a professor). He reflects on some of the country's early founders who were progressive thinkers while living a contradiction as slaveholders, great men such as Washington and Jefferson. He contemplates the genius of Andrew Jackson's defeat of a vastly superior British force with a ragtag army in the War of 1812. He describes the grueling journey that Lewis and Clark made to open up the country, and the building of the railroad that joined it and produced great riches for a few barons. Ambrose explains the misunderstood presidency of Ulysses S. Grant, records the country's assumption of world power under the leadership of Theodore Roosevelt, and extols its heroic victory of World War II. He writes about women's rights and civil rights and immigration, founding museums, and nation- building. He contrasts the presidencies of Dwight Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, and Lyndon B. Johnson. Throughout, Ambrose celebrates the unflappable American spirit. Most important, Ambrose writes about writing history. "The last five letters of the word 'history' tell us that it is an account of the past that is about people and what they did, which is what makes it the most fascinating of subjects." To America is an instant classic for all those interested in history, patriotism, and the love of writing. Review:"To America is more than usually replete with retrospective judgments and the search for moral heroes and villains, and the reader often senses an appeal by Ambrose himself to be judged kindly....Despite not being a great historian, he reached an important lay audience without endorsing its every prejudice or sacrificing the profession's standards of scholarship. He may have deserved less than he got from his audience, but he certainly deserved better from some of his envious peers." William R. Everdell, The New York Times Book Review About the AuthorStephen E. Ambrose is the author of numerous books of history, including the New York Times bestsellers The Wild Blue, Nothing Like It in the World, Band of Brothers, Citizen Soldiers, Undaunted Courage, and D-Day, as well as multivolume biographies of Dwight D. Eisenhower and Richard Nixon. He lives in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, and Helena, Montana. Table of ContentsTable of Contents Preface: Storytelling One: The Founding Fathers Two: The Battle of New Orleans Three: The Indian Country Four: The Transcontinental Railroad Five: Grant and Reconstruction Six: Theodore Roosevelt and the Beginning of the American Century Seven: Democracy, Eisenhower, and the War in Europe Eight: The War in the Pacific Nine: The Legacy of World War II Ten: Vietnam Eleven: Writing in and About America Twelve: War Stories: Crazy Horse and Custer and Pegasus Bridge Thirteen: Writing About Nixon Fourteen: Writing About Men in Action, 1992-2001 Fifteen: The National D-Day Museum Sixteen: American Racism Seventeen: Women's Rights and Immigration Eighteen: The United States and Nation Building Nineteen: Nothing Like It in the World Acknowledgments Index Copyright © 2002 by Ambrose & Ambrose, Inc.
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History and Social Science » US History » 20th Century » General
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