To America: Personal Reflections of an Historian

Stephen Ambrose knew how to write history that was accessible, gripping, solid, and pretty much on target. He had planned to write a work similiar to "Band of Brothers" and "The Victors" about the Pacific War, when he was told he had terminal cancer. Like U.S. Grant, a man whom Ambrose had written much of and clearly respected, Ambrose faced death not just with courage - but fighting to the end as he wrote this historical love song to America. In "To America", Ambrose writes movingly about himself, his family, why he chose to be a Historian,the great American Historians who were his mentors - Hesseltine and T. Harry Williams, how his M.A. thesis - the published biography of the Civil War General Henry Halleck prompted Dwight Eisenhower to call upon Ambrose to edit his papers. Ambrose also writes how he never wanted to write about Richard Nixon, but having done so, found himself respecting, if not liking that complex former President. In "To America" Ambrose writes about our major events in a narrative that reads as if he were talking to the American people in their living rooms. He writes how: - U.S. Grant meant to enforce Reconstruction and preserve the rights of Black Americans, but was unable to do so because the weary North no longer had the desire nor the will to confront a bitter South over Reconstruction policies 10 years after Appomattox. - That there was no deliberate policy by the U.S. Government to wipe out the Indian tribes; but that a combination of factors, disease, inter-tribal conflict, even buffalo killing by Native Americans, as well as White lies, Manifest Destiny, and the Plains Wars marked the demise of the Indian grip on the territories of the West. - He writes how he originally felt revulsion over the Atom Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, until he discovered how fully prepared Japan was to commit collective hari-kari over an American invasion of the home islands. He cites how one American officer, future NATO commander Andrew Goodpaster, in projecting American casualties, figured that 800,000 Americans would either be killed or wounded in an assault on Japan, and that Truman's decision to drop the bombs was not only a just one - but a necessary one that saved the lives of both Americans and Japanese. - He writes of how he was educated to dislike Theodore Roosevelt as a blowhard and braggart - and then grew to admire him for both his domestic and foreign policies. - And how he met and wrote about those "Bands of Brothers", whether they be the men from U.S. 101st Airborne who fought from the Normandy Drop Zones to Hitler's "Eagles Nest", Major John Howard, of the British 6th Airborne who secured "Pegasus Bridge" and of the German Panzer General Von Luck, who opposed Howard and the Red Berets at Pegasus Bridge yet became a firm friend of that gallant man of the Airborne after the war. - He writes of how he grew to dislike and vocally oppose our Vietnam involvement yet how he also fully respected the American soldie

Mr. Ambrose presents a fascinating life in To America. After years a research and telling the stories of history, and helping his readers to comprehend pivotal events in history, Mr. Ambrose lets us into his heart and mind. It has always amazed me how historians can write and research on subjects they dislike; Ambrose gives us perspective on Nixon and almost thankless characters from history. What is so extraordinary is the care with which Ambrose tells the story of the people and events he admires and respects. A historian makes a unique kind of patriot: a believer in the American way of life who loves it so much that he can talk of the very best and the very worst of our society. In this book, Ambrose steps into the whirlwind of public opinion rather than writing observations from the outside. It shows us his love of the land, and most of all, his love of the people, all of the people, who have shaped our great nation over the last 2 centuries.

Whenever Stephen Ambrose would be asked which of his books is his best, he would answer by saying his latest one. This effort entitled "To America" is not the longest by any stretch, but of the half dozen of his books that I have read, I enjoyed this one the most. Ambrose covers America from our country's beginnings right into the year 2002 when he died. Obviously he can't go into the detail he did in other efforts, but he covers our nation's history in succinct detail and explaining why he admires men such as Ulysses Grant, Andrew Jackson, Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower, and Jackie Robinson. History, Ambrose tells us, "is about people, and nothing could be more fascinating to people than other people, living in a different time, in different circumstances." This is about people who are well known and those who are not, who have made significant contributions to America who we owe a debt of thanks for their life. Ambrose says the technological improvements of the 19th century became killing machines that turned the great wars of the 20th century into the worst century ever. Racism, women's rights, nation building, and the threat we face from the Islamic world are other subjects Ambrose touches on. The book is only 252 pages long, and if you are looking for an outstanding summary of our country's history this book will certainly hold your interest.

I strongly recommend this book to be read as a goodbye from Ambrose. A wave goodbye from the other side with a final word, "History should be studied by objective minds that refuse to view the people of the past through the eyes of our 21st century." Ambrose covers a lot of territory in this book; therefore he presents the most important points of the subject at hand. A previous reviewer was unfair in his assessment of Ambrose not going into as much detail as he should. If he had, then it would've required a separate book for each subject. Ambrose's last testament begs the question of how political correctness has bastardized history and that it's time historians and professors document history correctly and teach it honestly.