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Lewis and Clark Stop celebrating. They don't matter. By David Plotz Posted Friday, August 16, 2002, at 7:40 AM PT The American infatuation with Lewis and Clark grows more fervent with every passing year. The adventurers have become our Extreme Founding Fathers, as essential to American history as George Washington and Thomas Jefferson but a lot more fun. Last month, President Bush announced the Lewis and Clark bicentennial celebration, a three-year, 15-state pageant that begins Jan. 18 in Virginia and could draw as many as 25 million tourists to the Lewis and Clark trail by the time it wraps up...

On June 6, 2012—the 68th anniversary of D-Day—a statue of Maj. Dick Winters was unveiled in the Normandy village of Sainte-Marie-du-Mont. Winters was the commander of Easy Company, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division after they parachuted into Normandy on June 6, 1944. His heroism and leadership was documented in the Stephen Ambrose book and mini-series "Band of Brothers". A young student named Jordan Brown—who lives just a few miles from Winters' Pennsylvania home—raised $99,000 selling armbands stamped with a phrase Winters used: "Hang Tough." The money was used to help pay for the statue of the late Mr....

Jefferson, a member of the gentry of Old Virginia, was always regarded as one of the best and brightest of his generation, a gentleman of the finest intellect, taste, and manners. Although Jefferson loved and was loyal to the Union, he was a Virginian first and an American second; Virginia, Jefferson avowed, was his “country.” This order of allegiance – State over Union, or “Society” over “the State” – was firmly rooted in the Old South. Accordingly, in the emerging conflict between the North and the South, Jefferson sided with his own country. “It is true that we are completely...

Was one of America's most revered popular historians fabricating his own material? That's the explosive charge now levied at Stephen Ambrose, author of numerous bestselling military and presidential histories. The author of "D-Day" and "Band of Brothers" died in 2002, but several authorities have recently questioned the writer's accounts of his research for "Supreme Commander," a massive two-volume biography of Dwight D. Eisenhower. At a minimum, Ambrose's critics say, he had vastly exaggerated the amount of time he spent interviewing the former president; and at worst, they suggest, he simply made up long stretches of the book. The U.K. Guardian...

His book Band of Brothers – which chronicled the exploits of one company of US airborne troops in second world war Europe – was turned into a highly praised TV series. But now American historian Professor Stephen Ambrose, who was President Dwight D Eisenhower's official biographer and wrote or edited more than a dozen books about him, is embroiled in a posthumous controversy. It is alleged that he invented many meetings he claimed to have had with Eisenhower, and even fabricated entire interviews with him. The revelations have sent shock waves through the scholarly community in the United States. The...

Please see following posts for URL links to the discussion threads for Parts 1, 2, 3 and 4 of the series. (VOA's boilerplate from prior threads) All commentary regarding personal experience, family tales of WWII, and critique of how Burns (and PBS) handles topics are welcome. Hopefully the threads on the seven episodes will serve as guides when this large documentary becomes required viewing in high schools. Comments on how Burns handled the documenatry (positive, negative, or neutral) will come in handy when "the younger generation" sees the series. Especially if Burns takes a "Smithsonian" tact to some topics...leaving people...

"Band of Brothers" is airing now (Saturday, 12:30PM Central) on The History Channel. Interesting that it should air on the weekend following the airing of the first four parts of Ken Burns'/PBS's "The War". Opinions about the relative merits of the two WWII-ear shows are welcome. ee following posts for URLs for the discussion threads for Parts 1-4 of "The War".

The foundation marked Gormley’s achievement with a donation of books — seven volumes of the journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition — to the Tomlinson Library at Mesa State College. The journals of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark... were edited by Gary Moulton and published by the University of Nebraska Press. They are known among today’s historians as the best and most current version of the duo’s journey through the American West. Mesa State College Library Director Elizabeth Brodak said the fact that the books are forms of primary source material... “Anyone who wishes to get that flavor for...

J$P Instant Transcript! Eric Burns tells Shepard Smith that he knows the identity of Deep Throat. SHEPARD SMITH [FOX NEWS]: Well it's a mystery that's gripped the nation for large periods of time over the last three decades. Who was it that tipped off the reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein about the Watergate scandal, leading to the collapse of the Nixon White House? Fox's media analyst Eric Burns says he knows. How do you know? Who is it? ERIC BURNS [FOX NEWS]: Because someone who is in a position to know, and who is fairly recently deceased, and I...

'Someone in a Position to Know Told Me' J$P Instant Transcript! Eric Burns tells Shepard Smith that he knows the identity of Deep Throat. From Studio-B with Shepard Smith, February 18 2005: SHEPARD SMITH [FOX NEWS]: Well it's a mystery that's gripped the nation for large periods of time over the last three decades. Who was it that tipped off the reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein about the Watergate scandal, leading to the collapse of the Nixon White House? Fox's media analyst Eric Burns says he knows. How do you know? Who is it? ERIC BURNS [FOX NEWS]:...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The nation's largest group of professional historians has scrapped the way it handles plagiarism allegations, doing away with secret proceedings in an effort to spotlight problems when they arise. The American Historical Association decided to end its 15-year practice of adjudication, where complaints were heard, discussed and decided behind closed doors. The focus now will be to educate historians, students and the public. The change comes after high-profile plagiarism cases involving historians Doris Kearns Goodwin and the late Stephen Ambrose, as well as former New York Times reporter Jayson Blair. On Saturday, The New York Times reported...

<p>NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- Stephen E. Ambrose, whose best-selling books made America's aging World War II veterans hometown heros again, died early Sunday at a Bay St. Louis, Miss., hospital.</p> <p>Ambrose, a longtime smoker, was diagnosed with lung cancer in April.</p>

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Historian Stephen Ambrose has been diagnosed with lung cancer.Ambrose, 65, a longtime smoker, learned of his illness Friday and said he will discuss treatment options with doctors soon."I have spent a good part of my career studying men and women who faced uncertainty about the future," Ambrose said Tuesday in a prepared statement. "Now I find myself facing a great challenge, and I am focusing on a course of action based on a balance of good sense and cautious optimism."Ambrose has written more than 25 books, including best sellers "Citizen Soldiers," "Band of Brothers," and "Undaunted...