Band of Brothers mini series - strangecharms

Stephen E. Ambrose 15
Pacific Railroad
A front page article published in The Sacramento (CA) Bee on January 1, 2001, entitled Area Historians Rail Against
Inaccuracies in Book, [38] 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 non-academic popular history about the construction of the Pacific Railroad between Council Bluffs,
Iowa/Omaha, Nebraska and the San Francisco Bay at Alameda/Oakland via Sacramento, California, which was
published in August, 2000. The discrepancies were documented in a detailed "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. [25][39][40]
On January 11, 2001, 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. [41] 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 word origins, [42] while Don L. Hofsommer agreed that the book "confuses
facts" and that "The research might best be characterized as 'once over lightly'." [43]
The Eisenhower controversy
In the introduction to Ambrose's biography of Eisenhower he claims that Eisenhower approached him after having
read his previous biography of Henry Halleck, but Tim Rives, Deputy Director of the Eisenhower Presidential
Center, says it was Ambrose who contacted Eisenhower and suggested the project, [44][45] as shown by a letter from
Ambrose found in the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum. [46]
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, for
instance, Ambrose stated that he spent "a lot of time with Ike, really a lot, hundreds and hundreds of hours"
interviewing 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." [7] Rives has stated, however, that a number of
the interview dates Ambrose cites in his 1970 book, The Supreme Commander, cannot be reconciled with
Eisenhower's personal schedule. The former president's diary and telephone show that the pair met only three times,
for a total of less than five hours. [16][44] Later, Ambrose was less specific when citing dates of interviews with
Eisenhower. [44][45]
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)
• Eisenhower and Berlin, 1945: The Decision to Halt at the Elbe, New York: W.W. Norton (1967)
• 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
• Pegasus Bridge: June 6, 1944, New York: Simon & Schuster (1985) ISBN 0-671-52374-0
• 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
• Nixon: The Triumph of a Politician, 1962-1972, New York: Simon & Schuster (1990) ISBN 0-671-52837-8