Author Topic: Stephen Ambrose (Read 256 times)

Kratzer · « **on:** January 23, 2002, 04:50:29 PM »

Is anyone else just kind of sickened to hear all this toejam about Ambrose plagiarizing in his books?

I really enjoyed his books, and respected him as a writer who had contributed some great works about the actual experiences of the troops who fought WWII. It just makes me sad as all hell to hear that he's ripped off writers who don't have his renown, and that someone who has done so many good things to educate people about WWII would do something that completley undermines his credibility.

Sad, sad toejam.

the_hegemon · « **Reply #1 on:** January 23, 2002, 04:53:21 PM »

ummm..I only heard of 2-3 instances in one of his books. Are there more?

Kratzer · « **Reply #2 on:** January 23, 2002, 04:56:42 PM »

I've heard as many as 5 books contain uncredited, verbatim passages.

In any case, all it takes is one...

midnight Target · « **Reply #3 on:** January 23, 2002, 05:07:12 PM »

He wrote so much, but it is 5 books now with "uncredited passages".

article

the_hegemon · « **Reply #4 on:** January 23, 2002, 05:08:54 PM »

"Since the beginning of the new year, reporters and scholars have, in at least four of Ambrose's 25-plus books, found instances in which the now-retired University of New Orleans history professor lifted sentences, phrases and paragraphs from other works without proper attribution in the text. The books are "The Wild Blue: The Men and Boys Who Flew the B-24s over Germany" (2000), "Citizen Soldiers" (1997), and "Nixon: Ruin and Recovery 1973-1990" (1991), all published by Simon & Schuster, as well as the much-earlier "Crazy Horse and Custer.""

from the Chicago Tribune

That is too bad. I only heard about the first allegation, and nothing more.

Charon · « **Reply #5 on:** January 24, 2002, 10:29:49 AM »

As a writer, I don't think it's that hard to accidently pull general ideas and similar phrases from other sources without attribution, particularly ideas that are fairly commonly held. In some cases it's very hard not to restate a factual point in a markedly different manner than the last five sources you have reviewed.

However, verbatim, direct quotations are another matter unless he planned on referenceing the source and it just got lost in the editing and rewriting process -- which I suppose could happen without too much trouble in a massive project. Still, not very good for his reputation as a historian and writer.

Charon

Dinger · « **Reply #6 on:** January 24, 2002, 11:04:53 AM »

I do history at the moment -- I publish really boring pieces about obscure bits of nonsense having soemthing to do with seeing God.
Plagiarism happens all the time. When someone's caught, it's usually a really bad instance of it. This is the tip of the iceberg guys.