斯蒂芬·E·安布罗斯

斯蒂芬·爱德华·安布罗斯（英语：Stephen Edward Ambrose，1936年1月10日—2002年10月13日）是美国著名的历史学家及传记作家，曾替艾森豪威尔及尼克松两位美国总统撰写传记，而且他长时间担任新奥尔良大学的名誉历史学教授。1994年，他出版了一本有关诺曼底登陆的历史书，随即成为畅销作家，第56届金球奖最佳电影《拯救大兵瑞恩》亦邀请安布罗斯担任历史顾问。1998年，他荣获美国国家人文奖章，并获得塞缪尔·艾略特·莫里森奖。 2000年，他获得美国东南杰出公共服务奖章。2002年，安布罗斯因肺癌在贝圣路易斯一家医院病逝。

Stephen Edward Ambrose (January 10, 1936 – October 13, 2002) was an American historian and author whose work focused particularly on World War II, the American West, and the lives of U.S. presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and Richard Nixon. He taught history from 1960 until his retirement in 1995 and was a member of the University of New Orleans faculty from 1971, becoming Boyd Professor of History in 1989. He also founded the university's Eisenhower Center and co-founded the National D-Day Museum, later designated the National World War II Museum.

Ambrose's books included The Supreme Commander and a two-volume biography of Eisenhower, a three-volume biography of Nixon, Band of Brothers (1992), D-Day (1994), Undaunted Courage (1996), Citizen Soldiers (1997), Nothing Like It in the World (2000), and The Wild Blue (2001). D-Day became his first bestseller, while Citizen Soldiers and Undaunted Courage also appeared on The New York Times best-seller lists. He received the National Humanities Medal and the Samuel Eliot Morison Prize in 1998, among other awards.

Ambrose's work was also the subject of controversies over plagiarism and historical accuracy. Several of his books were found to contain plagiarized passages, with a Forbes investigation tracing the pattern back to his doctoral dissertation. After his death, presidential library records contradicted his claims of having conducted hundreds of hours of interviews with Eisenhower, showing that the two had met only three times for fewer than five hours in total; this led several historians to conclude that Ambrose had fabricated interviews and exaggerated his access.

Early life and education

Ambrose was born on January 10, 1936, in Lovington, Illinois, to Rosepha Trippe Ambrose and Stephen Hedges Ambrose. His father was a physician who served in the U.S. Navy during World War II. Ambrose was raised in Whitewater, Wisconsin, where he graduated from Whitewater High School. His family also owned a farm in Lovington, Illinois, and vacation property in Marinette County, Wisconsin.

He attended college at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where he was a member of Chi Psi fraternity and played on the University of Wisconsin football team for three years. Ambrose planned to major in pre-medicine, but changed his major to history after hearing the first lecture in a U.S. history class entitled Representative Americans in his sophomore year. The course was taught by William B. Hesseltine, whom Ambrose credits with fundamentally shaping his writing and igniting his interest in history.

While at Wisconsin, Ambrose was a member of the Navy and Army ROTC. He graduated with a B.A. in 1957. Ambrose received a master's degree in history from Louisiana State University in 1958, studying under T. Harry Williams. Ambrose then went on to earn a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1963, under Hesseltine.

Career

Academic positions

Ambrose was a history professor from 1960 until his retirement in 1995. From 1971 onward, he was a member of the University of New Orleans faculty, where he was named the Boyd Professor of History in 1989, an honor given only to faculty who attain "national or international distinction for outstanding teaching, research, or other creative achievement". During the 1969–70 academic year, he was the Ernest J. King Professor of Maritime History at the Naval War College. While teaching at Kansas State University as the Dwight D. Eisenhower Professor of War and Peace during the 1970–1971 academic year, Ambrose participated in the heckling of Richard Nixon during a speech the president gave on the KSU campus. Given pressure from the KSU administration and having job offers elsewhere, upon finishing out the year Ambrose offered to leave and the offer was accepted.