Correspondence
Correspondence AMBROSE EXPOSED FRED BARNES deserves praise for exposing Stephen Ambrose's plagiarism ("Stephen Ambrose, Copycat," Jan. 14). I find Thomas Childers's attitude surprising considering...
...I have read every book on the building of the transcontinental railroad, and some of my good friends on the Union Pacific spent considerable time with Ambrose...
...The man has done an awful lot of good work...
...Childers himself may have lifted "up, up, and away" from Superman, and readers should note that "glittering like mica" is not that rare a simile...
...May more people hear Brooks's voice, reminding us of what matters most...
...But who today believes in these three graces...
...It seems to me the only way to do so is to cultivate wisdom and virtue...
...What concerns me more is that I felt the same way about Nothing Like It in the World...
...This is the core of any serious education reform and the mission of my service...
...Truth, goodness, and beauty...
...I never heard anymore about it, so Barnes's story was vindication of sorts...
...Ambrose's Band of Brothers and Undaunted Courage are outstanding, as are his other books on World War II, so it pains me to see less than his usual skill...
...I flew 35 missions over Germany in World War II and was struck by the many inaccuracies in Ambrose's account— casualty figures, etc...
...Pity the poor undergraduates who follow this example thinking that they, like Ambrose, will have a chance to simply rewrite their papers...
...While some of the sentences in the books are similar, the aim of Ambrose's and Thomas Childers's narratives is different, and Ambrose does credit Childers in four footnotes...
...Our work ended up on the front page of the Sacramento Bee on January 1, 2001...
...They, like me, looked forward to the book...
...It would be better if we accepted the use of phrases and fragments of ideas that circulate like language...
...From the Eighth Air Force, 26,000 were killed, 18,000 wounded, and 20,000 were taken prisoner of war, and it is upsetting to me to see someone making money out of it, particularly if he doesn't know what he is talking about...
...I wrote to Fox News when Ambrose was interviewed about his latest book, The Wild Blue...
...The lesson seems to be that once acquired, literary fame provides ample shelter from otherwise life-altering mistakes...
...It seemed rushed and in need of some good editing...
...ADAM SHERMAN Chicago, IL KUDOS TO FRED BARNES for his exposé of Stephen Ambrose...
...It did not have the usual Ambrose flow...
...Childers is apparently not only a better writer, but also far too kindhearted...
...Childers says he "doesn't want to go after Stephen Ambrose...
...Perhaps that too contains the work of others that has simply gone unnoticed...
...To Childers I say this: When weak crediting occurs on this scale with students, we automatically question their body of previous work...
...DOUGLAS SPENCER Dunedin, FL FRED BARNES'S article on Stephen Ambrose was not very damning...
...G.J...
...I was disappointed when I read The Wild Blue...
...Thus, to cultivate wisdom and virtue requires that we nourish the soul...
...ANDREW KERN CIRCE Ministries Charlotte, NC...
...Graves Newcastle, CA IN FRED BARNES'S detailed account of the apparent plagiarism by author Stephen Ambrose, he reports that Thomas Childers hasn't written Ambrose...
...Michael Zeugin Vernon, NJ I AM AN AVID STEPHEN AMBROSE FAN, but I admit that Fred Barnes's comments on Ambrose and The Wild Blue are right on...
...I find Thomas Childers's attitude surprising considering that a student of his caught committing the same offense would likely face expulsion...
...I found it used 1,300 times in a quick Google search...
...JON LEE Perrysburg, OH SEIZING THE MOMENT I WAS STRUCK by David Brooks's first priority for the new era: developing character in an age of affluence ("A Moment to Be Seized," Jan...
...MARCOS MARTINEZ Cambridge, MA ABOUT A YEAR AGO, I chaired a committee of historians that wrote a 25page document which set down some 50 major errors in Stephen Ambrose's Nothing Like It in the World, a novel written as a history of the building of the Pacific Railroad...
...So when I read Barnes's article, and particularly Childers's comment, I think, "good work...
...But it too needed much more research and extensive editing...
...And what does the soul feed on...
...But that requires belief in the soul, because the soul is the seat of wisdom and virtue...
...I worry about that, too...
...From there the World War II experts went to work, and now Fred Barnes has taken up the cudgels against the sloppy work of Stephen Ambrose...
Vol. 7 • January 2002 • No. 18
