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Readers know their authors primarily through their works. They can meet authors at book signings, hear them at lectures, or see them on C-SPAN 2 late at night talking to Brian Lamb. Unless we are very lucky, though, we do not often get to cross paths with the authors whose works we read and admire. We do not have the opportunity to know them outside of the printed page, to see what they do, or to know what they are thinking.
One of the remarkable things about TO AMERICA, the final book by historian Stephen Ambrose, is that it opens a window on his career outside of his writings. Fans of Ambrose know, through his dust jackets if nothing else, that he was a longtime professor at the University of New Orleans. But few of those who read his great narratives on American history (THE WILD BLUE, CITIZEN SOLDIERS, UNDAUNTED COURAGE) had the chance to attend one of his lectures and hear him discuss the events about which he wrote so masterfully. TO AMERICA is as close as the reader will get to hearing Ambrose lecture about the topics he knows best.
Ambrose's topics are well-chosen, timely and authoritative. The lectures primarily center on "admired Americans" --- leaders such as George Washington, Ulysses Grant and Dwight Eisenhower. But a few villains find their way into the book, notably Richard Nixon. The approach Ambrose uses in TO AMERICA is reflective and retrospective, looking at the overall legacy of his subjects. He often acknowledges that his conclusions about these men have changed over the course of time. For example, he tells us that he used to criticize Andrew Jackson roundly for his treatment of Native Americans, but has since come to the conclusion that Jackson's leadership in the Battle of New Orleans --- and the importance of that victory ---salvages his reputation as a great American.
TO AMERICA is at least partially a critique of revisionist history, but Ambrose's primary mission is to tell good stories, particularly those that define and awaken the great American spirit. He accomplishes that last mission bravely. TO AMERICA is "a valediction forbidding mourning", a great final celebration of one of America's great narrative historians. It is a great tribute to America and the final piece of Ambrose's great legacy.
Finally, fittingly, the last word of the last page of TO AMERICA is "future".
--- Reviewed by Curtis Edmonds (curtis@txreviews.com) who writes movie reviews at http://www.txreviws.com/
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