National & world briefing
Famed historian Stephen Ambrose dies
Mark Feeney
The Boston Globe (U-WIRE)
Stephen E. Ambrose, whose stir
ring books on such heroic episodes
in U.S. history as D-Day and the
Lewis and Clark expedition made
him one of America’s best-selling
historians and earned him a Nation
al Humanities Medal in 1998, died
Sunday at a hospital in Bay St. Louis,
Miss. He was 66.
A longtime smoker, he was diag
nosed with lung cancer in April.
Ambrose, whose multivolume biog
raphies of Dwight Eisenhower and
Richard Nixon first brought him to
prominence in the 1980s, drew wide
spread attention earlier this year over
revelations that he had plagiarized a
number of brief passages in at least
five of his books. In each case, Am
brose had cited the sburce in his end
notes, but did not put quotation
marks around the words.
“I always thought plagiarism
meant using another people’s words
and ideas, pretending they were
your own and profiting from it,” Am
brose wrote in explanation of the in
cidents. “I do not do that, never have
done that and never will.”
The significance of his careless
ness remains in dispute; the cause
does not. Between 1996 and 2001,
he published no fewer than nine
books, as well as the revised edition
the chair.”
So prolific was Ambrose that in
2001, The Wall Street Journal
dubbed him and his various enter
prises — writing, lecturing, even
lending his name to historical tours
— “History Inc.”
Several things contributed to Am
brose’s popularity. One was his un
wavering emphasis on narrative. “As
I sit at my computer,” he once wrote,
“I think of myself as sitting around
the campfire after a day on the trail,
telling stories that I hope will have ...
readers leaning forward just a bit,
wanting to know what happens
next” *v'7
| Such an attitude made Ambrose a
throwback in an era when historian?
increasingly eschewed storytelling
for tndre analytical or interpretative
approaches, but It also made him a
favorite of millions of readers.
He “combined high standards of
scholarship with the capacity to
make history come alive for a lay au
dience,” said Arthur Schlesinger,
Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and
former aide to President Kennedy.
Ambrose was bom in Decatur, 111.,
the second of three brothers. His
parents were Stephen, a physician,
and Rosepha (Trippe), a housewife.
Growing up in the small town of
Whitewater, Wis., Ambrose was an
Eagle scout and hoped to follow in
his father’s footsteps as a general
practitioner.
At the University' of Wisconsin, he
played football and, captivated by a
course on American history, aban
doned the idea of medical school. Af
ter graduating, he earned a master’s
degree in history at Louisiana State
University, where he studied with T.
Harry Williams. He returned to Wis
consin for his doctorate.
Dr. Ambrose taught at the New
Orleans campus of Louisiana State
University (which later became the
University of New Orleans) from
1960 to 1966. He spent the next
three years at Johns Hopkins Uni
versity. While at Johns Hopkins, he
first demonstrated his interest in the
general reader, unsuccessfully seek
ing to become a columnist with The
Baltimore Evening Sun.
Dr. Ambrose’s first wife, Judith,
died in 1967. He leaves his wife,
Moira; and five children, Stephenie,
Barry, Andrew, Grace, and Hugh.
His last book, “To America: Person
al Reflections of an Historian,” which
he called his love song to his country,
is set for release next month.
Seth Mydans
New York Times
BALI, Indonesia — In the dark
and the screaming chaos, said one
survivor on Sunday, it was some
times hard to know whether the
man who appeared to be running
toward him through the flames was
alive or already dead.
“Like you look at their face and
you can’t make anything out;
there’s nothing left,” said Jared
Kays, 23, a vacationer from London.
“People were missing ears, people
were missing limbs, their skin was
peeling off.”
On the morning after what may
have been the deadliest terrorist at
tack since Sept. 11 last year, what
remained of two discos on this sun
ny tourist island looked as if they
had been bombed from the air in
stead of from the roadside.
™ *
The ear bombing just before mid
night on Saturday sent fire raging
through a dozen buildings at Kuta
Beach, witk its bars and dance
clubs. It is one of the world’s most
popular vacation spots for surfers,
backpackers and college students.
The death toll continued to climb
on Sunday, to at least 182, most of
the dead being foreigners on vaca
tion. A dozen of the 300 injured sur
vivors were reported to be in critical
condition, and another 30 bodies
were estimated still to be buried in
the rubble.
On Sunday* the survivors de
scribed what seemed to be two ex
plosions, the first small one sound
Luke, 22, of Britain, whose Australian
boyfriend was killed in the fire.
“We were all dancing away, some
cheesy pop song," she said. “We
stopped and looked at each other.
‘What was that sound?1 We sort of
laughed nervously and carried on
dancing. And within five or ten sec
onds, voom! Your feet were just
sucked out from under you. I was
lying on the floor. Everything was
black.
It was crackling with flames.
Though Investigators have only
begun their work, diplomats — and
President Bush as well — made no
secret of their belief that this was
the latest of a recent series of at
tacks linked to al-Qaetla.
“On behalf of the people of
the United States, I condemn
this heinous act,” Bush said on
Sunday in a statement, “The world
must confront this global menace,
terrorism.
“We must together challenge and
defeat the idea that the wanton
killing of innocents advances any
cause or supports any aspirations.
And we must call this despicable act
by its rightful name: murder.”
The U.S. Embassy in Jakarta, In
donesia’s capital, denounced the at
tack as “a despicable act of terror.”
The explosion at the nightclubs
came almost at the same moment
as a smaller blast near the U.S.
consulate here that caused no in
juries. Earlier Saturday, a suspect
ed homemade bomb shattered win
dows but caused no injuries at the
Philippine consulate in the Indone
sian city of Manado.
The day’s attacks followed a half
dozen other bombings in Southeast
Asia in the past three weeks. These
included two in the southern Philip
pines that killed one American sol
dier and at least 11 Filipinos and a
grenade explosion near a U.S. Em
bassy residence in Jakarta.
_ S r
Police know more them they will say about sniper
Bob Dart
Cox News Service (U-WIRE)
WASHINGTON — Urging a fearful
community to “keep the faith,” in
vestigators indicated Sunday that
they know more than they’re saying
about the serial sniper who shot 10
people in 10 days.
“We don’t want to release any
thing that may cause the media or
anyone to think they’re a suspect,”
federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco
and Firearms agent Mike Bouchard
told reporters. “We don’t want them
to fear they are going to be labeled as
a suspect.”
“Please rest assured, when we
have something we are confident
media can help us with, we will use
that,” echoed Montgomery County
police Chief Charles Moose.
“It is a fine balance” in deciding
what to tell the public without tip
ping off the killer, Moose explained at
a morning briefing. “We want people
to keep the faith.”
Moose and other investigators
have refused to say whether they
have eyewitness descriptions of the
sniper or pictures from surveil
lance cameras that show him. Fir
ing 10 bullets, the sniper left eight
people dead and two wounded be
tween Oct. 2 and Oct. 11, when the
latest killing occurred.
Investigators are checking Penta
gon files about soldiers who have
been recently discharged and have
had sniper training, Time Magazine
is reporting in the issue to hit news
stands on Monday.
A Georgia man has also told the
New York Post that police showed
him a picture of a suspected sniper
taken from a video surveillance tape
at one of the shooting scenes.
Robert Epps, 36, said he was
questioned by police near the site
of the latest killing — a gas station
off an 1-95 exit near Massaponax,
Va. He said the investigators com
pared his face to the picture on
the tape.
“They thought I was the sniper,”
Epps told the newspaper. He was
later released.
Peace Corps
Get ready to redefine your world!
University of Oregon
October 15-16, 2002
Information Table
EMU Lobby
10:00 am to 3:00 pm - both days
Slide Show and Information Meeting
International Resource Center - EMU
7:00 to 8:30 pm - October 16 only
Peace Corps recruiter Jay Minert will be on campus to
answer your questions. Stop by his information table
and discuss the interesting possibilities Peace Corps has
to offer. Be sure to catch his slide show in the evening
too. There will be plenty of time for questions.
www.peacecorps.gov
(800) 424-8580 - Option 1
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