Thursday, September 4, 2008

What Are You Reading?

Last week I finished listening to the audio book of To America: Personal Reflections of an Historian by Stephen Ambrose and I highly recommend it. Stephen Ambrose was one of America's premier historical authors and this is his final book.





From Amazon:

"I am a storyteller by training and inclination," writes the late Stephen Ambrose in To America, his final book. And what a storyteller. One of the most respected and popular historians of his era, Ambrose had a passion for making the events of the past both relevant and entertaining. In these pages, he touches on many of the subjects that he devoted his career to, including presidents Eisenhower and Nixon, the journey of Lewis and Clark, the building of the transcontinental railroad, and the citizen soldiers of World War II. He also writes about his own personal story and his role as a historian. In detailing a family camping trip to Wounded Knee (an outing which directly led to his dual biography of Crazy Horse and George Armstrong Custer) or offering tips on vivid historical writing (keep your narration in hronological order; keep the reader guessing; and never use the passive voice), he shares what it is like to reflect upon the triumphs and mistakes of the past and why it is so important to pass those stories on to the next generation.

He uses snippets from his other books as he covers these many subjects and it provides a good taste of other possible books to read.

Enjoy!