(no subject)

[bzarcher]

So, Stephen Ambrose is dead.

I can't decide what I feel about this.

On the one hand, he probably did more to tear down my chosen vocation of Historian than anyone in the last 50 years, especially with his flagrant plagarization and blatant lies about some events.

Part of me is almost happy that he's gone, and perhaps his poison with him.

And yet....

This was a man. And for a long time, a good and respected man, until he fell into the trap he made of himself. He wrote good books. He taught a lot of people how to be better historians than he.

No man should die completely hated by those he worked so hard to educate.

Comments

[lanthinel.livejournal.com]

No man should die completely hated by those he worked so hard to educate.

But he didn't, did he? Your own words testify to that, sir.

If he finds any great testimonial over the coming years, it will most likely be such primarily private musings as your own.

Take that as you will.

[bzarcher.livejournal.com]

Point taken, and conceded.

[spoonybardol.livejournal.com]

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O_o
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Ok, I'm probably going to sound a bit stupid here, but who's Stephen Ambrose?

[bzarcher.livejournal.com]

Stephen Ambrose. Used to be a historian. Wrote some very important books on American history, especially post 1945.

However, in the last 10 years of his career, and life, he spent much of his time publishing 1 to 2 books a year that were either blatant forgeries of historical facts that never happened, or plagarized from his graduate students.