Historians Speak

Leading Historians Explain Their Take On Historical Events.


To America: Personal Reflections of an Historian
by Stephen E. Ambrose

One of the most popular historians of our time looks back on his life--and on America's history--in a valediction that powerfully weaves together personal experience and historical insights. Ambrose touches on the founding fathers, the early encounters with the Plains Indians, World War II, Vietnam, Women's rights and other topics.



American Heritage: Great Minds of History
by Roger Mudd, American Heritage Publishing Staff

The great historians of our day take you on an exhilarating tour through the crucial moments in American history. Stephen Ambrose discusses World War II and Nixon, David McCullough on the importance of History and the Industrial Era, James McPherson on civil rights and the Civil War, Richard White on pioneers and Westward Expansion, and Gordon Wood on the Colonial era and American Revolution.


What Ifs? of American History: Eminent Historians Imagine What Might Have Been
by Robert Cowley, Antony Beevor

Prominent historians speculate about some of America's more intriguing crossroads. Some irresistible highlights include: Caleb Carr (The Alienist) on America had there been no Revolution; Tom Wicker on the first time a vice president, John Tyler, succeeded a deceased president and its surprising ramifications; Jay Winik (April 1865) on the havoc that might have resulted if Booth had succeeded in his plan to assassinate Johnson and Seward as well as Lincoln; and Robert Dallek (An Unfinished Life about John F. Kennedy) on one of the most agonizing American "what if"s of all: what might have happened if JFK hadn't been assassinated.


What Might Have Been: Imaginary History from Twelve Leading Historians
by Andrew Roberts

Throughout history, great and terrible events have often hinged on chance. Here, historian Andrew Roberts has assembled a team of his prominent colleagues, asking them to consider what might have happened if major world events had gone differently. Amanda Foreman, author of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, ponders what might have happened if Lincoln’s Northern States of America and Queen Victoria’s Great Britain had gone to war, as they so nearly did in 1861. George W. Bush’s former White House adviser, David Frum, considers a President Al Gore’s response to 9/11, while Conrad Black wonders how the U.S. might have entered World War II if the Japanese had not bombed Pearl Harbor.

TB