Ambrose, Stephen (1936–2002)

US historian. A prolific writer, he published more than 30 books, many of them on World War II. Several of his books, including Band of Brothers (1993), D-day (1994), and Undaunted Courage (1996) became bestsellers. He was also known for his biographies of US presidents Dwight D Eisenhower and Richard Nixon, and American Civil War leaders Crazy Horse and Gen George Custer.

Ambrose was raised in Whitewater, Wisconsin. He received a BA and a PhD from the University of Wisconsin. He was a history professor at a number of US and European universities from 1960 to 1995. In 2000, he founded the National D-day Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana. As a historical consultant, he worked on projects such as US film director Steven Spielberg's World War II film Saving Private Ryan (1998).

Ambrose became the centre of a controversy in 2002 when he was accused of plagiarism. He admitted that he had failed to attribute direct quotations in the footnotes to some of his books.