Author accused of copying Penn prof

Stephen Ambrose, a best selling author and historian, has come under fire for plagiarizing the work of Penn History professor Thomas Childers.

Fred Barnes, The Weekly Standard's executive editor, writes in a cover story that portions of Ambrose's latest book, The Wilde Blue, are nearly identical to corresponding passages in Wings of Morning, a 1995 book by Childers.

Both books tell the stories of B-24 bomber crews in World War II, but while Ambrose credits Wings of Morning in a footnote, he does not attribute quotes to Childers or acknowledge using Childers' language.

Childers, who read Wild Blue over the summer, said he had noticed the similarity between his writing and Ambrose's, although he did not make efforts to publicize it.

"I was really disappointed in it because in general I've respected Stephen Ambrose," Childers said.

Initially, Ambrose's publisher, Simon & Schuster, defended the citation given in Wild Blue. On Saturday, however, Ambrose made an official apology, according to an article published in The New York Times.

"I made a mistake for which I am sorry. It will be corrected in future editions of the book," Ambrose was quoted as saying in the article.

Childers is satisfied with this apology, and has said that he still holds Ambrose in high regard. In fact, Childers will use Ambrose's book Band of Brothers as a supplement to his History 431 course, entitled "World at War," which he will teach this semester.

"I thought that was a pretty classy thing to do," Childers said of Ambrose's apology.

Childers has known about the similarities for quite a while, although he did not wish to publicize the matter.

"I certainly didn't want a lawsuit," Childers said.

Adam Rothberg, a spokesman for Simon and Schuster, said the passages in question will appear in quotation marks in future editions.

Among the passages under scrutiny in Barnes' column were several in which Ambrose's writing directly echoes Childers' earlier work.

For example, in one section of Wild Blue, Ambrose writes "Up, up, up he went, until he got above the clouds. No amount of practice could have prepared the pilot and crew for what they encountered -- B-24s, glittering like mica, were popping up out of the clouds over here, over there, everywhere."

This passage is visibly similar to one that Childers included in Wings of Morning, which reads, "Up, up, up, groping through the clouds for what seems like an eternity... No amount of practice could have prepared them for what they encountered. B-24s, glittering like mica, were popping up out of the clouds all over the sky."

In spite of mixed reviews, Ambrose's Wild Blue rose quickly on the New York Times non-fiction list. Last week, it was ranked in 12th place.

Ambrose is a renowned World War II historian and bestselling author with more than 25 books. The Wild Blue tells the story of former senator and presidential candidate George McGovern's experience as a soldier during World War II.

Childers, who has been a history professor at Penn since 1976, tells the story of his uncle's B-24 crew in World War II in Wings of Morning. It sold fifteen thousand copies in hardcover and remains available in paperback.

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