Contact: Kay Fike Jones
On April 15, historian and best-selling author Stephen E. Ambrose will help launch a new lecture series at Mississippi State University.
At a 7 p.m. public program in the McComas Hall auditorium, Ambrose will elaborate on one of his most popular books, "Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson and the Opening of the American West." He will discuss the friendship between Lewis and William Clark.
His visit inaugurates the College of Arts and Sciences' Tommie and Donald Zacharias Lecture Series. Donald Zacharias was MSU's 15th president and he and Mrs. Zacharias were the institution's first family 1985-97.
Published by Simon & Schuster, "Undaunted Courage" details both the 19th century expedition across western North America and the individual characters of the two adventurers.
Ambrose has written 17 books, including another best seller, "D-Day June 6, 1944: The Climactic Battle of World War II." Others have included multi-volume biographies of former presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and Richard Nixon.
He currently directs the Eisenhower Center and is president of the National D-Day Museum, both in New Orleans.
When not writing, he has served as an historical consultant for the blockbuster WWII film "Saving Private Ryan" and for "The Journey of the Corps of Discovery," a Ken Burns documentary on the Lewis and Clark expedition.
Former Boyd Professor of History at the University of New Orleans, Ambrose lives in Bay St. Louis.
For more information on his MSU lecture, telephone Jan Peacock at (601) 325-7095.
(Due to contractual agreements, no videotaping of Ambrose's speech will be permitted.)