Simon & Schuster to Publish Novel by Stephen E. Ambrose

Posted on May 2, 2003

Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing, has announced plans to publish the first and only work of fiction by the late renowned historian, Stephen E. Ambrose. A novel for teens and adults, This Vast Land: A Young Man's Journal of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, will chronicle the famous expedition through the words of a young man. The agreement, was negotiated by Brenda Bowen, Executive Vice President and Publisher for Hardcover Books at Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing and Brian Lipson of Brian Lipson Endeavors, on behalf of The Estate of Stephen E. Ambrose.

Drawing on his knowledge of the Northwest Passage, Ambrose created the fictional diary of nineteen-year-old George Shannon, who was the youngest member of Lewis and Clark's Corps of Discovery. The manuscript was submitted by Dr. Ambrose to his editors prior to his death in October 2002.

"My father's passion for the story of Lewis and Clark compelled him to move beyond the bounds of non-fiction," said Hugh Ambrose, son of Stephen E. Ambrose and partner with Dr. Ambrose for ten years. "He took all his years of reading the journals, of camping along the trail, of wondering what really happened, and fashioned them into This Vast Land." Stephenie Ambrose Tubbs, Lewis and Clark scholar and daughter of Stephen E. Ambrose, said, "George Shannon, the perennially lost member of the Expedition, is at last finally found and fully illuminated in this compelling novel by historian Stephen E. Ambrose."

Stephen E. Ambrose (1936-2002) was one of contemporary America's most renowned historians. His many bestselling books include The Wild Blue: the Men and Boys Who Flew the B-24s over Germany (2001), Nothing Like It in the World: The Men Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad, 1863-1869 (2000), The Good Fight: How World War II Was Won (2001), and Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest (1992). Dr. Ambrose was the founder of the National D-Day Museum in New Orleans, and during his lifetime won the Abraham Lincoln Literary Award, The Will Rogers Memorial Award, and the Distinguished Civilian Service Medal from the Department of Defense.