Stephen Edward Ambrose (1936-2002) was a well-known American historian. Ambrose authored more than 30 books on modern American history. His best-known books include Band of Brothers (1992) on World War II, Nothing Like It in the World (1992) about the 19th-century Pacific Railroad, and Undaunted Courage (1996) about Lewis and Clark. In addition to a prolific writing career, Ambrose was a contributing editor for the Quarterly Journal of Military History.

Ambrose held several academic positions, including working as a Boyd Professor of History (University of New Orleans) and the Director Emeritus of the Eisenhower Center (New Orleans). He also established the National D-Day Museum.

Outside of academia, Ambrose contributed to popularizing history. He took part in television programs on the National Geographic and History channels. He also served as a consultant on Steven Spielberg’s World War II film, Saving Private Ryan (1998).

Brinkley (b. 1960) is a professor of history and the Katherine Tsanoff Brown Chair in Humanities at Rice University in Houston, Texas. Brinkley has written extensively about history. His books include Dean Acheson: The Cold War Years (1992), Tour of Duty: John Kerry and the Vietnam War (2004), Cronkite (2012), more than a half dozen of which made it to the New York Times bestseller list.