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Title: Undaunted Courage : Meriwether Lewis Thomas Jefferson and the Opening of the American West by Stephen E. Ambrose ISBN: 0-684-81107-3 Publisher: Simon & Schuster Pub. Date: 15 February, 1996 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $30.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.47 (278 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Good Description of the Great Expedition
Comment: Ambrose does a very good job writing a detailed bio on Lewis while presenting the expedition from it infancy with an early history of the Louisiana territory and the early plans to explore and exploit the land. Lewis literally is a protégée and neighbor of Jefferson and he is virtually educated by Jefferson as his secretary and along with tutoring by scholars. Although someone free with monetary scripts, Lewis shows great organizational skills in getting the trip together and he shows modesty by wanting to co-lead with Clark for whom he attempts to gain equal rank. He fails to gain Clark the rank of captain but in spite of that, he still shares command. Ambrose describes in detail Lewis' meetings with the various tribes along the Missouri River, Rockies and Snake River who without their assistance, it is unlikely Lewis and Clark would have survived their journey. High points of the book is Lewis and Clark's interacting with the tribes particularly the Nez Perz along with the Chinooks which was quite a contrast and of course the Plains Indians such as the Sioux, Mandans, Hidatsa and the Arikarees. Quite a story about their crossing of the Rockies which took them by surprise and this is the literal high point of the book along with the suffering in their west coast camps that were dominated by boredom and limited game. The plains are described as a paradise for food.
Lewis' ability to examine and write about minerals, botany, zoology and the geography is quite astounding for a layman along with his ability to administer wounds and act as a pharmacist with good results. The interesting low points of the expedition is Lewis' failure to get a portable iron frame boat to float and his naive venture to meet the fierce Blackfeet tribe with only four men that rightly would have ended his return trip if he met a sizable party. Also facinating is that Lewis never seems to recover from the expedition as he is appointed governor of the Louisiana territory, which seems to be too much responsibility along with his inability to write the book that Jefferson and the public expected. At the end he is overwhelmed and after 400 pages Ambrose describes his suicide in a reasonably detailed manner. With so many concerned about his mental health, it's amazing that Lewis was allowed to travel without a significant escort always at his side.
The low point of the book is the return trip where Lewis and Clark split up for several 100 miles taking different routes before rejoining, little is written of Clark's journey along the Yellowstone where he splits his group into horse handlers and those in canoes. Although never mentioned in the book, Clark's horse handlers led by Sergeant Pryor encounter Crow Indians who steal their horses. Pryor and three men attempt to over take the Crows for 10 miles in unknown territory finally giving up and floating themselves down river in fresh buffalo hides stretched over tree branches called Bull boats. They have a frightening encounter with Grizzly bears who think the smelly buffalo hides coming down river to them are dead buffalo that they were accustomed to seeing floating down river for easy pickings. Clark's discovery of the huge limestock rock natural monument which he named Pompey's Pilar after Sacagawea's son is also never mentioned.Clark is portrayed as the ultimate military man and as a great woodsman which makes him invaluable. More detailed on Clark's post expedition life would have been interesting. His ability to balance Lewis was huge for the expedition to succeed. Sacagewea is very prominent the expedition's success in communicating with the Rocky Mountain tribes and her knowledge of the country. Her role in translation is responsible for a lot of the expedition's peaceful dealings with the mountain tribes. Regretfully not much is known of her life after the expedition. This is a great introduction book that is worth reading.
Rating: 4
Summary: A detailed history lesson w/something missing
Comment: Like many Americans, my knowledge of the Lewis & Clark expedition was from high school history books and a visit to the St. Louis arch. For those of you in my shoes wanting to learn more, this is a great starting place for a general overview of this sadly overlooked episode in our history. Some reviewers here think the book started out slowly. There is some truth to that, but without background information, a lot of the author's analysis of different situations would not make sense. For example, Ambrose discusses the lack of crop rotation by Virginia tobacco farmers and their insatiable appetite for more land at length. Later, this discussion makes sense because it partly explains (among other reasons) Jefferson's desire to make the Louisiana Purchase and to pursue the dream of Western expansion to the Pacific. Overall, the book is detailed and interesting as it puts together information from a lot of other scholarly sources. Ambrose is clearly an expert on the subject and you'll finish the book thinking you are too. However, I found it a bit disappointing for 2 reasons: 1) Sacagewea's role as interpreter/guide does not seem as important to the success of the venture as the author would like us to believe (I wanted more details about her--even some physical description of her was lacking except the comment that she was a mere 15 yrs. old at the start), and 2)the slow disintegration of Lewis in the end left me feeling deprived of a satisfactory explanation for the way it came about. This last criticism may not be the result of any flaw in the book, but a result of the frustration many historians feel over the lack of concrete information available. Even Ambrose thinks about "what if's" in the end. What if Lewis had not returned, what if he had published his journals immediately, what if his life hadn't ended so young? Would he now be a bigger hero rather than a fading memory?
Rating: 3
Summary: Fun Reading But Incomplete As History
Comment: This is a biography of Lewis and not, as most assume, a history of the Lewis and Clark exploration. Ambrose himself goes to great length to point this out. One wonders if some reviewers caught on to this conspicuous difference. Undaunted Courage is worthwhile reading and a lot of fun. The best parts of the book focus on Lewis's Virginia roots, his relationship with Jefferson, and the leadership qualities of both Lewis and Clark during the expedition. The writer highlights the exceptional and worthy contributions Lewis made to natural science during their journey. Ambrose's treatment of the tragic decline of his subject toward suicide is balanced, thoughtful, and respectful. If there is a weakness to this book it is the familiar tendency of Ambrose to slip into slang to keep his material readable. Popular history has its trade-offs, I suppose.
This biography might be disappointing to serious historians but won't disappoint the average reader.
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Title: The Journals of Lewis and Clark by Bernard DeVoto ISBN: 0395859964 Publisher: Mariner Books Pub. Date: 30 April, 1997 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Nothing Like It In the World : The Men Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad 1863-1869 by Stephen E. Ambrose ISBN: 0743203178 Publisher: Simon & Schuster Pub. Date: 06 November, 2001 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
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Title: Crazy Horse and Custer : The Parallel Lives of Two American Warriors by Stephen E. Ambrose ISBN: 0385479662 Publisher: Anchor Pub. Date: 01 May, 1996 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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Title: Lewis & Clark: Voyage of Discovery by Stephen E. Ambrose, Sam Abell ISBN: 0792264738 Publisher: National Geographic Pub. Date: 01 March, 2002 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
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Title: D Day: June 6, 1944: The Climactic Battle of World War II by Stephen E. Ambrose ISBN: 068480137X Publisher: Simon & Schuster Pub. Date: 01 June, 1995 List Price(USD): $17.00 |
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