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Loading... Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West (original 1996; edition 1997)by Stephen Ambrose
Work InformationUndaunted Courage by Stephen E. Ambrose (1996)
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. Lewis & Clark expedition; good but slow read In 1803 President Jefferson tasked Meriwether Lewis with the planning and execution of an expedition to explore the newly-purchased "Louisiana" territory with the goal of discovering an all-water route from the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean. Lewis brought aboard his good friend William Clark as co-Captain, and the two led the Corps of Discovery on a 2-year journey across harsh and unfamiliar terrain and through tribal lands that no person of European ancestry had ever before encountered. Possibly the most comprehensively researched and accessible narrative of the expedition, this book is chock full from start to finish of fascinating insights into the expedition, geography, native cultures, logistics, flora & fauna, politics of the time, members' personalities, and expectations; as well as challenges related to all of the above. That said, some terminology used and comments by the author haven't exactly aged well, beginning with the statement, "Every American everywhere has benefitted from Jefferson's purchase of Louisiana and his setting in motion the Lewis and Clark Expedition," which reads at best tone-deaf today. Ambrose also comments with doubt about whether Jefferson had relations with his enslaved workforce, which has since been proven genetically. If you can turn a blind eye to these details, as well as get past just how starry-eyed the author is regarding Lewis, this is a very enjoyable and educational read.
- conveyed with passionate enthusiasm by Mr. Ambrose and sprinkled liberally with some of the most famous and vivid passages from the travelers' journals. ContainsIs abridged inHas as a student's study guideAwardsDistinctionsNotable Lists
References to this work on external resources. Wikipedia in English (16)Biography & Autobiography.
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HTML:From the New York Times bestselling author of Band of Brothers and D-Day, the definitive book on Lewis and Clark's exploration of the Louisiana Purchase, the most momentous expedition in American history and one of the great adventure stories of all time. In 1803 President Thomas Jefferson selected his personal secretary, Captain Meriwether Lewis, to lead a voyage up the Missouri River to the Rockies, over the mountains, down the Columbia River to the Pacific Ocean, and back. Lewis and his partner, Captain William Clark, made the first map of the trans-Mississippi West, provided invaluable scientific data on the flora and fauna of the Louisiana Purchase territory, and established the American claim to Oregon, Washington, and Idaho. Ambrose has pieced together previously unknown information about weather, terrain, and medical knowledge at the time to provide a vivid backdrop for the expedition. Lewis is supported by a rich variety of colorful characters, first of all Jefferson himself, whose interest in exploring and acquiring the American West went back thirty years. Next comes Clark, a rugged frontiersman whose love for Lewis matched Jefferson's. There are numerous Indian chiefs, and Sacagawea, the Indian girl who accompanied the expedition, along with the French-Indian hunter Drouillard, the great naturalists of Philadelphia, the French and Spanish fur traders of St. Louis, John Quincy Adams, and many more leading political, scientific, and military figures of the turn of the century. High adventure, high politics, suspense, drama, and diplomacy combine with high romance and personal tragedy to make this outstanding work of scholarship as readable as a novel. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)917.8042History and Geography Geography and Travel Geography of and travel in North America Western U.S. Travel 19th CenturyLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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