I'm sure this has been covered before so I'll apologize in advance if my question has been previously addressed.

I'm wondering if anyone can recommend a book (available at the library) about the Lewis & Clark expedition? What I'm looking for is not only a good account/analysis of the expedition but also about the two explorers. I'm hoping for something scholarly that also offers an insight into their characters and their deaths.

Any help is appreciated.

I know two people have read the book by Stephen E. Ambrose and said it was pretty detailed account of the expedition. All of Ambrose's books are available at the library.

Sounds like at least three books to me!

try looking up a book called undaunted courage kant remember auther but it gives daley accounts from conception to final results.


hardwalker is now living in Missouri! tnx HW

Another that sounds more scholarly that I found on Amazon.com is "The Journals of Lewis and Clark" (Lewis & Clark Expedition) (Paperback)
by Meriwether Lewis

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(Author), William Clark
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(Author), Bernard DeVoto
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(Editor), Stephen E. Ambrose (Foreword) "On the acquisition of Louisiana, in the year 1803, the attention of the Government of the United States was early directed towards exploring and improving..."

Sparks

Undaunted Courage is a good read, but not "the gospel"...it's a good place to start, but you can spend a lifetime studying L&C and never read enough!!

quote:

Originally posted by Mitch:
Undaunted Courage is a good read, but not "the gospel"...it's a good place to start, but you can spend a lifetime studying L&C and never read enough!!

I've read a lot but you're right; it's never enough.

I probably shouldn't have used the word "scholarly" as that is maybe a bit misleading. What I was looking to find is a book(s) that is well researched and not just a work of supposition and shallow repetition. Thanks for the suggestions; I think these will probably give me a very good start.

The "straight stuff" is to get the volumes of the journals themselves. That might be available through your library.

OF course, some interpretation can be helpful.
The reason that Lewis and Clark could spell any given word a couple dozen different ways is because the language spelling had yet to be standardized.

Sparks

Hanshi, As others have mentioned, I've read Undaunted Courage by Steven Ambrose and it is a good book. Bernard DeVoto's edition of the journals is also good and is likely to be in a libraries. Also don't forget about the journals by the men Joseph Whitehouse and Patrick Gass come to mine (not sure if there are more).

Having just come thru the 200 year commemoration of the expedition, there are lots of resources, but not all are books. Many papers have been written and posted to websites dedicated to the men/expedition. One to try www.lewisandclark.org
Often times, even if the paper itself is not of direct interest, the sources cited are.
Hope this helps. Chaser

Thank you for the suggestions, Chaser; your help will be valuable in my search.

quote:

Originally posted by Hanshi:
I'm sure this has been covered before so I'll apologize in advance if my question has been previously addressed.

I'm wondering if anyone can recommend a book (available at the library) about the Lewis & Clark expedition? What I'm looking for is not only a good account/analysis of the expedition but also about the two explorers. I'm hoping for something scholarly that also offers an insight into their characters and their deaths.

Any help is appreciated.

You really need to read the full versions of the Journals Thwaites or Moulton editions.
It is simply impossible to condense the Journals into a single book. It would be like condensing the movie "Gone with the Wind" into a 15 minute trailer.
The day to day minutiae that the journals contain for the real student of history is largely gone from the abridged versions.
There are existing Journals by Lewis at least the concern the expedition describing his preparations and trip down the Ohio with equipment for the Expedition.

Books on their later life I cannot speak too.

Dan

Hanshi, Like others, I would recommend getting the journals. My second choice would be the DeVoto book. For info on the clothing and equipment, try "Tailor Made And Trail Worn"
By the way, here's another question for the fire. Does anyone know of someone making the uniform coats of the expedition members. I'm looking for a Private of Infantry dress coat.

Thank you, to my friends at the fire. I'm beginning to suspect my reading load is about to increase dramatically, as if it wasn't already heavy enough.

Hanshi,
I can recommend "Undaunted Courage" too, and the journals, edited by various people, are of course first-hand and interesting for that reason alone. There's an earlier book by James Alexander Thom that covers some of the expedition, too, though I can't dredge up the name of the book.
I realize that anyone living anywhere between St. Louis and Astoria could say the same, but now, living in Montana not far from the Missouri river and traveling frequently along the Yellowstone, it's kind of neat to find myself deep in "Lewis and Clark" country.
And once when I was driving a car from Seattle to Detroit for a friend, I went over the Lolo Pass area, which the expedition members cussed about as badly as they did anything else.

Dick

Sign Talker? Mostly about Drouillard

Type in Lewis and Clark jurnals,and google it. They are on a web site but I cant seem to post the link

quote:

Originally posted by J Branson:
Type in Lewis and Clark jurnals,and google it. They are on a web site but I cant seem to post the link

Thanks, J Branson. I googled it up yesterday. And I got some books listed I'll need to tackle.

Lads: I have read a good deal on L&C so let me try to boil it down. The Ambrose book, "Undaunted Courage", while it has flaws, is perhaps a good start. The main reason is that it goes into great detail about M Lewis, his youth, education and the factors that shaped him. It also details his relationship with Pres Jefferson, who had deep personal interest in the expedition and saw Lewis as the perfect "partner". Jefferson trained him, lead him to those who would school him in botany, biology and the basics of medicine and generally prepared the way for the whole thing. However, the actual journals (two different versions with different editors) should also be read, but AFTER the Ambrose book, which provides the context. After that, DeVoto is excellent, and the journal of Patrick Gass has a slightly different view of the whole thing. Watch out, the L&C story can really get you!

Col Boone

A book I found pretty revealing on the topic is "Or Perish In The Attempt" (wilderness medicine in the Lewis and Clark expedition) by David J. Peck...2002; Farcountry press.

It gives some serious insight into prevailing basic medical theories and practices common to the times that helped create the men of this expedition and definately helpd to shape their overall mindset.

It centers on medicine and the concepts of health as it was taught and applied during the era of and actually on the expedition, but like the current medicine and health topics we are hearing today, it is also pretty revealing stuff about the pervasive culture and attitudes of those times and the men themselves at a core level ...(no pun intended.)

Not to mention explaining in laymans terms what was likely physically going on in their bodies and consequently in their minds as they endured the hardships of the discovery.
I liked it anyway...
TCA

This message has been edited. Last edited by: T.Albert,

A book I found interesting is "The fate of the Corps" by Larry E. Morris, Yale Univ. press. It covers the lives of about 15 of the members of the Corps of Discovery after they got back. There is not alot of info on most of the members but as most of them were frontiersmen and fur trappers there is not much documentation. And as you can imagine, not too many of them lived a long life. I found it in the gift shop at the Fort Clatsop visitor's center in Astoria a couple of years ago. A good read that gives good insight to the nature of the men who made up the Corps.