Product Description
In 1803, when the United States purchased Louisiana from France, the great expanse of this new American territory was a blank -- not only on the map but in our knowledge. President Thomas Jefferson keenly understood that the course of the nation's destiny lay westward and that a national "Voyage of Discovery" must be mounted to determine the nature and accessibility of the frontier. He commissioned his young secretary, Meriwether Lewis, to lead an intelligence-gathering expedition from the Missouri River to the northern Pacific coast and back. From 1804 to 1806, Lewis, accompanied by co-captain William Clark, the Shoshone guide Sacajawea, and thirty-two men, made the first trek across the Louisiana Purchase, mapping the rivers as he went, tracing the principal waterways to the sea, and establishing the American claim to the territories of Idaho, Washington, and Oregon. together the captains kept a journal, a richly detailed record of the flora and fauna they sighted, the Indian tribes they encountered, and the awe-inspiring landscape they traversed, from their base camp near present-day St. Louis to the mouth of the Columbia River. In keeping this record they made an incomparable contribution to the literature of exploration and the writing of natural history. The Journals of Lewis and Clark, writes Bernard DeVoto, was "the first report on the West, on the United States over the hill and beyond the sunset, on the province of the American future. There has never been another so excellent or so influential...It satisfied desire and created desire: the desire of the westering nation."
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A National Treasure
The introduction to this book, written by Stephen Ambrose, states that the Journals of Lewis and Clark are an American treasure. At first this seemed like hyperbole, but while reading the Journals, it became clearer why this statement was made.
For in the Journals the reader sees in the mind's eye the vast prairies, indomitable mountains, wide, powerful rivers, and vast Pacific Ocean as Lewis and Clark saw them. Through the Journals the reader encounters Indian tribes, both friendly and fierce. At other times, the puzzling descriptions of previously unknown species of animals and plants give insight as to what discovery and exploration mean. This is what makes the Journals a national treasure. Reading the Journals gives the contemporary reader a sense of what it was like to look at the American West for the first time. In an era when there are precious few corners of the earth that have not been mapped, the Journals convey reader to a time when exploration was not only commonplace, but a necessity for national survival.
The Journals of Lewis and Clark are not particularly easy to read at times if you are not accustomed to the reading genre of travel diaries. Also, at times, the terse writing style of William Clark made the Journal difficult to plow through. Merriweather Lewis' entries were much more readable, but his entries do not appear until after the first quarter or so of this edition.
If you are a person who likes maps, the number of maps is low and and the detail they provide is small. There may be other versions of the Journals out there that provide better maps.
The commentaries provided before certain chapters that summarize the events that the Journals are about to relate are very helpful in understanding the narratives that follow.
For the reader not well versed in the Corps of Discovery, I am not sure if the Journals of Lewis and Clark is the best book to read first when learning about their expedition. Undaunted Courage or another such book might be better first choice if you want to build a curriculum on Lewis and Clark. Looking back, I would suggest reading the Journals in tandem with such a book, to get a balance between the two styles: historical narrative and diary.
Regardless of how the reader approaches the Journals, either by itself or in conjunction with other works, at some point, the critical reader will consult if not read the Journals of Lewis and Clark for a broader perspective on the secondary histories.
A National Treasure
The introduction to this book, written by Stephen Ambrose, states that the Journals of Lewis and Clark are an American treasure. At first this seemed like hyperbole, but while reading the Journals, it became clearer why this statement was made.
For in the Journals the reader sees in the mind's eye the vast prairies, indominitable mountains, wide, powerful rivers, and vast Pacific Ocean as Lewis and Clark saw them. Through the Journals the reader encounters Indian tribes, both friendly and fierce. At other times, the puzzling descriptions of previously unknown species of animals and plants give insight as to what discovery and exploration mean. This is what makes the Journals a national treasure. Reading the Journals gives the contemporary reader a sense of what it was like to look at the American West for the first time. In an era when there are precious few corners of the earth that have not been mapped, the Journals convey reader to a time when exploration was not only commonplace, but a necessity for national survival.
The Journals of Lewis and Clark are not particularly easy to read at times if you are not accustomed to the reading genre of travel diaries. Also, at times, the terse writing style of William Clark made the Journal difficult to "plow" through. Merriweather Lewis' entries were much more readable, but his entries do not appear until after the first quarter or so of this edition.
If you are a person who likes maps, the number of maps is low and and the detail they provide is small. There may be other versions of the Journals out there that provide better maps.
The commentaries provided before certain chapters that summarize the events that the Journals are about to relate are very helpful in understanding the narratives that follow.
For the reader not well versed in the Corps of Discovery, I am not sure if the Journals of Lewis and Clark is the best book to read first when learning about their expedition. Undaunted Courage or another such book might a be better first choice if you want to build a curriculum on Lewis and Clark. Looking back, I would suggest reading the Journals in tandem with such a book, to get a balance between the two styles: historical narrative and diary.
Regardless of how the reader approaches the Journals, either by itself or in conjunction with other works, at some point, the critical reader will consult if not read the Journals of Lewis and Clark for a broader perspective on the secondary histories.