Books : Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West (Lewis & Clark Expedition)
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Type of bind: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 917.8042
EAN num: 9780684811079
ISBN number: 0684811073
Label: Simon & Schuster
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 512
Printing Date: February 15, 1996
Publishing house: Simon & Schuster
Sale Popularity Level: 23927
Studio: Simon & Schuster
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Editor's Notes and Comments:
Amazon.com:
A biography of Meriwether Lewis that relies heavily on the journals of both Lewis and Clark, this book is also backed up by the author's personal travels along Lewis and Clark's route to the Pacific. Ambrose is not content to simply chronicle the events of the 'Corps of Discovery' as the explorers called their ventures. He often pauses to assess the military leadership of Lewis and Clark, how they negotiated with various native peoples and what they reported to Jefferson. Though the expedition failed to find Jefferson's hoped for water route to the Pacific, it fired interest among fur traders and other Americans, changing the face of the West forever.
Product Description:
From the bestselling author of the definitive book on D-Day comes the definitive book on 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 was the perfect choice. He endured incredible hardships and saw incredible sights, including vast herds of buffalo and Indian tribes that had had no previous contact with white men. He and his partner, Captain William Clark, made the very 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 colorful and realistic backdrop for the expedition. Lewis saw the North American continent before any other white man; Ambrose describes in detail native peoples, weather, landscape, science, everything the expedition encountered along the way, through Lewis's eyes.
Lewis is supported by a rich variety of colorful characters, very 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.
This is a book about a hero. This is a book about national unity. But it is also a tragedy. When Lewis returned to Washington in the fall of 1806, he was a national hero. But for Lewis, the expedition was a failure. Jefferson had hoped to find an all-water route to the Pacific with a short hop over the Rockies-Lewis discovered there was no such passage. Jefferson hoped the Louisiana Purchase would provide endless land to support farming-but Lewis discovered that the Great Plains were too dry. Jefferson hoped there was a river flowing from Canada into the Missouri-but Lewis reported there was no such river, and thus no U.S. claim to the Canadian prairie. Lewis discovered the Plains Indians were hostile and would block settlement and trade up the Missouri. Lewis took to drink, engaged in land speculation, piled up debts he could not pay, made jealous political enemies, and suffered severe depression.
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.
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Rated by buyers 
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Read this as a very first edition hardback---my Amazon reviewing is a little behind, to say the least---outstanding book. The best book on L&C in print. Ambrose collaborated on a book with Nat'l Geo that is spectacular as well. OUTSTANDING from cover to cover.
If you read only one book on the topic, read this one---and prepare to be hooked.
Rated by buyers -
Historical novels are one of my favorite types of text, and I have been an avid reader of Stephen E. Ambrose through his World War II works. Every American child knew about Lewis & Clark and the Louisiana Purchase (Thank you Schoolhouse Rock), but this book brings to life the true and amazing task these men went through to help open America into the vast and great nation she is now.
After the 1803 Louisiana Purchase from France, President Thomas Jefferson, a man of knowledge and curiosity himself, issued a continental exploration Corps of Discovery to travel to the Pacific Ocean. If you could imagine walking across your own state, now imagine walking (horse/canoe allowed) across the country, no roads, no cellphone, no Walmart, no bathrooms, no electric lights, wild animals...the grizzlies read like monsters, potential attacks from hostile natives, the weather...it is unimagenable that any human could have survived or endured such hardships!
It is important to realize that Lewis and Clark were the leaders, but also traveled with a large group of brave men, unique and talented in their own respects, including the female Native American Sacagawea and her baby, plus the sad tale of York, Clark's slave who shared the pain, dangers, and loyalty, but received none of the rewards, promises, or respects afterwards...this subject raises my ire, so I will not continue on York's betrayal by Clark.
Regardless of whether you read this as pure history, this book reads like an adventure tale like Krakauer's Into Thin Air, a testament of man versus nature, the book is also a cultural exploration as the "White man meets the Red man" no disrespect meant. On so many levels this book will offer insight, information, and entertainment that few books balance so well. So you might as well read a good tale and actually improve your own academic knowledge.
Thank you and keep reading.
John Dae Min
Rated by buyers 
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What I liked best about this book is that it reads like a neighbor telling you all about his favorite nephew. Ambrose's descriptions and judgments and asides have almost an avuncular feel. If this is not your thing, the book will probably bug you.
What I liked least about this book is Ambrose's unquestioning high regard for Jefferson, but since Ambrose's attitude reflects that of Lewis's, I can go with it.
The outtakes of the journals, the excellent maps, and the good-natured commentary combine to make me LIKE the characters. I feel familiar with them after reading this book. I am impressed by their accomplishments, and feel I know them as people much better.
It is also clear that Ambrose knows the areas where Lewis and Clark explored. Many of his notations tell how the area described look to present-day canoers or hikers, and he gives highway exits and directions to some of the less-remote campsites and overlooks. Ambrose's love for the beauties of western America comes through, and they add to the fond tone of the book.
Rated by buyers -
I will keep it simple. Next to the Holy Bible ~ best book I ever read. I have since then read several of Stephen Ambrose's books and highly recommend them. He and his family put many years of research in before writing any book. I have travelled across the country all the way to Cape Disapportment as a result of reading the book and following the trail. Everything Mr. Ambrose claimed in the book is accurate, very interesting, and provides us a heritage for our country that everyone should be proud of.
Rated by buyers -
The history of the Voyage of Discovery is one of the outstanding feats in American history. No one has told it better than Stephen Ambrose. This is a must read even if you don't enjoy history.
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