Lewis and Clark Through Indian Eyes: Nine Indian Writers on the Legacy of the Expedition

by Alvin M. Josephy Jr. (Editor)

At the heart of this landmark collection of essays rests a single question: What impact, good or bad, immediate or long-range, did Lewis and Clark’s journey have on the Indians whose homelands they traversed? The nine writers in this volume each provide their own unique answers; from Pulitzer prize-winner N. Scott Momaday, who offers a haunting essay evoking the voices of the past; to Debra Magpie Earling’s illumination of her ancestral family, their survival, and the magic they use to this day; to Mark N. Trahant’s attempt to trace his own blood back to Clark himself; and Roberta Conner’s comparisons of the explorer’s journals with the accounts of the expedition passed down to her. Incisive and compelling, these essays shed new light on our understanding of this landmark journey into the American West.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Native American, American History, Essays, Indigenous, Westerns

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

An American historian who specialized in Native American topics. He served as a combat correspondent during World War II and was awarded the Bronze Star for his coverage of the U.S. capture of Guam. His interest in Native American history started during an assignment from Time Magazine.

Reviews

[Mark Fallon · Rating 5 out of 5]

200 years after the expedition, Alvin Josephy invites 9 Native American writers to share their thoughts on the legacy of Lewis and Clark. It now only shatters the myths of the "Discovery Corps", but demonstrates how it led to the shameful treatment of the people who lived in these areas before 1805. Eye opening.

Fitting that I found this book in Oregon - near the end of the Lewis and Clark trail.

Beware: This is the type of book many politicians don't want you to read.

[Tracey · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is not what I thought it would be. A couple of good essays. But others kind of ramble.

[Maribel · Rating 4 out of 5]

We all know that history is written from the victors' perspective; It was refreshing to read essays by people who actually knew those who Lewis and Clark encountered and what their interactions were like from the Indian perspective. I was especially impressed by the prophecies that the ancients talked about and told to their children. I kept thinking and wondering if the writer had been given the chance to read the Book of Mormon because what they said and how they said it reminded me so much of the language and prophecies in it. I now have a different perspective on the Book of Mormon itself as I read it with the Indian perspective in mind.

[Velora · Rating 2 out of 5]

Out of the nine essays, only three were very interesting to me, as they seemed to capture what I assumed the whole book to be about (or maybe what I wanted the book to be about!)...the actual Indian experience of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

[Bruce Mendelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

The year 2003 was the 200th anniversary of Lewis and Clark's journey from St Louis to the mouth of the Columbia River. Most of the literature concerning this journey is written from the perspective of the white settlers of the region. This volume contains 9 essays by natives that give us a very different perspective on this journey. Lewis and Clark and their Corps of Discovery set out from St Louis in May of 1804. Their journey would have had no hope of success without the help of many groups of Natives. One of the major, and important, points brought up in most of the essays is that there was no "discovery" involved in the journey. Natives had been living in the region for thousands of years and were friendly enough to aid Lewis and Clark on their quest. This is a major theme in Roberta Conner's essay entitled "Our People have Always Been Here". There is a lot of discussion of the adverse effects that opening up the west to Europeans had on native people. The quality of the essays is very good, but somewhat variable. This variability caused me to give the book 4 stars instead of 5. I did enjoy reading all of the essays. I believe that anyone interested in the history of our land would enjoy reading this book.

[Sarah Rogers · Rating 2 out of 5]

First off, the Kindle version of this book I “borrowed” from my library was a formatting mess, which made the book seem highly unprofessional and quite confusing. Footnotes or photo descriptions bled into essay text, for example, and many essays featured lack of punctuation to separate sentences. Anyone else have this problem?

Many of the book’s essays were off-topic, but still interesting and informative. Only a handful of the 9 authors actually touched on the Native American perspective of the Lewis & Clark expedition, which is what the book was advertised to be about. That being said, I gained a lot of perspective and alternate histories to help shape my overall understanding of the past, and for that, I am grateful.

I paused and wondered a dozen paragraphs into one essayist’s family tree why the heck I was even reading this? It was tough to get past that one, and one or two others, but I’m glad I persevered. Worth the read, but I was expecting much better, to be honest.

[Mark Valentine · Rating 4 out of 5]

If today I feel like I am caught in the bowels of a rotting empire, this collection of nine essays reminds me that it started long before me to those who first inhabited the land. The Corps of Discovery came as the first lance thrust for waves of expansionistas intent on new markets of exploitation. Lewis and Clark no more 'discovered' the overland route over the continent than Columbus 'discovered' the Americas.

My favorite sections included those written by Vine Deloria, Jr., N. Scott Momaday, Debra Magpie Earling, and Roberta Conner. The passages quoted from the Journals of L & C show adventurism blinded by ideology. For all their enterprise in getting to the next stage in their treks, they completely missed the signs and cues that the Native Peoples were extending. In other words, L & C were NOT anthropologists. Too late now.

[C. Patrick G. Erker · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've been reading a number of books recently to understand the Native American perspective, especially as it relates to westward expansion. I'm particularly curious how it manifests today within indigenous cultures in our country.

I was in St. Charles, Missouri, over Thanksgiving in 2019, and picked up a copy of this book. It was a fitting place to buy it, given St. Charles' proximity to St. Louis, Lewis and Clark's jumping off point, and St. Charles' own connections to the western expansion, migration, and disposition.

This book is a collection of stories and perspectives from American Indians. Some of the entries are better than others. N. Scott Momaday's may be the best, if also the shortest. Some were less well written, and a number were so personal as to lose the larger thread of impact on entire peoples and cultures.

[Sue · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the pleasures of retirement is actually getting to read all those books that were purchased during your bookstore browsing in your earlier life. (You know, that life that involved jobs and family and way too much laundry?) This was one such book. It had been sitting on my shelf since its publication in 2006, shortly after the 200-year-anniversary of the Lewis and Clark expedition.

Two things struck me as I read this collection of essays by nine Native American writers (some of whom have since passed away): 1) How recent the expedition was, when one considers it within the whole of human history. Some of the writers had grandparents whose own grandparents had MET Lewis and Clark. 2) How deeply sad it must have been for the people who welcomed and fed the members of the expedition to later realize they had welcomed and fed the harbingers of their own destruction.

[Danielle Young · Rating 2 out of 5]

I originally picked up this book when I was traveling across South Dakota in September of 2020 during an 8 state road trip. We visited Crazy Horse Memorial, Custer State Park, and Mount Rushmore. While we visited these historical places, I kept returning to the thought that we (along with all the other visitors) were on stolen land. ⁣
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In honor of #NativeAmericanHeritageDay, which is this upcoming Friday, I wanted to revisit these thoughts and decided to finally read this book.⁣
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I want to first start off by saying that I think the topics covered in this book are extremely important to reflect upon! My critiques are with how the collection of essays where structured and woven together. ⁣
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Usually, when essays are put together they are united by a common thread. I found these to be very different in writing style and general opinion about Lewis and Clark – which I found to be clunky as a reader. I wish the editor would've had a better introduction or section opener to help with the overall flow.⁣

[Matthew Bauman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I overall enjoyed the book. I would give it a 3.5 if I could because there are a couple of the essays that were more of a drag to get through. The majority of the essays had a lot of really interesting ideas and it analyzed the negative effect that American expansion had on Native Americans (including many different tribes that had a voice with these essays). I’m excited to include some of these challenges that the authors focused on when I am teaching about American expansion, so my students can read direct consequences of the idea of manifest destiny. In addition, it talks a lot about the impact of the loss of Native American culture and how sad it is that so many cultural touchstones have been lost or are being lost.

[Kaylee · Rating 3 out of 5]

History book composed of essays written through the perspective of Native Americans on the Lewis and Clark expedition. I normally don’t really read history books, but this was interesting because I just went on a trip and visited a lot of places mentioned in the book. I read a lot about the native Americans at different spots on the trip, but this book was cool because it also explained different oral stories that have been passed down from family members that I wouldn’t have known by reading the info at the museums. :)

[Kitty Galore · Rating 4 out of 5]

While some of the essays digressed from the topic, it is refreshing to read new perspectives on the victims of the white man's foray into the lands that would later and forever be known as the Americas. There is nothing that we can do to change the sordid history of these noble people, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't continually try, the first being the honoring of the treaties that were broken.

[Randy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book tells of nine different stories. Not all necessarily talk of the Lewis and Clark expedition itself, but what was left from it. It discusses a number of different tribes that ran into them, and how they effected their future.

It talks of good and horrible times, but the similar result of all of these stories is how all of these tribes did not disappear fully, and are in fact, building again. Not to lose the history, but to preserve it for their people.

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I started reading this book, I hoped for more stories of events linked to the Corps of Discovery from the First Nation perspective. Most stories in this book relate to events since the expedition with most focus on events of the 20th Century without clear explanation of how those events are linked to the Expedition. It's an interesting read, but it's not what the title and description suggested.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every single essay in this book provided important perspectives on the complex legacy of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. I learned so much about customs, cultures, myths, legends and prophecies of each of the tribes they encountered. I would consider this a must -read for anyone who loves to learn about the history of the American West because it offers perspective and balance to the dominant narrative.

[Anne Vandenbrink · Rating 2 out of 5]

A series of essays written by descendants of native Americans who had contact with Lewis and Clark expedition. Of course, we now know that Lewis and Clark did not discover a route to the Pacific ocean no more than Columbus discovered America. This was a common, almost humorous point in the book. The essays varied in subject and interest, but another common point was that many of the tribes did not disappear and are still thriving and growing.

[Gail Falcione · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has a lot of information and it’s great to hear so many Native perspectives, but I gave four stars because of one essay written by a bitter Crow who spends the whole time spouting “let’s pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and stop being victims” nonsense that is neither helpful nor accurate.

[Margaret Butler · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was fascinating and it was great to not just get the perspectives on how the expedition "of discovery" opened the door to dispossession and brutal treatment, but also about how the indigenous people survived, struggle and still work to protect the land and their sovereignty. Lots of very different viewpoints.

[Kimberly Spencer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I hoped to read more specific information about the Indians and the Lewis and Clark journey. Many of the essays were off-topic. What I did learn was that the Lewis and Clark Expedition was not extraordinary, but the native peoples were.

[Lynn Mulhall · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting but not what I expected. Slow read.

[Billy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very different view of the impact of the Corps of Discovery, discovering what the Indians already knew.

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book doesn't have much of a focus. It keeps losing focus and sidetracking and talking about random stuff. Would have been a better book if it actually stayed on topic.

[Andy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good book. The other side of the story.

[Karla Huebner]

This is an interesting and worthwhile collection of essays by nine Native American writers contemplating the results of the Lewis and Clark expedition. A good book to read camping, too!

[Susana · Rating 4 out of 5]

The title says it all. Broadens your perspective.

[Annm · Rating 5 out of 5]

Definitely worth hearing the story from different perspectives.

[Betsy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I remain ashamed of our forefathers' violence and deceit.

[Mathieu · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice collection of articles by Native Americans about their nation's experiences with Lewis and Clark.

[Wayne Kreiensieck · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not at all what I expected. A lot of rambling but not a lot of actual historical accounts by those who were there. A few good essays but for the most part not a particularly good read.